Any dentists around? How to tell if I need root canal?

[Banderchang]

Around three weeks ago the roof of my mouth suddenly hurt all over with a burning sensation, especially behind my top two front teeth. It was really painful, so I got an emergency appointment with another dentist at my regular practice, who took an X-ray, said it was infected, and that one of my teeth might need a root canal. The tooth in question has a crown, after I broke it in the school playground 30 odd years ago.

A week later I saw my regular dentist who said that as my mouth was still sore, I would need root canal. He booked me in, but the soonest appointment was in 4 weeks.

I'm now two weeks in and it feels largely better, though occasionally a slight twinge. When I've needed root canal before, I've been in a lot of pain and taking maximum painkillers while waiting for my appointment, but those were molar teeth.

Would a front tooth hurt less and still need root canal? Or am I about to have a procedure that isn't the right thing? My dentist seems perplexed that it's just a bit sore. It can be fine for 2-3 days at a time, then twingy for a day, then fine for a bit, and so on. I haven't felt the need to take any painkillers, and it's not keeping me awake.

Since the tooth is crowned, it's hard to see what's going on. I wonder whether I ought to try to see my dentist before my 45 minute root canal appointment so he can ascertain if I really need the procedure, or whether any pain at all suggests that it needs root treatment?

What else do you think the dentist could do? You already have a crown so they can hardly fill the cavity. If the tooth is damaged beyond repair then root canal is the only option as far as I know.
I've had 2 root canals neither of which caused me too much pain beforehand but the teeth were clearly damaged beyond the capacity to fill them. I'm sure they would have got more painful in time.

I guess I'm wondering whether it doesn't need any intervention and is still settling down after the infection. But that's helpful to know that you had root canal without incapacitating pain beforehand. My memory of the two previous root canals was taking regular pain killers, sleepless nights, and counting down the days until the appointment. If background niggling can also signal the need for root canal, that's good to hear. I just don't want to have a procedure I don't need!

Just an update, in case anyone reads this in a similar situation. I went for my root canal appointment today and, when the dentist did an X-ray, he realised the roots were fine and not the source of my burning mouth problem.

He thinks it may be some kind of neuralgia, so I am seeing my GP. Apparently lots of people end up with dental treatments when the real cause is neuralgia, so I'm glad I didn't have root canal unnecessarily.