Is it possible for a tooth's nerve to die without any symptoms.

It is not uncommon to take a full set of radiographs for a patient and find a tooth with a periapical radioluscency around to apex of a tooth. When I ask the patient if they have had any symptoms with that tooth, they sometimes report they have no discomfort.

When continue the discussion with these patients , some remember having some symptoms in the remote past, but at the tooth stopped bothering them(the pulp died?). Some do admit that the tooth does bother them from time to time.

Sometimes, when I percuss these teeth the patient does report that the do feel slightly different than the adjacent teeth and when I do open these teeth up to do a root canal procedure I invariably find that the pulp is non vital (dead).