I recently felt something hard when eating mince. It was my crown. I went to the dentist a few days later and had to have the tooth out. I was not in pain before, but the extraction was a nightmare as it seems l have very strong bone and the roots were fused together with the teeth either side - apparently this is very unusual. The dentist could not remove all the roots and I was in agony afterwards and for several days following. I have a fairly high pain threshold so this was very unusual for me. I went back last week, three weeks after the extraction, to find it still had not fully healed and have been put on a waiting list to see an oral surgeon in order to have the remaining roots removed under sedation or general anaesthetic.