Q. I have has an abcess beneath one of my teeth. My dentist ended up giving me root canal treatment and filling. This flared up again and again several times without being sucessfully resolved. Therefore he referred me to a root canal specialst. The specialist has taken an xray of the tooth, and the root appears completely translucent, almost as if it is not there. It only has a very faint outline. He said there also seems to be some debris in the root. He is not sure why this is, and I am due to go back on a weeks time. My question is why would a root appear on xray to be translucent. Has the root completely perished? If so, can that occur from an abcess, or would it be a result of too much/frequent work my dentist has performed. COuld this have caused the root to shatter/perish?