Question about a loose tooth and bruxism.?

About a year and a half ago, I woke up one day and my right canine tooth felt a bit weird--like it was slightly loose. I went to a dentist and he said that it was probably dislodged a little bit because I grind my teeth at night, and that it would heal (he said something about comparing it to bruising). It never really got better, but I'm still grinding my teeth too.

I went to a dentist a few days ago for other things and he said that my tooth feels like this because it needs a root canal. He said that a tooth doesn't become loose from grinding unless you have bone loss (unlikely for me because I'm nineteen, he said). Is that true? I was under the impression that you could crack, wear down, AND loosen teeth if you had a teeth-grinding problem. Also--if I need a root canal on this tooth, why wouldn't the other dentist have seen the cavity? He examined it pretty thoroughly (did everything short of an x-ray).

Thanks for any help. I'm really curious about this.

Unless he did an x-ray he wouldn't know if you needed root canal as you can't see the apex of the root or periodontally so you don't know whether there is infection or anything. You needing RCT [root canal treatment] probably doesn't have much to do with the bruxism...unless you have clenched and grinded your teeth so much that the enamel has worn off and exposed the dentine underneath, dentine isn't solid and has little channels which can allow bacteria into the pulp chamber which contains the root canal and the nerve inside it.
The second dentist was right, unless you have bone loss or resorption of the root, your tooth won't wobble from bruxism.
Also, cavities aren't always obvious, there can be lesions on the toth called invaginations which look carious but are where the enamel has mineralised differently. it's nothing to worry about...you just can't really tell unless you have an xray.

Hope that helped...kind of.

good luck
:)