Can a tooth or teeth hurt when the actual source of the pain is in a totally different tooth? And if so, then?

how can the dentist know where the pain really is coming from if an x-ray doesn't reveal anything?

Answers:
Yes it can. It is called referred pain. It can be very frustrating for both patient and Dentist when this sort of thing happens, but it doesn't happen very often. Usually you can work out which tooth is causing the problem by a process of elimination.

Yes, because there are so many different nerves there, which may connect with each other. The nerve system is quite complex. I'm sure there are other ways a dentist can test your nerves for a particular tooth to see which one may be worse. Also, an x-ray can show an inflamed tooth root.
well the pain is called refered pain and can be described as more of a regional pain.majority of the time its not that specific.well the dentist is supposed to use examination techniques to confirm the location of the pain eg.stimulis to hot cold sweet percussion and pressure.hope this helps a little
The way an endodontist (root canal specialist) can tell what tooth is the culprit is to place ice on individual teeth. the affected tooth will become very apparent (it will hurt like hell for a few seconds).
This can be tricky sometimes. We have a bunch of different tests to perform. They are all simple, but if you put together all of the information, it will usually zero in on the source of the pain.

Some tests we use, in plain English, are:

Heat, cold, percussion, biting pressure, palpation, electric pulp test, x-ray. As you are figuring out, the x-ray is sometimes only used to confirm a diagnosis, as it doesn't always show everything.
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