Tooth abscess question.

Betty-ireland

Woke up Monday morning with a slighlty swollen jaw and pretty bad pain in that area. Rang dentist who said to get anti-biotics from my do and go see them when swelling is gone down. Was at work so didn't get anti-biotics until yesterday morning. Took 3 yesterday, had an ok night pain and sleep wise last night. Not in as much pain this morning at all but the swelling has gotten worse. Normal or should I ring doc or dentist?

Oral Surgeon

Betty-ireland wrote: »

Woke up Monday morning with a slighlty swollen jaw and pretty bad pain in that area. Rang dentist who said to get anti-biotics from my do and go see them when swelling is gone down. Was at work so didn't get anti-biotics until yesterday morning. Took 3 yesterday, had an ok night pain and sleep wise last night. Not in as much pain this morning at all but the swelling has gotten worse. Normal or should I ring doc or dentist?

IMO it is always best to see your dentist when the problem is present as then the cause can be established with more certainity. What happens next week when you see your dentist; the antibiotics have done their job so the infection is gone, you may have 2 dodgy teeth in that area, maybe an impacted wisdom tooth too.... how do you tell now what caused it...?? what do you treat?? It could be your glands too etc etc....

You should not be in the situation where you are now wondering what to do and who to see.... If your dentist will not see you, find one who will- it doesn't matter how busy I am, if someone rings with an infection I see them that day....

Betty-ireland

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

IMO it is always best to see your dentist when the problem is present as then the cause can be established with more certainity. What happens next week when you see your dentist; the antibiotics have done their job so the infection is gone, you may have 2 dodgy teeth in that area, maybe an impacted wisdom tooth too.... how do you tell now what caused it...?? what do you treat?? It could be your glands too etc etc....

You should not be in the situation where you are now wondering what to do and who to see.... If your dentist will not see you, find one who will- it doesn't matter how busy I am, if someone rings with an infection I see them that day....

just a follow on. seen the dentist.she took a quick look told me I'll need a root canal or an extraction. told me to make up my mind by today and come back to start treatment. overall not happy. im nearly 6 months pregnant and to be honest would rather not do either til after baby is born. asked was there a temporary solution and was told no.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

The infection in your tooth is getting into you blood, that not good for your baby either. Dental treatment is the lesser of two evils. The dentist can do a first stage root canal safely or an extraction safely. There is no other temporary measure (fillings etc) that doesn't risk a big flareup, when it gets to swollen jaws the game is up, root canal or extraction but best make up you mind soon.

Oral Surgeon

Betty-ireland wrote: »

just a follow on. seen the dentist.she took a quick look told me I'll need a root canal or an extraction. told me to make up my mind by today and come back to start treatment. overall not happy. im nearly 6 months pregnant and to be honest would rather not do either til after baby is born. asked was there a temporary solution and was told no.

There's nothing to be happy about op but best to get some treatment... If not you risk a flare up once or many times in your pregnancy. Also you don't want to be taking multiple courses of antibiotics on the meantime...
Good luck
Os

FREETV

Betty-ireland wrote: »

just a follow on. seen the dentist.she took a quick look told me I'll need a root canal or an extraction. told me to make up my mind by today and come back to start treatment. overall not happy. im nearly 6 months pregnant and to be honest would rather not do either til after baby is born. asked was there a temporary solution and was told no.

The only modern safe and proper way to remove the bacteria is for a dentist to use a CO2 Laser, otherwise the bacteria will remain under a crown after a root canal is done, ozonation may work also but from my research root canals can be very dangerous as the bacteria can spread. My root canal lasted a week and had no choice but to have a wisdom tooth extracted, my crown only lasted six months and I could smell the bacteria and taste it underneath it so they are useless also.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

FREETV wrote: »

The only modern safe and proper way to remove the bacteria is for a dentist to use a CO2 Laser, otherwise the bacteria will remain under a crown after a root canal is done, ozonation may work also but from my research root canals can be very dangerous as the bacteria can spread. My root canal lasted a week and had no choice but to have a wisdom tooth extracted, my crown only lasted six months and I could smell the bacteria and taste it underneath it so they are useless also.

Oh good god no, this is totally wrong.

Oral Surgeon

FREETV wrote: »

The only modern safe and proper way to remove the bacteria is for a dentist to use a CO2 Laser, otherwise the bacteria will remain under a crown after a root canal is done, ozonation may work also but from my research root canals can be very dangerous as the bacteria can spread. My root canal lasted a week and had no choice but to have a wisdom tooth extracted, my crown only lasted six months and I could smell the bacteria and taste it underneath it so they are useless also.

Total BS

Betty-ireland

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Total BS

wow. ok so had been planning on getting tooth removed next week but swelling is back. barely noticeable but not sore....yet.
being pregnant i want this sorted asap. would i be foolish to get it pulled later today. will it hurt more if i do?

FREETV

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Total BS

Amazing as a top US dentist told me that they use that technology there and it works. Why else would he use it and tell me? Sorry but the evidence is out there for anyone to read. I wouldn't get a root canal done if I was paid a million euro.

FREETV

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Total BS

Toxicology isn't your department or main expertise so why would you say that?

FREETV

Anyway, I won't argue or disrespect anybody involved in dentistry so Happy New Year to everyone involved in this thread. Hope that I didn't cause offence.

Big_G

FREETV wrote: »

Amazing as a top US dentist told me that they use that technology there and it works. Why else would he use it and tell me? Sorry but the evidence is out there for anyone to read. I wouldn't get a root canal done if I was paid a million euro.

Well, he's just wrong because its not the only way to perform root canal therapy. The most common way is using chemo mechanical preparation. PIPS (using a laser) is very new and is not well studied yet. As far as the evidence that is there for everyone to read, it says that root canal therapy has between 68 and 85 percent success rate Systematic review of root canal therapy outcome. I would expect a specialist endodontist to achieve a success rate >90%, consistently.

As far as your root canal lasting a week and needing a wisdom tooth extracted, that whole sentence does not make sense. Maybe you had an infection that lasted a week and you needed a wisdom tooth extracted?

As far as crowns not working, again you are wrong, they are a very successful and proven treatment and in fact we use them to provide a bacteriological seal after successful root canal therapy particularly in back teeth. Six times more likely to lose a root canal treated back tooth without a crown.

My advice would be to leave the dental advice to qualified professionals such as the two with postgraduate degrees in dentistry that just contradicted you.

helimachoptor

Have had 2 RCs done with none of this fangdangled laser stuff.. I'm still alive

btkm8unsl0w5r4

FREETV wrote: »

Amazing as a top US dentist told me that they use that technology there and it works. Why else would he use it and tell me?

The fact is that is not the only modern or safe way to remove bacteria from a root canal, in fact it is not even the best way, brcause lasers have a hard time going round corners, and most teeth have curved root canals at the tips. The reason you were told this was to impress you and sell you treatment possibly at an unnecessary premium. I know quite a few american trained root canal specialists and none of them use "lasers" routinely in their practice and they get top class results. Sometimes the laser is used to heat/energize liquid irrigation, but using a 20k laser to do the same thing as preheating irrigant in the microwave and using a ultrasonic tip is silly and unnecessary expensive for patients.

Lasers get trotted out from time to time, usually by dentists trying to differentiate their practice from other similar practices. Usually they will just have bought a laser and be enthusiastic about its use (not a bad thing really). While lasers have some uses in dentistry (soft tissue surgery) they are limited due to the heat generated, safety concerns, cost/benefit, and the fact that they answer a question nobody is really asking.

FREETV

helimachoptor wrote: »

Have had 2 RCs done with none of this fangdangled laser stuff.. I'm still alive

Good to hear as I had the usual method done and it didn't last for me unfortunately.

FREETV

Big_G wrote: »

Well, he's just wrong because its not the only way to perform root canal therapy. The most common way is using chemo mechanical preparation. PIPS (using a laser) is very new and is not well studied yet. As far as the evidence that is there for everyone to read, it says that root canal therapy has between 68 and 85 percent success rate Systematic review of root canal therapy outcome. I would expect a specialist endodontist to achieve a success rate >90%, consistently.

As far as your root canal lasting a week and needing a wisdom tooth extracted, that whole sentence does not make sense. Maybe you had an infection that lasted a week and you needed a wisdom tooth extracted?

As far as crowns not working, again you are wrong, they are a very successful and proven treatment and in fact we use them to provide a bacteriological seal after successful root canal therapy particularly in back teeth. Six times more likely to lose a root canal treated back tooth without a crown.

My advice would be to leave the dental advice to qualified professionals such as the two with postgraduate degrees in dentistry that just contradicted you.

I had to take antibiotics for two weeks before the root canal was done but the root canal wasn't successful and there was intense pain so had to get the wisdom tooth extracted as I couldn't sleep for two days. The crown lasted a very short space of time as it came loose. Lost the crown shortly afterwards when moving.

Oral Surgeon

FREETV wrote: »

I had to take antibiotics for two weeks before the root canal was done but the root canal wasn't successful and there was intense pain so had to get the wisdom tooth extracted as I couldn't sleep for two days. The crown lasted a very short space of time as it came loose. Lost the crown shortly afterwards when moving.

Generally, dentists don't root canal wisdom teeth as they tend to be impacted with odd root canal shapes and numbers, access can be very difficult... There are exceptions....

I suspect that you had a decayed wisdom tooth with an abscess or pulpitis, your dentist did a pulpotomy/ first stage root canal to get you out of pain temporarily before arranging the enviable extraction....

FREETV

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Generally, dentists don't root canal wisdom teeth as they tend to be impacted with odd root canal shapes and numbers, access can be very difficult... There are exceptions....

I suspect that you had a decayed wisdom tooth with an abscess or pulpitis, your dentist did a pulpotomy/ first stage root canal to get you out of pain temporarily before arranging the enviable extraction....

It was the most painful extraction ever as puss was still remaining under the roots. I had to take Ponstan immediately afterwards.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Dont really know what your experience is adding to the original question except to say that the OP should find a good dentist that knows how to do a root canal properly, do a crown properly, and take out a tooth with proper anesthetic.

buddygit

I know this thread has not been active for a while - but I have a problem.

Had 2 teeth extracted last year due to 2 abscess and also due to immune suppressants which I have to take for a long term Illness - I attend my wonderful dentist every six months and he has really dealt with all my problems in a very kind way. I now feel the same sort of pain occurring on the other side of my mouth - no swelling but fear yet another abscess. What I would like to know is what are my options after the teeth are removed. I will then have no pre-molars left. I am 55 and have been on a lot of medication for over 20 years.

Thanks.
Mary