Dental Question

[Gunslinger08]

I know, nobody here is an expert, but I'm just asking for opinions.

I started having some severe gum/tooth pain earlier this week. I went to the dentist on Wednesday when I noticed there was a bump growing on my gum and started having pain while biting. He put me on antibiotics which have helped significantly. I no longer feel any pain while biting down. However, the bump has grown into a huge abscess that's taking up about half of the roof of my mouth. My dentist scheduled me for a root canal on the tooth that was experiencing biting pain, but now I'm not entirely sure if that's the right thing to do. I think the tooth pain may have been caused by the abscess in the gum, not an abscess in the tooth/canal. I've read online that there are two types of dental abscesses - gum and tooth. I obviously want to get this right the first time, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this? Obviously, I'll also ask the dentist about it when I see him for the procedure.

 

[woodie1]

Once when I had a bad root there was an abscess/pimple on the gum by the tooth. As I understand it the pimple shows up when bad things are being drained into your system from the rotten root. Sounds like your Dentist is on the right track. Then, again, what the hell do I know.

 

[chusteczka]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
I know, nobody here is an expert, but I'm just asking for opinions.

I started having some severe gum/tooth pain earlier this week. I went to the dentist on Wednesday when I noticed there was a bump growing on my gum and started having pain while biting. He put me on antibiotics which have helped significantly. I no longer feel any pain while biting down. However, the bump has grown into a huge abscess that's taking up about half of the roof of my mouth. My dentist scheduled me for a root canal on the tooth that was experiencing biting pain, but now I'm not entirely sure if that's the right thing to do. I think the tooth pain may have been caused by the abscess in the gum, not an abscess in the tooth/canal. I've read online that there are two types of dental abscesses - gum and tooth. I obviously want to get this right the first time, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this? Obviously, I'll also ask the dentist about it when I see him for the procedure.

Problem
The abscess appears to show an infection in the gum. The problem is to find the source of this infection. It puzzles me that the bump grew into a larger abscess after the antibiotics were taken. I would expect for the abscess to be drainable by squeezing it.

Diagnosis
Did the dentist take any x-rays of the nearby teeth that included the roots?
Did the dentist show you the x-rays and explain what, if anything, was found?

An infection in the bone of the jaw would show in an x-ray as an empty, dark area; since an infection in bone will destroy the bone material around it.

A blind declaration that a root canal is necessary does not appear to be a correct diagnosis. The reason that a root canal is necessary should have been explained. I would not have the work done if the reason for the work was not explained to me.

History
Has any work been recently performed on any of the nearby teeth? Maybe this prior work went bad in some way to cause the current problems. Something as minor as a filling can cause pain when biting if the filling is too large and contacts the opposing tooth with each bite.

My Experience
I have seen a root-canal procedure that perforated the canal and caused an infection in the bone between the two roots of the tooth. No amount of re-cleaning of the root canal ever helped since the root-canal and cleaning occurs inside the root of the tooth while the infection was outside the root of the tooth. The final result was to pull the tooth, clean out the infected material, and place a post once the bone material grew back.

I do not believe there is any need to get a root canal done if the infection is outside of the tooth. This would just be empty, costly, and useless work. I would expect an infection outside of the tooth to require the tooth to be pulled.

I am not aware of other methods to clean an infection in the jaw and I am not qualified in any way to provide any sort of diagnosis.

Warning
Tooth infections are seriously dangerous to your health since the infections produces bacteria that easily travels through the bloodstream. The bacteria eventually reaches the heart, where it can settle on the heart valves and eventually calcify the valves of the heart. Calcification makes the heart valves hard as rocks and the flaps of the heart valves are then unable to seal the heart valve openings with each beat of the heart. Mouth infections cause many, if not most, of heart problems. This is a serious problem that you want to have treated immediately.

You may find yourself visiting numerous specialists in the hope that this one will cure the infection. If the infection is not cleared up soon, my recommendation is to pull the tooth and save yourself the health problems from an attempt to save the tooth. However, I am not qualified to diagnose your problem. I am just sharing the experience I have seen.

 

[Fritzo]

I would trust the dentist.

BTW- an abcess can be fatal...just so you know

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: chusteczka

Originally posted by: joshsquall
I know, nobody here is an expert, but I'm just asking for opinions.

I started having some severe gum/tooth pain earlier this week. I went to the dentist on Wednesday when I noticed there was a bump growing on my gum and started having pain while biting. He put me on antibiotics which have helped significantly. I no longer feel any pain while biting down. However, the bump has grown into a huge abscess that's taking up about half of the roof of my mouth. My dentist scheduled me for a root canal on the tooth that was experiencing biting pain, but now I'm not entirely sure if that's the right thing to do. I think the tooth pain may have been caused by the abscess in the gum, not an abscess in the tooth/canal. I've read online that there are two types of dental abscesses - gum and tooth. I obviously want to get this right the first time, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this? Obviously, I'll also ask the dentist about it when I see him for the procedure.

Problem
The abscess appears to show an infection in the gum. The problem is to find the source of this infection. It puzzles me that the bump grew into a larger abscess after the antibiotics were taken. I would expect for the abscess to be drainable by squeezing it.

Diagnosis
Did the dentist take any x-rays of the nearby teeth that included the roots?
Did the dentist show you the x-rays and explain what, if anything, was found?

An infection in the bone of the jaw would show in an x-ray as an empty, dark area; since an infection in bone will destroy the bone material around it.

A blind declaration that a root canal is necessary does not appear to be a correct diagnosis. The reason that a root canal is necessary should have been explained. I would not have the work done if the reason for the work was not explained to me.

History
Has any work been recently performed on any of the nearby teeth? Maybe this prior work went bad in some way to cause the current problems. Something as minor as a filling can cause pain when biting if the filling is too large and contacts the opposing tooth with each bite.

My Experience
I have seen a root-canal procedure that perforated the canal and caused an infection in the bone between the two roots of the tooth. No amount of re-cleaning of the root canal ever helped since the root-canal and cleaning occurs inside the root of the tooth while the infection was outside the root of the tooth. The final result was to pull the tooth, clean out the infected material, and place a post once the bone material grew back.

I do not believe there is any need to get a root canal done if the infection is outside of the tooth. This would just be empty, costly, and useless work. I would expect an infection outside of the tooth to require the tooth to be pulled.

I am not aware of other methods to clean an infection in the jaw and I am not qualified in any way to provide any sort of diagnosis.

Warning
Tooth infections are seriously dangerous to your health since the infections produces bacteria that easily travels through the bloodstream. The bacteria eventually reaches the heart, where it can settle on the heart valves and eventually calcify the valves of the heart. Calcification makes the heart valves hard as rocks and the flaps of the heart valves are then unable to seal the heart valve openings with each beat of the heart. Mouth infections cause many, if not most, of heart problems. This is a serious problem that you want to have treated immediately.

You may find yourself visiting numerous specialists in the hope that this one will cure the infection. If the infection is not cleared up soon, my recommendation is to pull the tooth and save yourself the health problems from an attempt to save the tooth. However, I am not qualified to diagnose your problem. I am just sharing the experience I have seen.

Do you work in the dental profession or are you a student? Just curious.

OP, it's hard to diagnose over the internet. I do wonder why the Dentist didn't open your tooth so it could drain. (so the gases/pressure could escape.) I do think that would've stopped the swelling from increasing.

Putting you on antibiotics was the right thing to do. They do that prior to a root canal most of the time.

If you have any questions about the dental procedure you are scheduled for you should ask them *before* you have the procedure not at the moment when you are about to sit in the chair. It should be explained to you clearly and in layman's terms. If not, keep asking them to explain to your satisfaction or find a new Dentist.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: chusteczka
I do not believe there is any need to get a root canal done if the infection is outside of the tooth. This would just be empty, costly, and useless work. I would expect an infection outside of the tooth to require the tooth to be pulled.

I am not aware of other methods to clean an infection in the jaw and I am not qualified in any way to provide any sort of diagnosis.

Wait a minute.... do you know what an abscessed tooth is and how it can present itself? It's not unusual to discover a tooth infection first via a "gum boil". the pressure from the infection is trying to find a place to escape, to vent, and thus that is why you see the swelling on the tissue. so to say that seeing the infection outside of the tooth this way warrants an extraction is really a misdiagnoses.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Thanks for the response mosh. From what you've said, I believe my dentist is taking the best course of action. I was worried before that the root canal wouldn't alleviate the problem since the boil was popping out of my gum and the pain in my tooth was gone. Now I see that the pain probably went away because the infection causing inflammation went away and the boil was formed by gases/fluids from the infection escaping through the canals. Is it possible that I'd also need an apicoectomy to remove the abscess itself?

 

[lupi]

The root canal decision should have been made on with the help of an xray, not just a visual exam of the mouth exterior.

If not, then you should have some questions.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: lupi
The root canal decision should have been made on with the help of an xray, not just a visual exam of the mouth exterior.

If not, then you should have some questions.

They took an x-ray. What bothered me at the time was that he didn't seem too convinced until he started pushing on the inside of my gums to see if I felt pain. That's why I thought that maybe I had a gum infection that wasn't caused by an abscessed tooth. I had a filling put in the tooth about 5 months ago and he said that there was probably residual bacteria from that causing the pulp to become infected.

 

[alrocky]

Hope everything turns out okay and that you can have your fill come Thursday next week.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: lupi
The root canal decision should have been made on with the help of an xray, not just a visual exam of the mouth exterior.

If not, then you should have some questions.

They took an x-ray. What bothered me at the time was that he didn't seem too convinced until he started pushing on the inside of my gums to see if I felt pain. That's why I thought that maybe I had a gum infection that wasn't caused by an abscessed tooth. I had a filling put in the tooth about 5 months ago and he said that there was probably residual bacteria from that causing the pulp to become infected.

ask him if it's possible he didn't remove all the decay 5 months ago when he prepared the tooth for the filling. hmmm....

also, in his defense, when you cut into a tooth and get close to the pulp while trying to remove all the decay, you do run the risk of setting up events that can lead to a root canal, but a Dentist should warn you beforehand of that. He should tell you that the decay was very deep and a root canal is a possibility.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Well, the first part of the root canal is over, and the dentist's assessment was definitely correct. When he opened up the tooth, it was the worst smelling thing I've ever smelled in my life. Looks like I had a raging anaerobic bacterial infection in my tooth that was causing all of the problems. He also gave me a mouth wash to help the sore in my mouth heal faster. I'll go back in about two weeks to finish up the root canal and get it filled.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Well, the first part of the root canal is over, and the dentist's assessment was definitely correct. When he opened up the tooth, it was the worst smelling thing I've ever smelled in my life. Looks like I had a raging anaerobic bacterial infection in my tooth that was causing all of the problems. He also gave me a mouth wash to help the sore in my mouth heal faster. I'll go back in about two weeks to finish up the root canal and get it filled.

it's actually the bacteria's "poop" in there that smells so bad.

 

[chusteczka]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: chusteczka

Originally posted by: joshsquall
I know, nobody here is an expert, but I'm just asking for opinions.

...
I do not believe there is any need to get a root canal done if the infection is outside of the tooth. This would just be empty, costly, and useless work. I would expect an infection outside of the tooth to require the tooth to be pulled.

I am not aware of other methods to clean an infection in the jaw and I am not qualified in any way to provide any sort of diagnosis.

...
You may find yourself visiting numerous specialists in the hope that this one will cure the infection. If the infection is not cleared up soon, my recommendation is to pull the tooth and save yourself the health problems from an attempt to save the tooth. However, I am not qualified to diagnose your problem. I am just sharing the experience I have seen.

Do you work in the dental profession or are you a student? Just curious.

OP, it's hard to diagnose over the internet. ...

I am not in the dental profession, Mosh, and I defer to your qualified experience. My line of work is in the IT industry with an engineering degree.

The experience I have seen first hand from my ex-wife is what I have provided in an honest and straight-forward manner. My experience was a botched root canal that led to three or four attempts to clean the resulting infection over a period of five years that had a lasting affect on my ex's health. I stated my opinion twice that I am not qualified. However, I put forth my experience because this is hard-earned experience. I learned not to blindly trust medical practitioners and to always use my own thoughts in making medical decisions based on what is explained to me about the situation. Six years, four cleanings by two different experts, one root-canal, lasting bacteria and other health issues, an eventual extraction, jaw cleaning, and post placement is not worth saving a single tooth. Not to mention the cost for all of this.

A patient should know enough of the choices and possible outcome in a situation to make their own decision. I have found that dentist's are happy to perform a root canal without providing enough information of other possibilities, even if it results in further issues, since further complications often result in more money in their pocket.

I did not know the source of the infection and do not know whether the infection has passed outside the tooth and into the jaw or gum.

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Well, the first part of the root canal is over, and the dentist's assessment was definitely correct. ...

This will not be known until six months from now when no infection returns. I hope the best for your situation and that you and your dentist are correct.