Root Canal Retreatment

[Dedpuhl]

I had a root canal treatment on my first bottom-right molar (#30) in 2009 due to a crack in the tooth. It has never felt "right" since the procedure. A year ago I went in to have it looked at by an endodontist. He saw nothing but adjusted the bite slightly. After that, it didn't bother me.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I felt like a had a cold when I woke up. Then, the tooth started throbbing badly. The pain was intense. I called my dentist and he prescribed amoxicillin and 800mg ibuprofin. Monday morning the dentist took some X-rays and it appeared that there was a large root-tip abscess in #31 and signs of infection around the roots of #30. The dentist was concerned and sent me to the endodontist. The endodontist took a look and decided #30 was the culprit, gave me a prescription for vicodin and set the retreatment appointment for Tuesday.

On Tuesday, he numbed me up and drilled through the crown and started removing the filling between the crown and the roots. He says "ah hah" and sees there is a lot of black debris that shouldn't be there. A minute later he says "uh oh, we have a gusher." Puss and blood start flowing into the tooth. He had to stop at that point because the tooth was hot and the lidocaine was effectively neutralized. He prescribed clindamycin in addition to everything else and now I have to wait a week to finish this mess.

Anyone have similar issues like this? How long after releasing the pressure did it take for the tooth to stop hurting? The pain prior to puss removal was easily at 10. Now, it's about 6 w/out painkillers.


Notes:
1. Tooth with prior root canal treatment hurts
2. Pain bad
3. Discovered to be badly infected
4. Waiting to have it fixed

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Damn man, that sucks

 

[sixone]

Yikes.

 

[Quiksilver]

No idea, but if the pain is anything like when I had dry socket. It took a few days for it to completely go away but it did however feel better after the first socket flush.

 

[Dedpuhl]

No idea, but if the pain is anything like when I had dry socket. It took a few days for it to completely go away but it did however feel better after the first socket flush.

I had two dry sockets when I had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted. That pain was horrible but less than what I'm having now.

 

[FoBoT]

sounds normal
when i have had infection before root canals, i have to take 2 vicodin/6 hrs until they drill it out

 

[unokitty]

I have had problems with my teeth. But not something exactly like what you have ...

Nonetheless, with the pressure released and the antibiotics that you are taking, I would expect the pain to lessen over time. Exactly how fast is an individual thing.

But time is on your side.

Best of luck,
Uno

 

[Dedpuhl]

sounds normal
when i have had infection before root canals, i have to take 2 vicodin/6 hrs until they drill it out

I was hoping the pain would go down since there's no nerve in that tooth. Oh well, only 5 days to go for retreatment...

 

[lupi]

I had 1 root canal that was done by what turned out to be an unlicensed quack. Had to have it redone over the years a couple times because of the bad first job, a tiny bit of root was left in that no one could get to. Later I had swelling In the gum near it as it developed an infection in the tooth that managed to seep out. Turns out after being sent tto an endo that the tooth had been worked on so much I had developed micro fractures so that had to yank it

 

[Dedpuhl]

An update...

By Monday (6/11) the pain was mostly gone in the troublesome tooth. I didn't need ibuprofen or Tylenol. On Wednesday morning, I had the root canal retreatment and took Vicodin and ibuprofen the rest of the day.

On Thursday morning the pain was enough to wake me. I've been taking 2x200mg ibuprofen and 1x500mg Tylenol every 5-6 hours. That is enough to substantially kill the pain. Hopefully the pain is gone by the beginning of the week.

I sure hope the pain subsides as I really don't want to think about an apicoectomy or extraction and an implant...

 

[AgentUnknown]

RCT's are not always 100%. They are an attempt to save the tooth. You can still get bacteria in the tooth. Just extract and implant. Sometimes there are canals that aren't even found.

 

[postmortemIA]

RCT's are not always 100%. They are an attempt to save the tooth. You can still get bacteria in the tooth. Just extract and implant. Sometimes there are canals that aren't even found.

Unfortunately true. They make you sign waiver stating that it might go bad and that you will have to take whole root out.

 

[chusteczka]

An infected tooth can spread to the jaw over time. If the abcess returns in 6-8 months, of course evaluate it for treatment but consider removal of tooth 30 and possibly 31. It may be better to remove the teeth than to allow the infection to grow and spread into the jaw.

A friend once had a similar infection that took 4-5 repair attempts before they removed the tooth. By that time, the infection had spread to the jaw and under the tooth next to it, requiring that second tooth to be pulled also. Then the jaw had to be packed to allow the bone to regrow.

Tooth infections are bad because they generate bacteria that may spread through the blood and settle on the heart valves. The bacteria will calcify the heart valves over time, taking 15 years after infection to start showing symptoms, and about 40 years to cause the heart attack.

Clindamycin can give some people digestive problems and rectal bleeding. It is a strong antibiotic and it is recommended to take Lactobacillus acidophilus while taking the antibiotic. This will help preserve the good digestive bacteria in the intestines, and can prevent much discomfort.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lactobacillus/NS_patient-acidophilus

 

[borisvodofsky]

If you eat lots of carbs, make sure to rinse after each meal.. best if you have mouthwash, or some toothpaste.

 

[Dedpuhl]

An infected tooth can spread to the jaw over time. If the abcess returns in 6-8 months, of course evaluate it for treatment but consider removal of tooth 30 and possibly 31. It may be better to remove the teeth than to allow the infection to grow and spread into the jaw.

A friend once had a similar infection that took 4-5 repair attempts before they removed the tooth. By that time, the infection had spread to the jaw and under the tooth next to it, requiring that second tooth to be pulled also. Then the jaw had to be packed to allow the bone to regrow.

Tooth infections are bad because they generate bacteria that may spread through the blood and settle on the heart valves. The bacteria will calcify the heart valves over time, taking 15 years after infection to start showing symptoms, and about 40 years to cause the heart attack.

Clindamycin can give some people digestive problems and rectal bleeding. It is a strong antibiotic and it is recommended to take Lactobacillus acidophilus while taking the antibiotic. This will help preserve the good digestive bacteria in the intestines, and can prevent much discomfort.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lactobacillus/NS_patient-acidophilus

I've talked it over with my endodontist and have considered all the options at this point. The original RCT was done by my dentist and I'm hoping he didn't do a sufficient job the first time. I've read that we should leave molar RCTs to the specialists.

I heard about the reputation of Clindamycin, so I've been taking probiotics a couple hours after each dose.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I've had 3 root canals plus a retreat. One of the root canals had some pressure behind it and felt better immediately after drilling. It was gross when he popped the tooth and it made the whole room stink.

The retreat was for a missed root that branched off. My pain with that one was really only when I bit down on the tooth. Also felt better right after the procedure. Of course you can have some soreness just from the digging and pressure on your jaw, but I think that if you have major pain after the treatment, they may have breached the apex of a root and drilled into the gums/bone.

I have had an issue for probably a year where a spot above the retreated tooth feels swollen sometimes. Dentist has xrayed it a couple times and doesn't see anything though. Also have some jaw tightness and pain on that side. I think I've had so much work done that my jaw muscles/cartilage got damaged a little bit. Basically TMJ.

I may get a 2nd opinion, just to make sure I don't have an abscess lingering above or below one of my teeth on that side. I know that dental infections can have serious long term health effects.

 

[Dedpuhl]

So, I make it through Saturday and Sunday with a pain level of about 2. I didn't even bother taking Ibuprofen or Tylenol. I called the endodontist this morning and explained the situation. They asked me to see them this afternoon.

He examined the area around #30. There was no issue with my bite or tapping the tooth with the instrument. He then pushed on the tooth (actually the gum well below the tooth and next to tongue) and I felt nice, sweet pain. He has put me on antibiotic number 3....Augmentin 875. I must have the infection from hell...

 

[SirStev0]

that sounds not fun.

 

[Dedpuhl]

It seems as though Augmentin has finally gotten the job done. I may make it out of this without paying for an implant. Horray!

 

[zbalat]

I had an endodontist remove a large abscess above #7 in January. I refuse to take pain killers because they make me sick.

The day after the pain was about an 8 then went down pretty quickly.

No pain at all after 4 days.

The pressure was gone immediately.

 

[alien42]

i had a root canal and the dentist left a "burr" or small piece of metal from the drill in the root and didn't remove the entire root.

a few years later, a big abscess starts causing pain and the end result is that root being pulled and me getting a bridge.

i hate dentists.

 

[rasczak]

I miss mosh