Severe Tooth Abscess, Any Advice?

[KimC]

Hello, everyone!

I know it has been awhile since I?ve posted, but I had a very strange experience today that I wanted to share with you.

I went to the dentist with radiating pain in the area of my left incisor, thinking I had a cavity. The dentist took an x-ray, and sent me to an endodontist who said I needed an emergency root canal. They pre-medicated me with a strong antibiotic and went right to it.

The endodontist said that what he saw inside my tooth was very rare: a large cavity full of ?liquefactive necrosis,? a severe abscess or bacterial infection that had killed the tissue around my tooth. He?s not sure he can save the tooth!

Beyond the shock of possibly losing a front tooth, I?m wondering if this in any way affected my heart. I?ve had a low-grade fever on-and-off for I don?t know how long; my doctor contributed it to inflammation from bronchial asthma flare-ups, but my latest pulmonary function tests were excellent. I?ve been treated with antibiotics several times.

Now I?m wondering. OK, worrying.

I?m taking oral antibiotics. Should I ask my doc to run any other labs as a pre-caution?

Kim

 

[geebee]

I would ask your doctor to do a blood culture just in case. It sounds like you have quite an infection and we all know about tooth infections and the heart.
The low grade fever concerns me. I would have it checked out further.

 

[Karlynn]

Peace of mind is great medicine. Get those cultures done.

Did you lose the tooth?

 

[PJmomrunner]

Hi Kim!

It can't be a simple toothache, huh? It's gotta be "liquefactive necrosis", huh? Sheesh, these four-leaflet overachievers....

Yep, you'd better get a blood culture, sweetie, just to be safe. I'm crossing my fingers for you, so you'd better keep us updated. It's hard to do stuff with your fingers crossed.

BTW, it's good to hear from you even if no news is good news.

 

[KimC]

No, I haven't lost the tooth YET. He said he's going to be very agressive in trying to save it. Next step may be surgery.

Re overachiever, yep. The dentist said as much, too. "You're an exceptional case." Gee, thanks.

I'll keep you posted and send a photo if I lose the tooth!

Blessings,

 

[Ross]

What am I to do with you?

 

[Rebecca]

Hi Kim,
I have had 12 root canals and two redo. All but one was abscess. Root canals are only 90% effective. My 10th root canal was not successful and I had an apicoectomy. It was a back molar and I did lose the tooth because the apicoectomy also was not successful. Apicoectomy is when they clip the end of the root and do the root canal from the root. On my dental x ray you can still see the filling in my jaw. About four years ago I had root canals redone on two front teeth. If they do have to pull front teeth they give you a temporary tooth. When you have root canals done on front teeth they usually don?t crown them. They can do internal beaching of the tooth to help with the graying of the tooth. In years down the road they can rebeach the tooth internally to get it white. For missing teeth you get the $10,000 tooth on a metal screw or you can get a fixed bridge. I will keep you in my prayer. Watch out for a sore on the gum of your abscess tooth. My molar that had the apicoectomy had pericpical granuloma .

 

[JohnnyV_46]

I feel sorry for you...I went to the Emergency room in excruciating pain from an Abcessed tooth. My Blood pressure was sky high and a pain in the whole right side of my head...They gave me Demerol....ooooh, now there's a drug I could get addicted to!.. Ended up having to call out the dentist on an emergency call. He drilled it and opened it up. Immediate relief. I spent 5 saturdays going back to the guy for a root canal and he ended up having to pull the tooth...Aparently the roots of my teeth curve and they can't get those little drills all the way to the bottom. Sheesh...

I have 3 other "Botched" root canals by 2 other specialists! I found a new dentist who I really like. We've got major work to do but I have not seen him since my heart troubles. I hope I can still have the implants that we talked about.

 

[tobagotwo]

Hmmm. Advice? Chew on the other side...

I'm so sorry to hear of your tooth pain. And it seems like after all the care you take, these things happen in a way that most concerns you for your heart's sake. Insidious things.

Have the culture done, so you can fully relax again.

Be well,

 

[tobagotwo]

Johnny V, there shouldn't be any problem getting the implants, especially since you have a moo.

More than that, quiting smoking greatly increases the chances of the implants being successful. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, and robs the gums of blood supply, one of the reasons smokers tend to need gum surgery more often.

Best wishes,