Sort-of Told Off My Dentist

[KimC]

Hello,

The good news is that I had the root canal without complication.

The sort-of bad news is that I lost it afterwards. My endodontist said he couldn?t ?logically? correlate my symptoms (referred-type pain in the jaw and neck) with the abscess, and that I was probably experiencing angina. The etiology of referred pain is difficult to diagnose, but what gets me is that the dentist gave me the classic Father Knows Best attitude.

I said, "Experientially, I can correlate treatment with resolution of pain!" There is no question in my mind at least that treating the infection ?cured? the persistent pain in my jaw and neck.

The type of pain reproduced during my heart catherization, and diagnosed as endothelial dysfunction or small vessel disease, radiates deep into the left side of my chest and arm. I know angina can present in the jaw, tooth and face but I find it too much of a coincidence that the pain in those areas went away with dental treatment. I?m feeling better but am a little irked with myself that I didn?t ask my dentist for an x-ray six months ago!

As far as testing goes for endocarditis, we?re ?waiting-and-seeing? if the fever returns after antibiotic treatment. More than likely, I?m fine.

Best,

 

[aussigal]

Oh good...
glad you got the nasty-bugs outta your tooth...

I agree with you too...a rotten tooth can cause horrid unrelenting pain...

...maybe he's never had a tooth die on him on the weekend

...I ATE a packet of nurofen once upon a time to CURE an infected tooth ..needed an extraction...and it hurt to the bone

 

[hensylee]

I think you are smarter than he is, Kim. It's good to hear that your discomfort has dissipated with the treatment. THEY always know better than we, don't they? UGH And so we are not sposed to question?

 

[Karlynn]

Ooo, I just hate that Father Knows Best attitude. Seen it too many times, mostly from doctors that messed me up. (Not saying your doc is.)

Just a question - do you always run a fever with endocarditis? If you don't, then looking for a return of a fever after antibiotics are done doesn't seem the best bench mark. I'd push for a test anyway. It's near the end of the year, your insurance deductible has been met a LONG time ago. Can't they just test so you aren't left guessing or what-if-ing? (Unless the test is invasive and carries risks)

 

[Ross]

diagnosed as endothelial dysfunction

Are you going to make me go study this term? More big words for little things. GRRRRRRRRRRRR.

 

[Rebecca]

Hi Kim,
I hope your endodontist does an x-ray of your tooth in six months to see it the shadows have disappeared in the x rays. An abscess tooth takes time to heal. It your tooth turns gray it can be beach from the inside of the tooth. My root canal of my front tooth lasted 30 years before it became infected again and needed another root canal. My last three root canal my endodontist did x rays after six months to see if they had heal properly.

 

[KimC]

Endothelial Dysfunction

Endothelial Dysfunction

Thank you ... yes, I'm going back in a year for a check-up on the tooth.

Karlynn, the "FKBA" is something I've now learned to COMBAT through education. I did convince my endodontist that textbook cases are just that.
Everyone's different. Get me on my soapbox! (BTW, I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT THAT I SPENT A DAY WITH MICK! So funny. I'm not kidding).

Ross, ENDOTHELIAL DYSFUNCTION is a newly discovered blood vessel disease that affects the small blood vessels, causing them to constrict or not dilate normally. The result is ischemia (lack of Oxygen to the heart muscle), and chest pain. I was diagnosed after an invasive cath, but the latest is a non-invasive hand-grip test may reveal the dysfunction.

Some doctors believe the prognosis for ED is similar to CAD; others think its more benign. My "team" at the Univ. of Florida has reported that the "event rate" is the same as CAD. Small vessel disease can lead to heart failure, heart attack, stroke and renal failure ... all the lovely complications of any cardiovascular disease.

It's a new disease and like any new disease, there's a debate about its etiology and prognosis. I've heard ED's related to metabolic syndrome.

In the past and in general, women who experienced chest pain but tested normally during a heart cath were sent home and treated as if their pain was psychosomatic. After the NIH was given the largest grant in US history to research female-pattern heart disease, we now know that about 30% of women who experience chest pain and test negative for CAD (plaques) have ED.

I think but am not sure that my own leaky valves were due to ED which caused a mild cardiomyopathy during my last pregnancy. (I don't have a bi-cuspid aortic valve).

Cheers,