Worried about waiting soo long.

[vero1]

Hi all!! My husband was supposed to have dental clearance before we could get date set up for his aortic valve and root replacement. Well he went to dentist like a month ago and he needed all of this work done, my husband is a big procrastinator, anyway he had a couple of molars pulled out and he's already done with his deep cleaning, he had a root canal a week ago and they didn't give him an appointment for a temporary crown and fitting until March 9, and then after that he will have to wait for crown to come in another 2 weeks so we are looking at about April for surgery my thing is, isn't all of this waiting dangerous. My god, you would think since his cardiologist called the dentist office and let them know he needed to have all of his work done asap they would give him priority appointments. I insist that he goes to a different dentist for the crown, even if his insurance doesn't cover it elsewhere. Also we haven't even met with the team of surgeons that will be performing the surgery yet!! I think I'm going to call his cardiologist and ask him if this isn't dangerous, I mean for him to wait this long. Thank you all for your attention. Veronica.

 

[geebee]

Veronica,
I am assuming he did not have the root canal done at the same dentist who gave him the March 9th appointment? If it is the same dentist, there is no reason on earth they could not have done the temp crown the same day as the root canal. I don't think it's smart to leave a root canal with only the temp filling they use for root canals. That temporary filling is usually very soft and it doesn't take much to crack it and cause infection. This is coming from someone with a mouth full of root canals and crowns.

Even if the root canal was done by another dentist, the urgency should have gotten an appointment prior to March 9th.
However, you do want this work done by a good dentist. The last thing your husband needs is an infected rool canal or ill-fitting crown.

I would talk to your cardio and surgeon and find out how long his surgery can wait before it becomes too dangerous. If it is a very short timeframe, get back with the dentist (or another GOOD one) and insist on talking to the dentist personally and explain the situation. Better yet, go there and talk to them.

Good luck - this is really a hard time but you will get through it.

 

[tobagotwo]

You won't get an appointment with another dentist any faster than that. I would just let that appointment stand. It's just a week away.

If that is the last thing he needed to do at the dentist, then the good news is that once the temporary crown is in, he's good to go as far as dental is concerned for surgery. He doesn't have to wait for the permanent crown.

Placing a permanent crown is not invasive dentistry, and doesn't require antibiotics, or concerns with Coumadin. Actually, placing a temp isn't either, but he'll need something in there to last for a few weeks. A man's gotta eat, although he may not want to for a while. I recently had a temporary crown in for five months, waiting for my insurance year to roll over. If he uses a little care, his temporary should last just fine, too.

Here's the AHA/ACC/ADA skinny on what's problem dentistry, and what's not: http://www.valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?p=106283#post106283post106283

Hold on. He's almost there.

Best wishes,