Tag Archives: root canal failure

Emergency Dentist

Surgeon Won’t Take OUt Both My Teeth

I am very frustrated. I had a root canal treatment that I think has failed and the tooth needs to be removed. Near that, I have an impacted wisdom tooth that my dentist says is infected and he thinks needs to be removed. I am fine with that, but he refuses to remove the tooth on which I had the root canal treatment. Shouldn’t I be the one to decide that? I’m refusing the procedure because I do not want to do them separately and I am certain the other needs to be removed. What do you recommend I say to convince him to do both teeth?

Linda

Dear Linda,

I want you to be very careful here. An infected tooth is nothing to mess around with. It appears your dentist feels very strongly that this wisdom tooth IS, in fact, infected. If you think about how close your jaw is to your throat (which could swell up and close), heart, and brain, you definitely do not want this infection to spread. This is one of the reasons we consider tooth infection a dental emergency.

So, if your dentist is trying to get you to remove one tooth, why not two? He’d certainly make more money if he did. The only reason I can think of is that your dentist does not believe the tooth with the root canal treatment is infected and he has too much integrity to take your money on a tooth that is saveable.

I am sure if you searched you would find a dentist willing to remove both. While you do not have to replace an extracted wisdom tooth. The other tooth will need to be replaced. This will give the dentist even more money, especially if you choose to get the best tooth replacement option, a dental implant.

If you choose not to replace it, the other adjacent teeth will either shift or tip into the tooth’s empty space. This will throw your bite off and can lead to painful TMJ Disorder.

The fact that your dentist is not wanting to remove this tooth and gain all this extra money tells me your tooth is healthy and you have a dentist of great integrity. I’d stick with him.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentists Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.

Emergency Dentist

Root Canal FAilure

I’m a bit worried about something. I had a root canal treatment done about 3 years ago. About a month ago it started hurting. My dentist did a retreatment. A week later the pain increased quite a bit. I called him and he prescribed an antibiotic. It started to feel a bit better but now it is worse again. I called his office again and he said to give it time, some people take longer to heal than others. I am in tremendous pain. Is he right about this? If so, how much is a reasonable amount of time to give it?

Nicole

Dear Nicole,

Something isn’t right with how your dentist is handling this. It appeared like you said that your pain went down and then started back up. This is a clear signal you still have an infected tooth.

Though root canal treatments are successful about 95% of the time, when it does fail, the chances of a re-treatment being successful go down with each successive try.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying. It is always better to save a tooth whenever possible. I would consider your situation a dental emergency. This infection will continue to spread. Dental infections can turn life-threatening because they are so close to your heart, brain, and lungs.

Because of the severity of your situation, I am going to suggest that you call a prosthodontist. These are root canal experts. Explain the situation when you call. They will likely try to get you in right away. If they can’t, make sure they call in a new, different antibiotic for you.

If it turns out the prosthodontist tells you the tooth can’t be saved, then extraction will be the only option. When that happens, you will need replace the tooth. Ideally, you’d get a dental implant for that as it will help preserve the underlying bone structure.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentists Drs. Thimmesch and Foreman.