Re: Two dental puzzles...


Steve Richfie1d wrote:
George wrote:

Thanks for your comments. I have some subsequent questions:

I don't think we are allowed to post attachments, but I have a scanner
that is supposed to be able to scan slides. I'll see if I can get it to
work on the X-rays and email them to you if I am successful.

You could post them somewhere on the Net, like one of these sites who
offer image hosting (tinypic for example), and then post the link here.
This way every dentist here will be able to see them and comment on
them.

On a related note, a decade or so ago I attended a lecture where the
speaker was recommending extracting ALL infected teeth! His explanation
was that it was ever so easy for residual infection to escape detection,
and in the process do long-term damage throughout the body. While this
sounds a bit extreme to me, extracting teeth where simple root canals
have failed seems more reasonable. Do you have any thoughts on this?

The speaker was probably a "biological" dentist relying on the focal
infection theory that was discredited 70 years ago. If a RCT has
failed, extraction of the tooth is certainly a viable option, but
retreatment may also work. I wouldn't worry much about distant
locations in the body becoming affected by infected teeth.
To put this another way: there are people who have chronic ear
infections or chronic problems with their sinuses, but noone has ever
recommended they remove their ears or sinuses.


Yes - an unnatural shape but the only function is to preserve them
indefinitely into the future.

Not COMPLETELY unrestorable - one dentist gave me a $4K estimate for
each with no guarantees. They aren't worth that when I still have most
of my other teeth, but this situation could be VERY different in another
20 years. However, if I simply leave them as they are, they will
probably either decay away or erupt in that time. Both still have their
roots. What I am looking for is really a in-mouth STORAGE plan.

I see your goal here: it is to preserve some structure remaining in
order to restore in the future. I don't know exactly how badly damaged
these teeth are. If most of the crown portion has been lost and it's
only the root that is remaining, you could have any current decay
removed, root canal treatment if needed, and then the top portion of
the tooth sealed with a material like glass ionomer to protect against
further decay. This will not do anything to restore shape or function,
but it could maintain the root there for a long time. Maintaining the
root would preserve bone levels, which would be beneficial if you
decided to restore with implants in the future. But all this depends on
the individual teeth.

Regards,
George

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Two dental puzzles...
    ... In my net browsing, there are plenty of sites that relate other problems, especially heart problems, to dental infection. ... Teeth are MUCH easier to remove, and removing them doesn't significantly disable or disfigure the patient. ... they explain that they are afraid of breaking off the remaining cusp and destroying the tooth. ... but it could maintain the root there for a long time. ...
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  • Re: root-canal + crown follow-up - s.m.d.
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