Re: Recent bad dental experience
- From: "Michael E. Mermigas, DDS" <n1628w@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:27:01 -0400
I agree... Root fragments are left behind on occasion and healing will
usually progress without incident. It sure sounds like a dry socket to
me...
On 7/22/07 11:47 AM, in article
XZKoi.10714$Od7.8429@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Steven Bornfeld"
<dentaltwinmung@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
moshula@xxxxxxx wrote:
Last month an amalgum filling fell out of one of my molars and I saw
a dentist about having it replaced. The dentist indicated that too
much of the tooth was missing and he advised me to have a root canal
performed. He said this was preferable to having the tooth extracted,
in his opinion.
At that time I had no idea of the controversy regarding root canals
(and this post is not actually focused on the root canal itself) but,
especially due to the strong pain and discomfort I had following the
procedure I deceided to do some research about them.
In short, my research convinced me that the best course of action
would be to have the tooth in question extracted, and this was done
two days after the root canal by a dentist who does not use a digital
X-ray system. A traditional X-ray was taken. I'd mentioned the issue
of digital vs traditional dental X-rays to him and he vehemently
denied what the original dentist had told me about digital
radiography, namely, that it results in 80% - 90% less radiation
exposure.
During the extraction the dentist said the tooth broke up into many
pieces. However, he nevertheless did give the extracted tooth to me
after the procedure. In fact, it was actually mostly intact (keeping
in mind that it had not been whole to begin with after the filling had
fallen out) except for one of the roots being missing.
The site of the extracted tooth would have been quite sore just from
the root canal alone, and I clearly understood that the subsequent
extraction wouldn't help in regard to the pain issue. I was put on a
regimen of antibiotics.
After eating something days after the extraction, and while away
from home, I had wrapped a layer of a paper napkin around my clean
index finger to feel if there was any food material in the socket. To
my surprise, I felt a small, hard, loose fragment, which I was able to
fish out of the socket with my finger.
About a week later, after day after day of taking 800 mg Ibruprophen
pills (a fairly strong dosage, I'm led to believe) for the pain, I
decided I really needed to see the dentist who'd extracted the tooth
as I suspected there was another, inaccessible fragment of the
extracted tooth remaining in the socket.
The dentist did what I perceived as a cursory visual inspection of
the site of the extraction and announced that it was healing well,
there was no dry socket. He did not order an X-ray to be taken during
this follow-up visit. I asked if there might be a fragment of the
extracted tooth still remaining in the socket and he indicated no He
did mention about an "edge" of something possible irritating the area,
but never mentioned anything whatsoever about an actual root tip still
being in the site of the extraction. He said that very often a small
fragment of an extracted tooth will remain in the site but eventually
rises (as with the fragment I fished out with my finger)naturally or
else is dissolved. He ended the visit by saying to me, with obvious
annoyance, "You have concerns, concerns, concerns ... " and prescribed
another course of antibiotics.
I thought to myself, "Well, this guy's a trained professional and he
says it looks fine to him and there's no fragment causing my great
pain, so I should just accept what he says."
Another week went by during which I had constant serious pain which
was only temporarily, and not even fully, relieved by taking 800 mg
Ibruprophen pills. I could actually feel the painful site physically
throbbing at times.
I then contacted the original dentist (the one who'd referred me for
the root canal) and requested an appointment. He took a digital X-ray
and indicated that a good-sized piece of one root was still in the
socket, and indeed it's very clearly visible on the apper copies of
the radiograph that I was given. I was given a referral to an oral
surgeon, who -- one day short of three weeks after the original
extraction was performed -- then extracted the 1 and 1/10th cm root
tip that had been left in my mouth when the original extraction was
done. The oral surgeon, upon extracting the root tip, exclaimed, "Wow,
that's quite a chucnk!"
Both the original dentist, as well as the oral surgeon, indicated
bewilderment at how the extracting dentist had not seen this remaining
piece of root.
In sum, I suffered for one day shy of three full weeks with terrible
pain 24/7 that was only partially relieved by strong painkillers.
What do folks here make of this?
While there's no excuse for not recognizing a retained root tip, small
fragments of this size are not usually responsible for pain. It is also
likely that some of the hard fragments were pieces of bone, not tooth.
Of course, having the second procedure extends healing time.
It is likely you suffered from a dry socket, which is no fun (esp. if
this was a lower molar), and this was responsible for the pain.
Steve
.
- References:
- Recent bad dental experience
- From: moshula
- Re: Recent bad dental experience
- From: Steven Bornfeld
- Recent bad dental experience
- Prev by Date: Re: conscience- and the ADA
- Next by Date: Re: Recent bad dental experience
- Previous by thread: Re: Recent bad dental experience
- Next by thread: Re: Recent bad dental experience
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
