Two years ago I had a root canal on an upper molar. After a couple of months the gum above the tooth became uncomfortable and I went back to the dentist. He gave an oral antibiiotic, removed the crown and placed some topical (stuff) on the root. He said that he had missed one of the four “roots” and would have to go back in if it didn’t clear up. It seemingly did clear up.
However, that was two years ago and since that time my mother passed away, and my wife and I went back to nursing school (we haven’t had the funds to go to the dentist although we floss daily, use mouth wash and hydrogen peroxide rinses too). I’ve noticed when I get a cold that the the gum line above the affected tooth becomes “sensitvive”, but sore. However, last week while we were practicing regional lymphatics the instructor noticed that the upper right hand side of my face was slightly swollen, and there was erythema extending to my mastoid process (this was late in the evening and I had been up for almost 48 hours). I’ve been going on at most three or four hour sleep for weeks now, and am also working about sixty hours a week in addition to nursing school.
I think it’s the tooth, and have taking high dose garlic, sodium naproxin, and some Terramycin we had around the house (a tetracyline meant for farm animals, but which we use sometimes because we cannot afford the doctor and we can obtain the stuff OTC at farm supply stores). In short, I will not be able to afford another root canal (bridge or implant if it comes to an extraction) for at least a year. The above treatments seem to have completely eliminated the swelling. I can still palpate an ever so slight swelling just superior to the affected molar (there is no pain in the tooth since the nerve is removed during a root canal).
How long can I go on with this condition? I am reticent to simply have the tooth pulled without being able to have an implant or bridge because I have read that this will compromise surrounding teeth. Also FYI I’m 35 and in good health except for obesity and borderline hypertension. Will this kill me or place my systemic health at serious risk?
Note that when I say there is still a slight swelling I mean on the gum line superior to the affected tooth NOT the maxilla (although I suppose it could emanate from the bone underneath the gum rather than the soft tissue), but the point is that it’s inside the mouth. There is no remaining swelling visible on the outside.
A friend of the family feared pain in the dentist’s chair so much that when she needed a root canal, she never had the procedure done.
Five years later, the infection had turned into cancer of the jaw, spread to her brain, and killed her before they could do a darn thing about it. :eek:
You may not have the money now, but definitely get it done as soon as you can afford it!
(((Roland Deschain))) for the pain you’re experiencing. Hope it gets better.
Would your dentist who work out payments? Mine does, which is the only reason I now have a crown. Otherwise, I’d probably have let the tooth go until it started hurting (back molar, started falling apart slowly, no pain at all so I ignored it for several years). At that point I think it’d have needed to come out, though it being the back molar it probably would have been okay for that. It certainly would have been cheaper!
I’m pretty sure that tetracycline is the preferred antibiotic for peridontal infections as a 10 day course. So it may be helping keep the infection down. But eventually you are going to have to deal with it.
I suggest talking with your dentist and seeing if they can work out a payment plan. If missing one of the roots was negligence on the part of your dentist he may do the remaining root either free or at a reduced cost.
Also check into dental colleges in your area. The prices are much lower than your regular dentist because the doctors are still in training but are under the direct supervison of an experienced doctor/instructor.
IANAMD, But IME you are in more danger from taking Terramycin in a situation such as you describe here. The indiscriminate use of inappropriate antibiotics often (at least in veterinary medicine) results in resistant infections that are difficult to erradicate.
“Keeping the infection down” is often synonymous with allowing resistant organisms to prosper.
Also, keep in mind that Terramycin from a farm store is not packaged under the same strict setting as drug meant for the human market. You would be surprised at the number of recalls there are for veterinary drugs.
The best suggestion I’ve seen so far is a dental college. You may spend extra time in the chair, but in many cases treatment is free (if the school needs a case such as yours for teaching purposes).
I actually called the only dental college that I know of in Indiana, IUPUI last week. The price for a root canal from a SENIOR student and a new crown (which they say I will need) would be $1,100.00 and they won’t take payments. IF I want a first or second year student the combined price will drop to $850.00, and they still don’t take payments.
My dentist Dr. Shaffer actually said that he would redo the canal at the time if the oral/topical antibiotics didn’t work out (although he said it may ultimately be necessary to refer me to an oral/facial surgeon if redoing the canal didn’t work). However, he also wanted to redo my other, older amalgams which I couldn’t afford. Rather than explain that I couldn’t afford his dental plan, I simply didn’t return his calls. Thus we have lost contact.
The earliest I will be able to afford this procedure is probably next July. I will still be in school, but my wife graduates as an RN this December. When we went back to school our income dropped from about 80K per year to the 15K we are currently trying to survive on (which is to say keep our house, car, and cloth our son, and eat).
I’ve herd that garlic has the advantage of not encouraging resistence in organisms (although it is far less effective than antibioics, and my why constantly complains that I reek of garlic even with the odorless stuff.) If anyone has any alternative treatments that might work, and that are not expensive or dangerous let me know (that will help me last until I can get appropriate treatment).
As far as I know, the most common sites for resistant bacterial infections are the nasal passages and lungs for MRSA and the intestional tract for VRE.
That said, even though you may accidently be using a medication in the right drug class and thus getting some relief from it, self medicating is rarely a good idea. With some antibiotics you risk permanent kidney or hearing damage if not taken and monitored correctly. Or it could be something else entirely like growths and yes even cancer.
If your dentist is willing to do the procedure then let him do it. You are not obligated to let him replace the fillings at that same time. Explain to him that you are in a bit of a money crunch and that you want to have the other work done later when you can afford it.
I seriously doubt that your dentist is going to allow you to suffer without at least trying to work out a payment plan that you can afford. It is just not good business.
If I pass my clinical competencies next week (and thus get my student financial aid money next semester) I may well bite the bullet, swallow my pride and go back to Dr. Schaffer. I wonder is there ANY amount of antibiotics that might make the problem go away entirely? After all the remaining swollen area on the gum line is so small that most clinicians would miss it if they were not intensely comparing my right verses left gum line (indeed I can barely fell it now). If I were a “lab rat” would it be possible to saturate my body with sufficently high levels of antibiotics to wipe out the last bit of infection (without killing me)? Alternatively, I have a buddy who is a radiologist at the IU Medical Center. Could he theoretically “shoot” the affected area after hours with a gamma knife or some other equivalent piece of technology to “cook” the offending bacteria (probably streptococcus mutagens)? I’m talking theoretically here. If President Bush said it was a national priority to eliminate this infection from Chad Jacobs’s mouth without doing another root canal or surgery and without killing him and I don’t care how much it costs, could it be done?
I don’t think it is a neoplasm based etiology because it responded immediately to antibiotics (actually it was about 36 hours). In addition, I didn’t have any swollen lymph nodes, and I am gaining weight despite exercising like a maniac and only sleeping three to four hours per night. In addition, the gum “pocket” just superior to the affected molar WAS about twice it’s current size (although still quite small) and slightly tender with palpation. This is consistent with the previous situation I’ve had for a couple of years it’s just that I haven’t been this run down before.
That really sounds painful, especially when you’re trying to accomplish so many new things on so little sleep.
I pray for your health.
“Ask and you shall receive” is a good maxim in such cases as these. I would indeed go back to your dentist and explain the situation.
Also, there is the foot-in-the-door principle. Go to IUPUI and get an examination. That won’t cost so much. Now people see you, a real person, and become interested in you as a real human being, not just a voice on the phone. Now perhaps they are more willing to accept payments.
I live in Indy too–is there anything I can do to help?
Is there a low income dental or medical clinic where you live? When I lived in Washington, both were accessible through community centers. Here in Massachusetts, it seems every town has a church sponsored clinic. The church near me runs a free dental/medical clinic every Tuesday and the next town over runs one every other Wednesday. The community center run ones in Washington operated on a sliding scale basis but the church based one near me is entirely donation run. I know this doesn’t answer your question, but maybe it’ll help you out.
There are actually at least four such clinics in Indianapolis that I’ve been able to locate. They all say that they offer fillings, cleanings, and their specialty EXTRACTIONS, but not root canals, crowns ect.
I actually consider the affordability of dental care to be something of an issue not just in America, but in most of the world (even in places like the United Kingdom that have socialized medicine, you still have to have bucks to have your teeth worked on). At least with medical care I can always go to Wishard, or Saint Francis (despite not having health insurance) and get treatment (which they will take payments for, even if I am sent to collections). However, with dental care few providers take payments (out side the context of a long standing relationship).
I don’t know what the answer is. One option might be to offer some sort of “alternative licensing” where dentists could go to a two or three year intense “vocational school” that focused strictly on dental skills. Undoubtably this would affect quality of care to some degree (if for no other reason than under the present system only the best and brightest are accepted and graduate from dental school). However, it might at least facilitate greater access to dental care. In any case it would be opposed so extensively by the ADA (and probably the AMA and every other health care interest group on principal) that it has very little chance of passing.
Sorry, I don’t know anything about dentistry, but I do know quite a bit about financial aid, and I can tell you it’s very common for a financial aid office to increase your aid if you can prove large out-of-pocket medical/dental expenses. You would probably need a written estimate of the cost, and you may only get a loan to cover the expenses, but at least you could have a pain-free semester. Wouldn’t hurt to ask at your fin aid office. Good luck.
That’s a pretty good option for next semester so long as I pass my final competencies on Tuesday. Unfortunately, if I fail the practical text (about 10% of the class normally does) I will get an “F” despite having a 97% in the course. This will mean that I will have to repay much of my financial aid for this semester (since they gave me aid for 12 hours and I will have only “passed” eight hours having failed my nursing accessment class). So you say “pass the test”.
That’s good advice and I will try. Unfortunately, a few skills on the test are difficult to study for. For example we are required to palpate the dorsalis pedis, posterial tibial, poplitial, and femoral pulses. My partner is a large body builder and is not very lean right now (like I am one to talk). About 50% of the time I have trouble finding one of his poplitial or femoral pulses (the instructor places her hands where we say to verify that it’s been found). We also have to count the S1 and S2 sounds outloud. Often I have great difficulty in even hearing (let alone counting) his cardiac sounds at the Aortic (2nd ICS, right sternal border) and his Right Atrial ( 4th ICS, right sternal border) areas. My other difficult skill is differentiating bronchial vesicular from vesicular sounds when doing the respiratory ausculations. To me all of his breath sounds, sound like vesicular (in the areas we are auscultating), but the instructor insists she hears bronchovesicular at several of the locations.
The thing is if I fail the practical, it gives me an “F” not just a failure to pass the course (despite the fact that I have a 90% in the course). If they would only give me a C or even a D- (in which case I still couldn’t progress in my nursing courses) at least my financial aid wouldn’t be in jeopardy. It irks me because if I was getting a 77% (it takes a 78% to pass on the written exams) I would not pass the class, BUT would still be assigned a “C-” in the course. However, if I can’t palpate the systolic blood pressure at the brachial artery, I fail with an “F”!
Hi Ronald, you have probably sorted out your root canal - i hope so, but others may not have done.
i had a similar problem. had root canal done years ago and was fine, but recently had one done 3 years ago and then re rooted again in August 2013 and then again sept 2013 and both times pretty horrific. something had gone wrong.
No one would seem to listen to the pain i was in. toothache, jaw, upper and lower and into my ear, which went deaf. never had ear probs before, but they refused to take this on board. swellings on my tongue also. felt yuck all the time. My digestion also upset. Feverish as well.
i treated myself a lot with as i am a natural therapist. This helped immensely, but i still had problems.
i was told to have the tooth out, but resisted this. then i found an endo doc and he looked at my x-rays and said not clear but what was clear was that something was very wrong. he wanted me in for CT scan to identify what had been done. He thought they had drilled into my pallet and so causing extra problems. I found him through Eastman dental hospital in London, where he teaches. its supposed to be the best dentistry in the world. not sure if that is true, but I am following through on this. I have been reading on line some terrible stories about root canal and frankly it has put me off doing this again.
Also teeth are hard to clear the infection from as they have a poor blood supply. that’s why they are hard to tread when infected.
I wish you and anyone else well and healthy who has gone through Root canal work. good luck.
Hope it gets better.