Can an infection from a tooth kill you?
I read this in another board.
I got a root canal started 5 years ago, but enver finished.
The putty fell out last year. One dentist said he wouldn’t canal it, too rotted.
I still haven’t put more putty in, i keep meaning to.
If it gets infected, could it kill me?
Theres no pain, but then again, no nerve so i wouldn’t know.
Someone smart here help me out.
I suggest you get that tooth capped or, if necessary, extracted as soon as possible. Untreated infection in a tooth can indeed progress to the point of killing you, and it can do some other very nasty things along the way. If your root canal was begun but never finished, it’s quite possible that you now have an open canal that goes down to the bone. You don’t want bacteria getting in there.
This page has information about what you can expect when a tooth abscesses.
I believe that tooth/gum infections are thought to increase the likelihood of heart disease.
No cite, go google it yourself.
IANAD.
Any infection, if it gets nasty enough, can eventually kill you if your body doesn’t fight it off.
If your immune system is expending energy fighting something, your body will be more vulnerable to something else.
Haj
I think the other posters are right. Actually if I remember my archeology Ramses II mummy shows a very bad abscess which is believed to have killed him.
I had eaten on it a few times(soft stuff only) but lately it had been sensitive.
I called today and a dentist will extract it next Thursday.
I called our regular dentist who doesn’t do extractions and he gave me a prescription for antibiotics.
So…I shouldn’t worry about dying from it between now and Thursday?
i will worry though.
Just take your antibiotics and relax. You’re getting it taken care of. It’s a very good idea to take antibiotics for a while before dealing with a dental infection, btw. If you can knock it back a bit first, the procedure and recovery will be far less painful.