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Infection won't go away ..... what now??

M

morticia52

Junior member
Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
5
Hi everyone,

Can someone please put my mind at rest here, or at least give me some good advice. I recently had a tooth extracted and there was an infection at the root. Afterwards it started to hurt and there was some pus coming out of the gum by the molar next to it. Had a course of Mendrazinole? antibioticts (250 mg 3 times a day for a week) it got a lot better but still not gone completely so was given another course of amoxicillan (250 mg 3 times a day for a week). Still not completely gone so site was flushed out and a little tablet of something was put inside the gum. This seemed to work for a couple of weeks and then I noticed a little bit of pus on the gum again. Had a xray and was told that I could either have a root canal and an extraction of the molar as there was some bacteria round the root of the tooth. I know it's all my fault for leaving the bad tooth there for so long, but I can't help wondering if I shouldn't be given some more antibiotics. I mean, surely the root canal won't magically get rid of the bacteria and if the bacteria is still going to be there surely there's no point in the root canal. Have been told there is no point having more antibiotics they won't do anything. Can someone please explain?
Thanks
 
here's my laywoman's explanation:

You can't cure an infection in a tooth with antibiotics- the blood supply is basically cut off so the antibiotics don't reach the pulp of the tooth where the infection is, the bacteria will continue to feed on the pulp until
a. the tooth is removed or
b. you have a root canal. So yes the root canal is the cure for the infection beacuse the pulp is removed and the tooth is cleaned out of infection.
c. if the root canal doesn't work an apicoectomy may be done

So you may get some temproary relief after a course but the bacteria are still there waiting to strike again and almost always flare back up until treated.

personally, i think it's not unusual to have multiple teeth with problems when you are not getting consistent dental care- so don't beat yourself up too bad, the important thing is you are going now.

Best advice- see an endodontist to do the root canal, especially in a molar that has mutliple canals or a premolar that can be tricky with hidden canals.


rp
 
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