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External Tooth Root Resorption and Full Mouth Extractions

JJones86

JJones86

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2015
Messages
485
Location
New Mexico, USA
Hi all.

So I was first diagnosed with External Tooth Root Resorption an auto-immune disease in 2018. At that time I had a root canal treatment on the tooth. It was successful at the time. A couple of months ago the tooth started hurting again. My dentist referred me to and endodontist and they referred me to an oral surgeon. The tooth had been attacked by the External Resorption again. The tooth was not able to be saved.

I had double jaw Orthognathic surgery in 2014. I had braces on before, during and after the surgery for 2 1/2 years. In preparation for that surgery I had all four wisdom teeth removed and four others due to over crowding. After that I had 26 healthy teeth left. Since then I've had 18 teeth with mysterious root canal symptoms come up over the years. All of these teeth felt better after the root canal treatments for some time. Now I currently have 7 teeth in my mouth causing me pain. Four of these teeth have never had any dental work done on them. The others have all had previous root canal treatments and crowns when needed, within the last 8-9 years.

I'm starting to wonder if all of these teeth had the External Resorption in the early stages when they had root canal treatments. I'm very concerned that these teeth are being attacked a second time just like the tooth I just had extracted.

I'm debating whether or not I need to have root canal treatments on 3 of these teeth very soon. My follow up appointment with the endodontist is this week. Or whether I should just look into getting all a full mouth extraction soon. I have very few 'healthy' teeth left and most of them are causing me a lot of pain right now. I'm thinking I should do the full mouth extraction and just save myself the pain from these teeth that just don't stay healthy no matter what.

They told me that the tooth that was just extracted had damage to the tooth inside and out, damage to the surrounding gums and if it had been left untreated long enough that the Resorption would spread to my jaw.

I asked the oral surgeon about the long term prognosis of all of my teeth. He said that since this External Resorption is so rare and aggressive that it's hard to know for sure. He said that it was very likely that the External Resorption would likely attack the rest of my teeth one by one. This would cause the need for more root canal treatments followed by extractions over time.

My thought was why go through all these future root canal treatments? Why not just extract all the teeth? I'm tired of being in pain and extreme anxiety about my teeth.

Is it my choice to go through with full mouth extractions? Or does the dentist/oral surgeon have to agree with me and recommend it?

I plan on replacing this recently extracted tooth with an implant and would do the same with any others that need to be extracted.

Please let me know what you think.

Thank you.

JJ
 
Is it my choice to go through with full mouth extractions? Or does the dentist/oral surgeon have to agree with me and recommend it?

Yes and no. They have to agree with you that it's the correct treatment or else they're on the hook for doing it if you subsequently change your mind and sue. You can't give consent to treatment which the dentist "knows" is against your best interest.
 
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