Infected Retained Root Tip?

[bleeb]

Hello.

In January of 2012 I had an infected lower left wisdom tooth - I was in pain for 3 months and hadn't slept in 4 days when I finally found a dentist. He immediately numbed me up and extracted the wisdom tooth to get me out of such pain.

unfortunately, he left a small root fragment (about 2mm or less he says). He said it should heal just fine that the benefits to extracting it didn't outweigh the risks.

Flash forward to today (March of 2014) and since November I've been having some pain in the jaw area that radiates to my ear. The pain feels like it's on the outside of my jaw right under the area that the tooth was removed. I notice it a lot when I lay down.

In December the dentist took a panoramic xray and said the root tip looked fine and he didn't know what was wrong.

The root is very close if not right on the main nerve there - so my question - could it just be that it's messing with the nerve? If it's infected will it indeed show on the x-ray? What are the chances that it is infected?

Finally, if it is infected and I go to to OS to have it removed, is the procedure one that will cause long term effects?

Thanks,
Bb

 

[rob wain]

The root is very close if not right on the main nerve there - so my question - could it just be that it's messing with the nerve?
only if its infected

If it's infected will it indeed show on the x-ray? probably though not definitely
What are the chances that it is infected? relatively low if it looks ok on xray

Finally, if it is infected and I go to to OS to have it removed, is the procedure one that will cause long term effects? - possible risk of nerve damage which is probably why the last dentist didn't go digging for it.

a scan (cbct) would give a better idea of any infection as well as showing how close the tip is to the nerve. This may also show any other causes of the problem.