Mystery flesh removed from gumline of infected tooth (gross. sorry!)

[malee123]

I really can't stand going to the dentist because I've never had a good one. First one screwed up my teeth which resulted in a permanent tooth having to be pulled and the second dentist was a sleazy jerk and I just had bad experiences with him. He made me uncomfortable. It's been 6-7 years since I've seen the dentist and my teeth are really not doing well. I finally worked up the nerve to see the dentist because I have a cavity that got infected care of my wisdom tooth pushing on it. I go tomorrow. Still freaked out about it and not looking forward to the embarrassment over how bad I've let my teeth get. I hate the idea of sedation dentistry because I'd feel even more vulnerable, you know? Either way, I'm going tomorrow, so wish me luck. Big step for me. Anyway, all that is beside the point. I've been on antibiotics until the swelling goes down enough so that they can get in there to fix things. This is where things get gross, and I apologize in advance for this. This morning the swelling was finally down a substantial amount and the reduction in pain allowed me to feel around the area with my tongue. It felt like there was a piece of something stuck between my teeth - you know how it feels when you eat an orange or something and the little citrus pods get stuck between your teeth? It felt exactly like that. I sorta worked at it to get it out and it turned out it wasn't stuck between the teeth, it pulled out from along the gumline of the infected tooth, which made me go, "hmmm?" I looked at what the heck I had pulled out and (once again, sorry for the grossness) and it looked and felt like a small strip of flesh, which was about the length of my tooth (molar). Nothing was bloody or anything, but it seemed to have blood IN it. It was just a small strip, about the diameter of a few pieces of floss. removing it didn't leave any trauma behind or any blood. I'm just curious if anyone has any idea what the heck it was. I'm really freaked out by it and I'm not too keen on describing that gross, gross story to the dentist tomorrow. I'm embarrassed enough as it is about my condition.

 

[Gordon]

Most likely it's a piece of granulation tissue, it quite often forms in the presence of chronic infection. Nothing gross about it, just your wonderful body trying to repair itself under difficult circumstances.