Some advice on post RCT please. Panicking.

[explosionsinthesky]

Hello everyone,

can anyone please give me some advice from experience?

About 3 and half weeks ago I had a tooth root canal treated for a long standing infection (9 months to my knowledge but dentist thinks it's been there for more than a year based on xray). It all looks great, the swelling is gone, redness disappeared and there's no pain whatsoever but i'm still very worried and nervous.

The thing is that just prior to getting it crowned I had something that looked like a tiny pinprick sized boil. I mentioned this to the dentist prior to him working on the tooth and he took another xray, probed away, checked everything again and was confident everything was fine and to proceed. He said it's probably just infection clearing away and that he expects it to last for minimum four month but no worries.

Now another two weeks have passed and once again, everything's been looking great, no pain, no swelling, no tenderness but I saw again that tiny pinprick boil like thing on the gums. It's tiny, like a millimetre and not draining, but does look like boil. Obviously I instantly started panicking. I've called dentist and he basically said the same thing. It's early days and the tooth is settling.

Does this make any sense? Has anyone had a similar situation where stuff like this was happening?

I'm just worried that there's till an underlying infection but he's says that this sometimes happens and that as there's no pain or swelling or active draining, this is to be expected as it will take a long time for body to absorb the infection outside tooth.

I know I should probably trust his diagnosis but I've only just moved here and this is the first time he's treating me, and I had really bad experience with a dentist previously and I am still suffering the consequences, so i'm suspicious of everything.

Thank you!

 

[sunnylikesunshine90]

Honestly, I'd seek a second opinion. It makes sense for there to maybe be some redness or slight swelling after a root canal as any dental work can be traumautic to the gums surrounding a tooth, but seeing a boil/abscess doesn't sound like a tooth just settling to me (and I've been in the dentist's chair a hundred times in my life, including four root canals, three crowns, a bridge, and dozens of fillings)

I once had an infected molar tooth for over three years, as my then-dentist liked to pretend that she didn't see the pencil eraser sized abscess on my gums (I really don't know how - the thing was huge, red, and painful). While I got lucky in only having the roots on that tooth calcify, there is always the potential of infection spreading to other teeth and other parts of your body. Now, I'm not a dentist, doctor, or any other medical professional - but the boil that you speak of sounds like its worth getting checked out in person by a different doctor.

 

[explosionsinthesky]

Honestly, I'd seek a second opinion. It makes sense for there to maybe be some redness or slight swelling after a root canal as any dental work can be traumautic to the gums surrounding a tooth, but seeing a boil/abscess doesn't sound like a tooth just settling to me (and I've been in the dentist's chair a hundred times in my life, including four root canals, three crowns, a bridge, and dozens of fillings)

I once had an infected molar tooth for over three years, as my then-dentist liked to pretend that she didn't see the pencil eraser sized abscess on my gums (I really don't know how - the thing was huge, red, and painful). While I got lucky in only having the roots on that tooth calcify, there is always the potential of infection spreading to other teeth and other parts of your body. Now, I'm not a dentist, doctor, or any other medical professional - but the boil that you speak of sounds like its worth getting checked out in person by a different doctor.

thanks for the reply. that is exactly what I've done and it turns out my abscess was misdiagnosed. it was periodontal abscess and not the periapical abscess so that explains what it hasn't cleared even though the RCT was considered successful. It's up in the air now whether I needed it at all but I don't want to think about it now. Hopefully now the issue has been resolved. I still get an all twinge when touching the crown but for some two weeks now there's no swelling or drainage. Fingers crossed

 

[comfortdentist]

periodontal abscess is a bad sign in general. Have you been treated for periodontal disease?

 

[explosionsinthesky]

periodontal abscess is a bad sign in general. Have you been treated for periodontal disease?

well, the dentist said it's currently classed as gum abscess and hasn't requested the root scaling again, pending whether it will go away after he performed a slightly more robust normal scale. Tooth is not loose or anything and it's only from one side with minimal gum recession (2 mm I believe). So far it's been good so we'll see but if it comes back I'll be referred to gum specialist.

To answer your question, I had advanced gingivitis on 4 teeth some 10 years ago. It runs in the family so I expected it. I had root scaling done and follow ups ever since every couple of years. My gums have been fine since due to improved hygiene (floss, interdental plus brushing) but these 4 teeth have always been trouble since they always acted as food traps, especially this tooth where abscess happened. Currently theory it's been caused by food packing the pocket. Xray has shown that there is some bone loss but nothing too bad. Good thing is that since the dentist originally thought it was a different kind of abscess, I got a crown which eradicated the food trap by correcting the margins so not all bad news. To be honest, I was happier to hear that it's been misdiagnosed than that the RCT failed and will have to be redone, as it's the first molar so the prognosis wouldn't be ideal.

Hope this makes sense.