Very nervous about recent RCT

[explosionsinthesky]

I apologise for posting another question - I am very nervous and scared so I just wanted to ask in case someone can give me an opinion before I go to dentist tomorrow.

As some of you might remember, I had an RCT on a upper first moral because of a long standing infection (9 months due to moving to another country and not having access to dentist). RCT was performed two weeks ago now, all in one go and instantly the swelling went down, fistula continued draining slighty for a day, then stopped and looked like it disappeared completely. Gums have all but returned to normal colour and don't look angry anymore, slight more red than usual but nearly the same as gums around it. I have no pain, no swelling, the area above the tooth was a bit tender but tenderness almost completely disappeared now and I can only feel an occasional twinge but that's about it. I can even bite on it without any pain whatsoever but am avoiding it because of temp filling.

Now looking at the mirror tonight I can see a small while bubble on the exact place where the fistula was. It's really small, not like the boil I had before, but my missus had a look and think it looks like it's a proper boil and not some scar. It's some two millimeters in diameter or less.

Now I'm scared that the infection is still there and that rct has failed and that I will have to have my tooth extracted after all. Does anyone know is that the case? I've searched the forum and read that sometimes it takes a while for the infection to clear and that this sort of thing can happen but could it happen two weeks after the rct? would infection clear by then?

This is so disheartening for me, and I feel so sad. I was so hoping it will work well since it looked like for two weeks there was good progress Many thanks for your advice. I will let you know tomorrow evening what the dentist said.

 

[explosionsinthesky]

Hi,

I've just been to have crown placed on the tooth and I've raised with him that on two occasions I've seen a bit of pus or a tiny boil. He looked at the gums, probed around and took another xray and eventually said that thinks that everything looks like it should look, that he can't see swelling or inflammation, all looks healthy, and that it's a good sign that I have no pain at all. All according to book. He said that it's probably just an infection still clearing up and expects it to go for quite a while longer. He mentioned that we can only know for sure 4-5 months down the line whether the RCT was definite success so we'll keep an eye on it.

At the end he said that he feels confident enough by what he's seen to have the tooth crowned so he's done it and it feels great. It's first molar, so it looks huge but much nicer than my old battered tooth. No pain so far!

For incredibly nice dentists here, does this make sense at all?

 

[explosionsinthesky]

I just saw a fair bit of drainage through the place where the fistula was. I didn't look like pus, more like clear water but definitely white-ish. ugh. I'm really worried. The area is not raised, doesn't look red, no boil, just exactly the same place where the fistula was when I originally had the abscess.

As I've mentioned above I've raised this earlier today with dentist and he said that it was the infection clearing. Can it still do that two weeks after RCT? He said yes, it might continue draining, mentioned it could take months (3-4) to clear as it was big long standing infection. Anyone please, does this make sense?

 

[gentledental]

If you still have infection there then I don't think a crown is a sensible option. Best wait a few months and reassess a few months down the line. If the dentist is so sure.... will he guarantee to redo it you are experiencing problems after it is fitted?

 

[explosionsinthesky]

Thank you sir. unfortunately, you confirmed what I suspected, it just seems to make sense. There was no drainage at all yesterday but I can see a tiny pinprick of white so I imagine something must be producing it so traces of infection must be present.

To answer your question, yes, he has to redo it as it's NHS so there's 12 months warranty on the works but since the entire treatment was on NHS it's not so much about the cost but about the possible further damage to the tooth.

To be fair, I think dentist was doing his best. He looked worried when I told him that I saw pus but when he had a look on the day there was no drainage at all - that small boil I've seen in the morning has disappeared by the time I got to appointment and he only had my word for it (and you know how it is with anxious patients! he probably thought I was panicking for no reason, as usual!) so when he prodded the area and has done a check it was probably all looking good. He then checked the xray and thought the root canal was also looking good. There was no draining at the time, no pus - it only started properly when I got home. To make matters even stranger, the area where the draining occurred really doesn't look any different than gums around it - no swelling, no pain or anything.

Thank you once again, you are incredible help and I'm so grateful for you taking the time to answer.