Self draining abcess, how much of a problem?
Discussion
About 5 years ago I was involved in a car accident which involved me smashing a front tooth half out. The remaining half root left in my gum was given a root canal treatment and the remaining stump used to anchor a false tooth on. In the five years since this procedure I've not noticed any adverse effects.
Recently I had to revisit my dentist (I don't do it very often) to have a wisdom tooth removed, and the dentist suggested that I have an X-Ray taken as I never had a proper follow up to the root canal treatment.
The X-Ray showed that I had indeed developed an abcess where the RC had been done, but it had not caused me any pain because the bacteria was/is using the channel left by the RC to drain itself.
Dentist suggested several treatments to remove the abcess and prevent it from returning, all of which sounded either really painful or really expensive.
Seeing as it causing me no grief as it is constantly draining itself, I find motivation to have it treated very low, why would I want to cause myself unnecessary pain?
Is this going to have serious repurcussions in a few years if I leave it? Surely it draining itself is no different to going to the dentist and having them cleaning it out repeatedly? (Lot less painful though!)
What are PH thoughts?
Recently I had to revisit my dentist (I don't do it very often) to have a wisdom tooth removed, and the dentist suggested that I have an X-Ray taken as I never had a proper follow up to the root canal treatment.
The X-Ray showed that I had indeed developed an abcess where the RC had been done, but it had not caused me any pain because the bacteria was/is using the channel left by the RC to drain itself.
Dentist suggested several treatments to remove the abcess and prevent it from returning, all of which sounded either really painful or really expensive.
Seeing as it causing me no grief as it is constantly draining itself, I find motivation to have it treated very low, why would I want to cause myself unnecessary pain?
Is this going to have serious repurcussions in a few years if I leave it? Surely it draining itself is no different to going to the dentist and having them cleaning it out repeatedly? (Lot less painful though!)
What are PH thoughts?
The choices were an expensive (not prohibitively so, but money I'd rather not spend if I don't need to) but 'nicer' treatment at the dental practice or a free proceedure on teh NHS that involved what sounded like major facial reconstructive surgery.
If I NEED to get it sorted I would rather take the first option, although there is no gurantee it will work, and I could just pay £££s to make it worse than it is currently.
The second option really does not bear thinking about.
If I NEED to get it sorted I would rather take the first option, although there is no gurantee it will work, and I could just pay £££s to make it worse than it is currently.
The second option really does not bear thinking about.
Rach* said:
Would you leave an abscess draining from your leg?
Quite.In addition, the presence of bacteria at the end of the root and all the toxins they produce mean that the bone around the root is being resorbed over time. It will get to the point where you may get an infected fluid filled cyst (extremely painful!) or just that so much bone is lost that the tooth starts to wobble about.
At this point if ever you want the tooth replaced by an implant in the future, you may either have to have bone grafting (so even more expense) or an implant may not be possible at all due to too much bone having been lost.
So in the words of a great someone or no-one:
Sort it out! 
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