Hi Sheepie,
I am in the dental field and can offer you some help here.
Something you may or may not have been told is that the bubble on the gum that kept occurring was actually caused by the bacteria spreading from the tooth into the jaw bone. The bacteria burrowed a path through the bone and out through the gum. This would release the pressure from the infection and inflammation. if the bubble had not occurred, the area could have swelled up quite large and been quite painful.
When there is a severe long term infection in the jaw bone such as yours, the bone decomposes from the infection and this can be very difficult if not impossible to rebuild. Also, in order to do an apicoectomy procedure a portion of the bone is permanently removed in order to gain access to the root of the tooth. So this needs to be kept in mind since you are considering replacing this tooth with a dental implant.
You wrote <<<The front bone was gone all together but the other 3 sides were good, and apparently I might be ready for implant in 6 weeks. >>>>
Three issues you need to be aware of based on that statement...
The front portion of the bone is called the buccal plate. This bone is the ridge that holds the frame of bone together. Without that bone, the framework collapses. When that portion of the bone is destroyed it does not grow back and cannot be filled in with bone graft material. Therefore to have an implant placed in that site would mean that one side of the implant would only be held in with gum tissue. This is definitely not ideal to say the least. These implants frequently fail.
Second it is never a good idea to place a dental implant 6 weeks post op extraction of posterior teeth as only a very minimum of bone has filled in within that short time frame. The least amount of time to wait post extraction is 3-4 months...minimum. Best to wait 6-9 months to give the bone a chance to fill in so the implant has something to integrate into.
Third, in your case the infection was severe and long standing. There is no way for the dentist to know if he was able to remove all of the infection or not as he could only remove what he could see and feel. It would be wise to have this area x-rayed at 3 month intervals for the first year to check the health of the bone and to see the progression of the growth of bone.
Regarding the infection being in ball, I find that hard to believe. If this had been an acute infection with a short duration, maybe that would hold true. But this area has been infected for 25 years and severe enough to destroy the buccal plate. I think a second opinion from a different oral surgeon would be warranted before you allow anyone to place an implant there.
It is always wise to proceed cautiously whenever you have a bone infection.
I hope information was helpful to you.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheepie
Ok so I had an infection some 25 years ago in upper right number 2 (when I was 15 years old) and had a procedure that I now know to be an Apicoectomy.
I remember on and off having a bubble on the gum, and in the last few months I felt some ache in that area. Visited the dentist and had x-rays to be told that I had an infection on the jaw bone and no alternative but to extract.
Had the extraction today - dentist said it was quite a bad infection but was "self contained in a ball" and all infection got removed.
The front bone was gone all together but the other 3 sides were good, and apparently I might be ready for implant in 6 weeks. They said no anti biotiocs required.
so - the only thing I am concerned about is that the infection is gone - can it all have been in a ball being sucked out?
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