JaySmitty,

There are millions of people who have root canaled teeth. Many have little to no obvious "tooth" symptoms telling them that there is a problem. However, every root canaled tooth remains infected and the bacteria spreads through the blood to other areas of the mouth and the body. Many times the person is ill with other health problems that have originated or correlated with their infected teeth. Unfortunately the person is treated for their other physical symptoms and there asymptomatic tooth infection goes undiagnosed. Every ones immune system is unique in that one person can become ill but never become too sick... while someone else could develop the same illness and become deathly ill.

An example of diseases that are correlated with oral infections that have little to no symptoms until they are severe are.... diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, auto immune disorders, cancer, and other inflammatory conditions.

I know it seems strange to link together a tooth infection with any of those things but the two main issues that connect all of them are 1) chronic infection and 2) chronic inflammation.

Rubbing against your jaw did not "pop" the abscess. It simply stimulated the inflammation that was already brewing in that area. Even if you had not done that, it would only have been a matter of time before the swelling and fistula occurred because you have an abscess. The fistula forms as the pressure from the bacteria burrows a hole or tunnel from the tooth, through the bone and eventually through the gum tissue. This hole or tunnel in the bone is part of the abscess and the longer the infection is present the less likely this area of bone will regenerate even after the tooth is removed. This is a severe infection and the abscess that can be visually seen in your mouth and on the x-ray is the result of the bacteria that will remain inside of the tooth irrelevant of what procedure is done to it. There is no way to drain out the infection because there is no access to the many hundreds of microscopic canals (called dentin tubules) that will continue to harbor infected nerve tissue. The bone cannot become healthy again until the source of the infection is removed, which is the tooth.

Some people who have a lesser infection will not develop an abscess or fistula. But even those people who have the tooth root canaled will still have a chronically infected tooth in their mouth.

Do you have dental problems in general? How many teeth have you had removed and why were they removed? What are your concerns about having a dental implant to replace the upper bicupsid?

Bryanna