nyuszisie,

Please let me try to clarify one more time about root canals...

It is irrelevant of how well the "flawed" procedure is done. There is no way to remove or eliminate the infected nerve tissue inside of a tooth as there is NO access to the microscopic canals that contain dead infected nerve tissue. You can have the procedure done 100 times and the outcome will not change. The ONLY reason root canals are performed is so a person can "retain" not "cure" their infected tooth for an undetermined amount of time.

I cannot answer why dentists do not inform their patients of this fact. Perhaps it is because it is the most profitable form of dentistry and can be done on one tooth many times over. So when someone does not want to remove their infected tooth this is the only "restorative" option. It is not the healthiest option for many, many reasons but it is the persons choice to have it or not to have it.

Why your endodontist is not telling you about the pathology surrounding tooth #14 ... again I cannot answer that question other than to assume that he sold you on the re treatment and the longer you retain this tooth the less likely he will feel obligated to reimburse you the money that you paid to have it done. I am also assuming that you told him you wanted to "save" this tooth which indicated to him that you did not want to remove it.

I have no idea if your general dentist is concerned about the dark area underneath the filling on #31. She had to see it if she looked at the x-ray. I worked for a dentist who had the mindset that if she put in a filling and an x-ray later on showed recurrent decay underneath her filling..... she did not inform the patient of that finding. Instead she may have written in the chart to "watch" it and then she waited until the patient complained about pain in that tooth. Yes, this is wrong to do but unfortunately it is done all of the time.

There is always a possibility of a sinus perforation or communication when an upper tooth is extracted. Especially one that has been root canaled as the bacteria spreads beyond the tooth and can travel into the sinus. The longer the tooth is present the further the bacteria will spread. I know this is not pleasant to hear and I understand the BS you are dealing with from your dentists. I wish I could make it better for you. However, the only thing I can do for you is to inform you of the truth and prompt you to read the articles that I have provided on this site so that you are able to make better informed decisions about your dental care.

Tooth #14 has several problems and they go beyond just the tooth. This will be a complicated extraction in that it will require a lot of surgical clean up to remove the pathology in the bone. This does not mean it will be painful, it just means that it is not a simple quick extraction.

I want to make something perfectly clear...
The term "saving" when pertaining to any procedure associated with an infected tooth means nothing more than "retaining".