Hi Cc83,

I am in the dental field and can offer you some information here. So sorry for my delay in replying to you.

First let me inform you that the crown work, root canal therapies and crown lengthening procedure were heroic efforts, not healthy or helpful just heroic, to retain a very infected tooth. None of those procedures could in any way have cured the infection brewing in that tooth. As ridiculous as this sounds, dentists are educated to "retain" teeth, even those that are infected. So unfortunately, in performing all of those traumatic procedures, further damage and inflammation was caused to not just the tooth, but the bone around it. On top of that you developed a dry socket which was to be expected given the degree of trauma in that area.

There is a good possibility that as this site heals, you will have quite a bit of bone loss. During the healing you can experience referred pain in the adjacent teeth or up into the jaw... ear.. etc. At any rate, this type of dental situation will take a very long time to heal. But it needs to be monitored periodically, every 6-8 weeks for a few months, with an xray to be sure that there is no recurrence of infection.

I would avoid eating on that side of your mouth and especially avoid eating anything that requires a lot of chewing. Your jaw bone is trying to repair from a lot of trauma and it needs to rest.

If it is at the 6 week mark, I would go in for an evaluation and a post op periapical xray.

Hope this information is helpful to you.
Bryanna








She tried to put it in on but I was in great pain. I had 2 root canals and took clindamycin for infection. After the temp was put on it had to come off the same day due to intense pain. After waiting for the gums to heal the new crown was finally put on with permanent cement. Fast forward to Oct. It came off and I went for gum lengethning surgery. I was in so much pain I went to an oral surgeon who pulled the tooth. He said I had an infection and I went on 2 more rounds of antibiotcs. I also developed terrible dry socket almost immediately. A covering doctor packed the site and the os packed for about 2 weeks post extraction. The os says the site is healing but I cannot eat on that side at all and I am highly sensitive in that area. I have pain in that area, pain that goes down in my jaw and neck. Pain gets worse with cold weather. Also the site seemed to finally start to grow over from the side near the cheek but has stopped growing. From the outside the area looks pink and healthy. I'm about 6 weeks out from the surgeries. Should I get a 2nd opinion or continue to be patient in pain?[/QUOTE]