Lenzi,
Based on your description, yes the bump is a fistula and it is caused by the infected root canaled tooth. It is common for root canaled teeth to develop a fistula when the bacteria inside of the tooth has proliferated beyond the tooth. Dental xrays are only 2 dimensional and may not pick up this infection until it becomes a full blown abscess. However, your problem is VERY common and your dentist should have explained the reason for the fistula.
The fistula appears from the gum but it is actually a very deep bone infection that has burrowed a hole from the tooth through the bone and is now coming through the gum. When the bacteria gets backed up inside the bone it swells up to the the fistula (drainage hole) as a way to release some of the pus. This in no way means that the infection is going away or becoming less severe as it is the tooth that is chronically infected and causing the infection to remain virulent. Antibiotics, re-treatment of a second root canal, an apicoectomy surgery or extraction of the tooth are the options that you would have. The only option that cures the problem is the extraction has it removes the source of the chronic infection. The other options do not favorably alter the infection status inside of the hundreds of microscopic canals which keep the tooth infected. I will attach a diagram of the anatomy of a tooth so you can see the impact that these infected microscopic canals can have on a tooth.
The dentin tubules on the diagram are the thin brown lines that encase the tooth and are marked dentin tubules. They contain dead infected nerve tissue and are not accessible rendering the tooth chronically infected.
It is wise to see an oral surgeon and explain the fistula to him and how long it's been occurring.
BTW.... it's not cancer but it can become a very severe infection which could travel beyond the tooth into the adjacent teeth and so on.
I'm sorry to deliver this news to you..... your dentist really should have been the one to inform you more thoroughly.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lenzi86
Hi! For about 2 months I have had this bump on my gum against a tooth that I had a root canal on 2 years ago. It does not hurt at all. It will fill up and get big and I will push on it, and it will pop and pus and some blood comes out. It then shrinks down for about a week and a half then fills up again until I pop it. I went to my dentist, and he did xrays on the tooth but found no infection on xray. However, the bump wasn't filled up when he did the xray. He said he really didn't know what was causing it and prescribed me antibiotics for 7 days. I took all 7 days (finished it today), but it is still there. It has not filled up again, but the bump is still visible (flat and whitish). After reading other posts, is this a fistula? I am so scared I have oral cancer, though my dentist assured me it was not because oral cancer wouldn't have a sore that has pus that fills up and then goes down. Is this true? Why didn't he see an infection on the xray if it is an infection? I have an appointment with an oral surgeon to look at it, but that isn't for another week. Please help. So scared it is cancer.
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