I had a molar that was extremely painful, so the dentist decided to pull it after she had a good look at it. However, this dentist really wanted to pull all my molars. Anyway after pulling it she "scraped out" the infection, desinfected and sewn it up. It healed well and quickly.

I developed similar pain with another molar but went to a different dentist. I inquired first whether, like me, he thinks dentists are for preserving teeth first and foremost, or whether he believes in this new wave of "you don't really need any molars except the foremost two small one's" and "if your insurance has to pay for it, then I don't go for preserving if I believe chances are you will lose the tooth witin five years, ten years tops". He believed in preserving, did a root canal, and somehow sucked out the dirt and left the hole with a bit of cotton in so it could breathe for five days, after which he closed it. This was a year ago and it is fine.

Do you remember the old "funny" pic of someone with a tooth-ache and a dishcloth tied around the head and a swollen cheek? That is what I looked like from the second case I described. Definitely a jaw bone infection. And healed all right. It always heals alright after the tooth is pulled. This second dentist warned me he was not sure it was going to work, I might have to have it pulled anyway, the first one was not even willing to try.

PS: I hope it is clear to you that the root canal does not have to be the cause of the infection, most of the time it is the other way around. It is true also, though, that some dentists do not work hygienically enough. If you are sure that the jawbone infection came after the root-canal, it is possibly the case but not necessarily. Root canal = killing the nerve and removing it and cleaning out the tooth. You can see how this might cause just enough irritation in an area that is already very restless to cause an inflammation to flare up that was latent before. If you have the pockets between the teeth and gums cleaned of plaque, and this results in inflammation, or other treatments that are not as penetrative and it causes inflammation (and/or throatache) you should doubt the hygiene, IMO.