Hello Kimberly!
Well......... thank you for your kind words ;-)
To answer your question..... no I am not a dentist. I have alot of education in the dental field along with 30+ years of chair side assisting. I really do understand the shortcomings of this profession and the fear that most people endure..... so I try my best to help educate people as much as possible.
First to clarify your sick tooth #14...... don't let anyone tell you it became abcessed because it was not crowned. That is a bunch of BS. If the tooth were cracked prior to the root canal, it would have remained cracked. A crown may have covered the crack but the tooth still would have been sick because some amount of infected nerve material is always left behind in the canals after a root canal procedure. So it was not your fault.
I am concerned about your swelling and pain after 7 days. When an abcessed tooth is removed, especially one that has a long standing infection such as a root canaled tooth, it is not always wise to place a BONE graft at the time of the extraction. Sometimes it is better to remove the tooth, debride the bone thoroughly and put the patient on antibiotics. Then in about 2-3 months or so reopen the extraction site and if the bone is healthy, add the bone graft material. To add bone graft material to an infected surgical site will cause pain, swelling and rejection of the graft material. However, there is no way for me to know if your bone was ready for a bone graft or not. Only your dentist can answer that one. Unfortunately, some dentists are in too much of a hurry to just get the procedure done and don't put too much concern into having to readdress the infection later on. Meantime, the patient goes through alot of unnecessary dental pain and procedures.
About the skin grafting and using your cheek as the donor graft?? What????? Are you certain this is what he did? Perhaps he took a piece of oral tissue from either gum area near your palate (roof of your mouth) that you are unaware of? Sometimes they do that and then when they suture the graft over the extraction site, a suture or two or three (!!) gets caught in the cheek tissue. Sometimes the bone level is so low or flat that there is little room to suture the skin graft and they grab some cheek tissue in the suturing process. This is sometimes unavoidable
It can cause a tight, pulling sensation until it heals closed and no, the cheek will not feel like it did before the procedure.
The burning pain may be indicative of either a canker sore that has developed, which is a common occurance, or a sensitivity to the suture material. Are you rinsing with warm salt water? It would be a good idea to do that about 4 times a day especially after each meal and before bed. When do you go back for a post op check?
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by motivate4change
BRYANNA..
U ARE AMAZING! ARE U A DENTIST??
U have so much great information to give to people..and u make everything so understandable...I wish my dentist was like you..explaining everything in detail!! I FEEL SOOOOOOO THANKFUL TO HAVE FOUND U ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD..maybe G'd is sending me an angel to help me through my pain and misery..and worry.
So..here are my questions (and worries)...I hope u can lay my mind to rest.
6 days ago, I had tooth#14 extracted. (This tooth had had a root canal 2-3 yrs prior, {which I never had the crown placed on}, so I developed an abscess in the pulp tissue, most likely from a microscopic crack that had developed in the tooth from not being protected by a crown. However, I actually believe there had been an infection in the pulp tissue, even BEFORE the root canal was done. Too late now, however, to go back in time and try to determine when the abscess had developed, and why.)
Ok..so the tooth was extracted 6 days ago, and the dentist did a bone graft and skin graft on the same day. This dentist did not tell me at all what to expect after the extraction, and he also failed to tell me that he had done a skin graft by taking skin from my cheek and stretching it over the extraction site, to cover the bone graft! PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS IS A NORMAL, AND/OR POPULAR PROCEDURE!!!!!???? I have never heard of such a thing, and the pain and discomfort I am in is being caused by the inflammation and swelling of the cheek skin being stretched out over the extraction site. Not to mention (but I will) that my jaw is in severe pain, and I have bruising and swelling on both the upper and lower jaw and next to the corner of my mouth.
I havent found ANYONE who has had a skin graft over a bone graft, by taking cheek skin and pulling it over an extraction site. Im in misery and very worried that the swelling, and lump of gum tissue that I have connected from the cheek to the extraction site, is going to stay that way indefinitely...swollen, sore, and causing tightness, pain and discomfort to my cheek, upper sinus area and jaw. (I have been told I also have TMJ, but I am starting the think that the problem with tooth #14 was causing alot of my jaw pain, but I am not sure yet.) I have much more jaw pain since this extraction, than I ever had before. (It feels like my sinus area and jaw were hit very hard, and then filled with cement.)
PLEASE tell me if this skin grafting procedure is normal, and, if it is, (which I HOPE it is), how long will it take to heal, feel normal...and will the tissue that is connected from my cheek to my gum over the extraction site, ever look and feel like the other side of my mouth again??
Also..I am having burning where the stitches are...what can I do to relieve the burning pain??
Thank u so much..I will eagerly await your expertise reply!!
Sincerely,
Kimberly (**)
P.S. Ever since this procedure was done, I also have even more of a pulling feeling that goes from my jaw into my throat/thyroid area, which I had before, but not to this extent.
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