Hi There
I seem to have got myself in somewhat of a bind.
Next week I am scheduled to get a Spinal Cord Stimulator put into my lower spine.
I have never in my life had dental issues. I'm 46.
As fate would have it however, tooth #19 (molar) decides to act up. No pain or anything, but in the past several months have noticed food continually getting caught. Being dentally "naive" I didn't think much of it.
Visit to the dentist revealed that it is a substantial issue, requiring root canal. So, I go to get the root canal done, but the Endodontist only did a partial root canal because he doubts my tooth can be saved. He put in temporary filling and told me to talk to my family dentist about my options.

When I went in to do my 'pre-surgical' medical workup, I find out that getting dental work in the same timeframe of a surgery is a no no. The doctor who will be doing my implant has been out of town, so he doesn't know about my dental issue.
I'm afraid he is going to be angry with me for having dental work done, but I truly did not realize that the timing of everything would turn out this way.
Getting the surgery re-scheduled would not be good at all.
I guess my question is : Am I putting myself at risk for infection? The dental work was done on Feb 15. The implant surgery is on Feb 24th. I am not currently on antibiotics, but my Dr will prescribe antibiotic after my surgery.

So here I am with dental work only half complete.


Help?

Rae

Hi Rae,

The medical issues associated with having dental work so close to your surgical date is the increased risk of systemic infection. This means for instance that an infection from a tooth can spread to a weakend area of the body. The tooth that was partially root canaled is definitely not healthy as it still has bacteria inside of it. This tooth is a source of infection and should probably have been removed at the onset of diagnosis. However, you are not responsible for making the decision to have the root canal, your dentist is the one who should have thought twice about sending you for a root canal at this time. If not him, then the endodontist should have taken your medical situation into consideration and not messed with trying to keep this tooth.

If it were me, I would make every effort to let the surgeon know asap about the partial root canal and MOST importantly let the surgeon know how the endodontist recommended that the tooth be removed. This tells the surgeon what the risk of infection is better than to just say the procedure is incomplete.

This situation definitely needs to be discussed with your surgeon. Please don't let this issue go unspoken.....

Keep in touch with us, ok?

Bryanna