I was told a few weeks ago I had an infection on the root of a tooth. I went to see the dentist because it had been achy for a few weeks. That is my only symptom. The tooth appeared to be fine when my dentist examined it, but the x-ray showed an infection. I went to see the root canal doctor and the tooth tested normal, but the infection was still showing up on the x-ray. I was put on an antibiotic for a week. The tooth felt a little better after several days on the antibiotic, but the tooth is just as achy as before. They want me to give it a few more weeks to see if the infection will clear up on it's own. Not sure if I should just go ahead and call my oral surgeon (had an implant done recently) because I can't afford a root canal anyways. Has anyone had an infection that wasn't actually considered an abscess on a tooth? Or had a similar situation?

Hi Alex,

Anytime an xray shows that there is an infection at the root of a tooth, it means the tooth itself is infected and the infection has proliferated (spread) from the tooth into the jawbone. This infection will not resolve on it's own and an antibiotic will only temporarily subside the current symptoms that you have.... like the achy feeling that you describe. As the infection spreads more broadly into the bone, symptoms increase as it becomes abcessed .....the tooth becomes mobile from the bone breaking down and eventually swelling and pain occur. The longer this goes on, the more bone loss will occur which decreases the opportunity to replace this tooth with a dental implant in the future.

Based on my professional experience, I think your dentist is misinforming you if he gave you any hope that this infection would go away. Unfortunately, once a tooth is infected, irrelevant of whether it has symptoms or not, the infection proliferates from the tooth into the bone. Based on what you have been told about the findings on your xray, that has already happened.

Just so you know... the ideal time to remove this tooth is while you are on an antibiotic because the medication reduces the inflammation which in turn makes the local anesthetic work more effectively and the extraction easier to do. It also helps with the healing process post op the extraction.

I hope this information is helpful to you.... wish you the best.

Bryanna