Hi, and sorry you had trouble with the RC. Usually I go to Bryanna for help, but in this case, I kinda know what is going on. re-treatment of an infected tooth, for most part does not work. You may retain the tooth longer, but that infection is still there. If it is painful, and hurts at all, this is a sign that it does not bode well for the tooth. The truth is RC's extend the life of a tooth, but really never get rid of the infection. Those small cannals they talk about, can never fully be cleaned out and that infection is left in there even with re-treatment. For me, I turned down two RC's altogether, as I have immune problems to begin with. The upper jaw is so close to sinus, and the brain, I did not want to take any chances. Post to Bryanna, she has a much better explaination of the "medical" side of it. Dentists, or perodentists, make alot of money on this proceedure for the most part that does not work. doing it twice is twice the money, and the tooth is still a problem. I got a great little partial, works great, end of problem. I do wish you all the best in what ever you choose to do. ginnie

Hi ginnie,

Thanks for posting this .... your explanation of the chronic infection is very accurate.

You know of my background and that I am in the dental profession for over 30 yrs which means I have dealt with thousands of dental patients. I am always disheartened when a patient has been misinformed about a procedure because I believe it is unethical for dentists to misguide their patients who they know are trusting their word. Telling a patient that the root canal treatment is going to "cure" their infected tooth is totally false. As I have explained here numerous times and you have concurred, the procedure is done to "retain" an infected tooth.... not cure it. I wish there was a miracle procedure that could cure the infection..... but there just isn't one.

There are a lot of people walking around with medical conditions that are inflammatory related..... many of them have one or two things in common, root canaled teeth and/or periodontal disease. The body cannot and will not tolerate constant inflammation and infection.... the body will get sick.

It took many years for the dental profession to outwardly admit the systemic health risks associated with periodontal disease. The push came from the medical profession repetitively stating in their journals to "inform the patient" of this life threatening disease. Once the dental profession realized they had the backing of the medical profession and could profit off of this information, they started to be more pro active in informing their patients about the disease. The down side with informing patients about root canal therapy is that this procedure happens to already be the most profitable one and since it can be done several times on one tooth.... the money to be earned is unbelievable. Most dentists are also leery of informing their patients about the health risks of root canal treatment because many of their patients have already been "sold" on having them in the past. So how does a dentist now go back on his original sales pitch and tell a patient this can make them sick??

Due to the increase in public awareness regarding dental implants ...as well as the profits to be made with doing the implants, it is only a matter of time before all dentists start to share some of the information with their patients about the systemic health risks associated with "retaining" infected teeth. I personally know of some and there are others out there, who are attempting to work this into their practices now.... but it will be very slow and the information will be a bit misconstrued or indecisive as the dentists are afraid to tell the patient too much for fear of legal repercussions pertaining to past treatment which may already have negatively impacted their patients health.

It's a huge undertaking to now try and make good on something that has been so bad, especially when there is no way to remedy the damage that has already been done. I am hopeful that we can turn this around and that I will see this done in my lifetime!

Ginnie.... thanks for all of your thoughtful posts here. I know you are in a whirlwind of your own with selling and moving..... but you're always willing to come here and give us a little piece of yourself. Thanks so much for all that you do.........

Bryanna

I am glad I explained it correctly. People really are misinformed alot, and spend so much money, only to loose the teeth. I have one RC tooth left in lower right Jaw. After I move, I am going to have it taken out, even though I have no real problems with it right now. I have 5 auto immune problems, and lots and lots of inflamation. Want to be rid of it to help my body. Going to see a Physiasist, who works with the whole body. She asked about my teeth. Yes! cared enough about my whole body. will do this as soon as my life settles down to a major airport....ha ha ha. ginnie

Hello,

I know this thread is a couple of months old but hoping you can advise.
I had a severe tooth infection in early 2010 which resulted in root canal treatment. Before the procedure a hard lump appeared in the bone above the tooth. When RCT was performed the endodontist said the lump was caused by the infection. After the treatment the lump decreased in size slightly but never completely disappeared. After reading a couple of threads about this issue I now know this is a cyst and am considering having the tooth removed.
So my question is - does the cyst come out at the time of extraction or is it a bit more involved? Also - this bugger tooth is first pre-molar so very visible when i smile - would it still be possible to have an implant as a replacement?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi BadToothFairy,

The lump above the tooth is called a fistula. This occurs when the infection inside of the tooth breaks through the tooth into the jawbone and continues to travel through the gum tissue. A cyst will form in the bone as this infection spreads. The cyst will be removed at the time of the extraction. However, there will be a hole in the bone where the cyst is and depending on the size of the opening and the health of the bone, the dentist may place bone graft material in that hole to encourage new bone to form there.

Replacing this tooth with a dental implant is questionable due to the severe infection and deterioration of the bone. If the bone heals well and is healthy enough to hold an implant then the implant my be a viable option. Otherwise you would be looking at either a removable partial denture or a multi unit bridge.

The sooner this tooth is removed, the better the prognosis in the future.

Bryanna