Hi Jay,

Well..... not much bone has filled in. But it is very early in the healing phase.
What happened to this tooth that resulted in an abscess?

Question.... does the gum along the bony ridge down into the vestibule of the inside of your cheek look normal? Did you have a fistula there?? I can't remember.

Bryanna

Yeah I seemed to have jumped the gun on getting the x-ray it's been only 42 days not even 2 months. Basically a small cavity ended up becoming a large cavity. I should have taken care of it much sooner but the first dentist I went to claimed I had 14 cavities! Something didn't seem right :mad:. Years later when I could not longer ignore the cavity which was quite large by then I found a reputable dentist who put a composite filling on it he also confirmed that it was the only cavity I had, hah! That held up for about six years until I got decay under the filling. Gum bony ridge vestibule area seems normal slight swelling possibly from extraction, bone slivers.

I don't think I had any fistulas, I did have a hard,immovable, flattish pea size lump when I ran my finger along my jawline.
This disappeared shortly after the extraction.

Hi Jay,

That hard, movable, flattish pea size lump.... was most likely a fistula or a cyst. Does the area along the jawbone still seem swollen? Do you have any unpleasant taste coming from that site? If you gently press on the outside of your jawbone at the area of that site, is it tender or lumpy or anything? Does it feel different than when you press on the other side of your face in the same location?

I have to be honest Jay .... I don't want you to be alarmed but I'm not loving the look of the post op xray so much. It could be the angle of the xray or the fact that I cannot alter the gray scale to define the pathology.... but I think you should have this xrayed again in 4 weeks unless it acts up before then. This was a nasty infection and needs to be monitored.

Are you able to brush real well around this area? If not then buy a small child's size tooth brush to have easier access there. Are you still rinsing with warm salt water? If not you should continue with that. Are you taking a probiotic?? No?... why not??

Bryanna

Thank you for your response Bryanna,

Both sides of my jawline feel the same now. No tenderness, lumpyness, bad taste or swelling. I check it every few days.

Oh thought the salt water rinse was only for the first week or two, will get back to doing that thank you.

I was not taking any probiotic since ultimately I ended up taking only the initial 10 course of amox 5 days pre extraction and 5 days post.

Jay,

Okay, so both sides of your face feel and look the same. No swelling of any kind.... right?

The salt water rinses keep the bacteria level down during the healing phase. This site is still considered a partially open wound because you have loose bone protruding from it trying to make it's way out. So bacteria can get in there.

The probiotic is something that ideally everyone should take on a daily basis. The immune system (which is predominantly our digestive tract) is subjected to all sorts of irritants, stress, bacteria,...... you name it. One way to help restore the immune system and keep the intestinal flora in check is to make sure that we provide it with plenty of beneficial bacteria on a daily basis. Most diets do not provide enough beneficial bacteria. In fact many diets deplete it due to the chemical processing of many foods which remove most of the nutrients.

Any time you've been on an antibiotic you end up with no beneficial bacteria irrelevant of how long you were on the meds. Diet alone cannot restore enough beneficial bacteria to restore a healthy balance. Unless of course you consume mostly wholesome, unprocessd fermented foods and ocean based plants called microalgae.

In order for an antibiotic to work properly, it first has to kill off all of the good bacteria that is there to intentionally kill off any offenders. Once the meds break down that healthy bacterial barrier in order for the barrier to be built up again it has to be put there in some way. Either by diet or supplementation.

Also any time we have an infection, especially long standing and/or in the bone, we need all the help we can get to keep our immune system functioning optimally. A diet as I described about or probiotics are the only two ways to accomplish that.

So give it some thought and of course decide what you feel is best for you!

Bryanna

Bryanna,

So far so good.
Makes perfect sense about the salt water rinses and probiotics, once you explained it :) thank you. I will give the probiotics a try.

Best wishes

J

hi Bryanna and fellow board members,

Sorry I’ve been away had to do some damage control since I let this whole issue set me back more then necessary.

Update and summary

Had tooth number 19 pulled on 7/5/13
Decay under filling which spread to the jaw. Small pea sized lump on outer jaw line. 7 days on amoxicillin before extraction and 7 more days after.

Pea sized lump gone only symptom was two very small bone fragments a month later, which are gone now.

Follow up x-ray taken 40 days after extraction (should have waited longer to see more definitive progress in the pan xray). OS says it’s resolved and in his opinion has not worsened.

I checked and rechecked for any of the symptoms or signs you mentioned, nothing unusual to be found.

I’m reposting both the x-rays with the contrast bumped up. Of course it probably would be ideal to have a current x-ray but funds are tight at the moment and it seems if there were any problems they would have been made apparent by now.

Is that just wishful thinking?

Wishing everyone health and happiness in the New Year

J

Hi youngatart,

Based on the comparison of these two x-rays which are dated about a month apart .... the jaw bone appears to be in a similar condition in both x-rays..... just minus the tooth in the later one.

Without question, I think another x-ray of this area should be taken 6 months from the original one.

Bryanna