Hi, i've been reading alot of these posts and i have a bit of an issue with a RC i just had done yesterday.

I've had others done in the past that didnt cause much pain afterwards but this one is causing alot of swelling in my lower jaw.

On monday the dentist saw me and i knew i had an abcess under the tooth which he confirmed so he put me on antibiotics which i took right away and havent missed a dose.

He started the first phase of "cleaning" out the dead tissue yesterday but didnt do or say anything with the abcess other than it looked better than monday.

fast forward to this morning and I have alot of swelling/pain and i had to go to work which was some lifting involved and i've been taking pain meds (otc) all day and iced a bit but the swelling had stayed the same.

I'm just wondering, i'm supposed to go back thursday to finish but when should I start to worry about the swelling if it persists? Should I just remove the tooth at this point?

I feel like i want to just yank it and be done, i did that with a few others and i'm happy with it.

any help/advice appreciated

Hi robit86,

I am in the dental field and can offer you some information here.

Your dentist may or may not have explained to you that the abscess is a direct result of an infection brewing inside of the tooth which has spread to the jaw bone. With that said, the infection is not just located underneath this tooth. It is residing within all of the canals inside of the tooth. The only canals that can be instrumented during the rc procedure are a few that are large enough to be seen. This leaves the majority of the (microscopic) canals called dentin tubules, untouched and chronically infected with dead nerve tissue. There is no dental procedure that can "Cure" the infection inside of this tooth. Therefore, it will continue to infect the jaw bone just as it has been.

The root canal procedure is done to attempt to "retain" a tooth that is infected. The terms "cure" or "save" when pertaining to root canal therapy mean nothing more than "retain". That is something you should have been informed of by your dentist.

Icing the swelling is not going to help. In fact it may make it worse because the swelling is due to the inflammation from the infection and the infection is still present.

I cannot advise you to remove your tooth. I can just give you the information that your dentist should have given you so you are better equipped to make the choice that you feel is best for you.

You mentioned that you had other teeth removed... did you replace those teeth?

Bryanna