Originally Posted by Bryanna

Hi sarahgee,

Okay to help clarify...... the infection was diagnosed as a gingival abscess. In dental terminology that simply means that the infection from the inside of the tooth was draining into the gum tissue. It does not mean you had a gum infection. This occurrence is typically seen with root canaled teeth.

The root of a lower pre molar, especially the second pre molar, is in close proximity to the mental foramen. This is a small hole in the jaw bone that allows certain nerves and blood vessels to pass through it. This would show up as a dark gray area on an xray and it is fairly low in the mandible. Perhaps that is what the dentist was referring to?

So am I understanding you correctly in that he did not scrape the socket clean and remove the periodontal ligament? Did he irrigate the socket with saline?

I ask because the discomfort that you describe in the location of where the root tip would have been is classic of the socket not being debrided. So you may want to talk to him about that.

Bryanna

Originally Posted by sarahgee944

Hi Bryanna
That's really helpful. I'm much clearer now on what to discuss with my dentist when I have a consultation tomorrow.
I think he was concerned to avoid the mental foramen (I sustained nerve damage on the other side of my jaw years back when a wisdom tooth was extracted, so my dentist and I are keen not to repeat the problem).
Although he cleared debris, he did no debriding as far as I am aware.
I have been irrigating with saline several times a day on his advice.
(and it's feeling a bit less sore today)
Many thanks again.