I went to my Dentist last week to recement a temporary and for a toothache.
He is not the best communicator. He has performed at least 3 or 4 root canals on me in the past 2-3 years, something he just started adding to his 'repertoire'. He is a fine man and a good friend, and he always either gives me a break or huge discount because of our friendship.

However, Im beginning to think this friendship is costing me my health.
He started drilling into my 12 year molar before even saying anything, I stopped him and asked, what are we doing today? He said, 'you have a necrotic tooth and im starting a root canal. Without a rubber dam, only occasional suction, he opened the entire top of the tooth I guess to relieve pressure, and partially cleared out some of the pulp or canal, which he described as completely dead. Then he put a temporary filling in it and said we will deal with it after the holidays. He gave me Amoxicillin 500 mg to take for 7 days.

Meanwhile, I took the Amoxicillin for 3 days before I had a follow up appointment with my Functional Medicine Doctor who had done a test that showed I had a bad case of SIBO, more methane than nitrogen, (small intestinal bacterial overload) and he gave me a prescription for Xifaxin for the SIBO, so I stopped taking the Amoxicillin and was ready to take the Xifaxin, but the insurance company wanted a prior authorization, which has not come for 4 days.

So, as soon as I stopped the Amoxicillin, I came down with a horrible GI infection that was like a flu, presumably from all that bacteria going down my throat, and after 4 days of liquids and some rice, it is subsiding, but 2 days ago, my back started to hurt a lot at the site of surgery I had at L2- L3 for a ruptured disc 15 months ago. That was a tough surgery long recovery, was swollen like an egg for about 3 months before slowly draining.

Im afraid that bacteria has found a home in a partially healed microdiscectomy. My Functional Dr. just texted me back after 3 days and wants me to take Cipro.

I feel like having all my root canaled teeth pulled, but that isnt necessarily a cure-all if all the bacteria is not removed, and i cant afford all those implants, and I gather that they arent without bacterial issues.

I know this is a lot, and way too long for a post, but any suggestions??