[kwhite68]

Hello Everyone I am new to here but let me tell you my story.

I am a 27 yr old woman and I just left the dentist office. Now I will start off by saying that as a child my teeth were neglected due to not having dental coverage. So when I was 20 I finally got coverage and went to see how bad it was ( my mouth ) well I believe I had 6 fillings and 3 root canals and 3 wisdom teeth pulled. Well I believed I had three wisdom teeth pulled.

Fast forward to 2 am this morning waking up to the worst pain since giving birth to my daughter! Lord y'all I have literally been up since 2am this morning. So I went straight to my new dentist, yep my first appointment and advised I my bottom left back molar #19 is giving me the WORST pain ever not to mention I have an abscess on the top left back molar #14. Now apparently #14 is one of the one I had a root canal on when I was 20. After viewing the xrays I saw I have infection at the root tip of #14 and #19. And I have two wisdom teeth (#18 and #1) that need extracting also I need #2 extracted because that was rooted but the crown came off and the decay is too far gone.

Now I'm just sad because after reading the numerous forums on here I am truly against getting the root canals now. I am just sad because I am only 27 and I really won't have much teeth left if I have. 3-14 and 20-30

But I want a healthy mouth because I want a healthy body. So I will be getting 5 extractions INSTEAD of 3 and 2 root canals. I only wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for sharing.

[Bryanna]

Hi kwhite,

Thank you for your kind words and I am glad that you have found the information on this forum helpful.

I'm so sorry you are enduring all of these dental problems. It is unfortunate that you did not have regular dental checkups growing up. But it's good that you now know how important they are for yourself and your children. Even without dental coverage, a dental checkup and cleaning 2 times a year is a lot cheaper both financially and dentally than not going at all.

Just so you know.... root canal therapy is done to "retain" an unhealthy tooth for an uncertain amount of time. The procedure cannot cure an infected tooth or make an unhealthy tooth well again. So irrelevant of whether the rc tooth was crowned or not, the tooth was sick. Sometimes these teeth show obvious symptoms of the infection long before they abscess. But sometimes they don't until there is a full blown abscess or swelling.

Having the infected teeth removed means removing the source of the infection. However, it is imperative that the "oral surgeon" also remove the periodontal ligament and all visibly infected tissue and bone. If the ligament or remnants of infected tissue/bone are not removed, then the infection will continue to grow. It is best to let the oral surgeon know that you want the ligament and all diseased tissue and bone removed after the tooth is extracted. Unfortunately, these steps are not routinely done (as they are suppose to be). I know this sounds stupid, but the patient that expresses this request to their oral surgeon generally gets a more thorough surgery performed. You should also ask, prior to the extractions, to be informed of any sinus perforations after the teeth are removed. It is best to know this so that your can take the best care of yourself.

Also, it would behoove you to get a print out of the proposed treatment plan and then a receipt of all the work that was done. This way you will have a personal and accurate history in your possession to refer back.

You are going to see an oral surgeon for the extractions, correct?

Bryanna

Originally Posted by kwhite68

Hello Everyone I am new to here but let me tell you my story.

I am a 27 yr old woman and I just left the dentist office. Now I will start off by saying that as a child my teeth were neglected due to not having dental coverage. So when I was 20 I finally got coverage and went to see how bad it was ( my mouth ) well I believe I had 6 fillings and 3 root canals and 3 wisdom teeth pulled. Well I believed I had three wisdom teeth pulled.

Fast forward to 2 am this morning waking up to the worst pain since giving birth to my daughter! Lord y'all I have literally been up since 2am this morning. So I went straight to my new dentist, yep my first appointment and advised I my bottom left back molar #19 is giving me the WORST pain ever not to mention I have an abscess on the top left back molar #14. Now apparently #14 is one of the one I had a root canal on when I was 20. After viewing the xrays I saw I have infection at the root tip of #14 and #19. And I have two wisdom teeth (#18 and #1) that need extracting also I need #2 extracted because that was rooted but the crown came off and the decay is too far gone.

Now I'm just sad because after reading the numerous forums on here I am truly against getting the root canals now. I am just sad because I am only 27 and I really won't have much teeth left if I have. 3-14 and 20-30

But I want a healthy mouth because I want a healthy body. So I will be getting 5 extractions INSTEAD of 3 and 2 root canals. I only wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for sharing.