I recently had (June 12) a root canal on #19 lower molar and 2 days later my face swelled immensely. Dr. put me on flagyl & clindamycin and opened up root canal area. Heavy duty facial swelling went down but I have a hard lump in my jaw with swollen tissue inside my mouth. I ended up having tooth #19 extracted July 8 to get rid of the tooth (i wouldn't let dentist near tooth to attempt 2nd root canal). I still have a lump and still on antibiotics. Should I be worried? I have not improved at all after tooth extraction.
Will it ever go away? I'm physically sick from fighting the infection, nausea and pain in my guts from the antibiotics?? Is there hope or did my dentist screw up my root canal from the get go??

Hi Reeny and welcome to NeuroTalk. I'm so sorry about your jaw...sounds really painful. Someone will come along who knows more about denistry than I do...I just wanted to say Hi and welcome!

Oh gosh.....that sounds terrible Reeny.

I popped in to say welcome to NeuroTalk, and I saw what you've been going through with that root canal. It sounds like you really have had a hard time with it, and I do hope that our resident dental advisor Bryanna will see your post and offer you the advice you obviously need.

I had something similar happen to me but unfortunately for you, it was for too long ago now for me o be able to offer you any constructive advice.

It's good to meet you though, and maybe we'll meet again.

Hi, Reeny, welcome to NT. I hope you'll take the full course of ABs and give them a chance. Major dental jobs always take longer to get healed, so hopefully, you're on the way.

Hi Reeny,

The lump and swollen tissue that you have is not normal and it needs to be evaluated by an oral surgeon. You may have a cyst or bone infection that may need some surgical intervention. Antibiotics can only cure oral infections that have no solid mass or necrotic tissue infecting the jawbone. It is hard to say what exactly is going on in your case, but if the antibiotics were going to cure what you have, it would have done so by now. Repeated doses will not cure the problem and they will only cause more intestinal upheaval.

Clindamycin is frequently prescribed for oral infection. However, repeated doses or sometimes just one prescription can literally cause an intestinal infection called Clostridium difficile or C-diff for short. This can occur while on the medication or weeks to months after the drug is stopped. The reason this happens is because the antibiotic devours the good bacteria in the intestines allowing the organ to proliferate with infectious bacteria of various strains. Not to frighten you but FYI...... this can be a life threatening infection if it is not diagnosed at the early stages and treated properly. SO..... it is not a good idea to just keep taking the clindamycin hoping that it will take care of the oral infection.

The flagyl is meant to prevent the overgrowth of yeast in the intestinal tract, but this is not always successful and it too can cause intestinal upheaval. The best preventive measure in keeping the intestinal flora healthy is to supplement with a probiotic every day for life. This way, when the time comes to take an antibiotic, the intestines have a healthy supply of good bacteria to start with.

However in your case, it would be helpful to supplement with two strains of good bacteria. One is called Saccharomyces Boulardii which cannot be destroyed by antibiotics and it helps to rebalance the intestinal flora. The other is called Culturelle which is a lactobacillus strain of bacteria that is destroyed by antibiotics but it is essential to have this bacteria in our gut for optimal health. The two pills taken together on an empty stomach work well synergistically. When on antibiotics, these probiotic supplements should be taken one to two times per day and one hour before or two hours after the antibiotic. DO not take an antibiotic and a probiotic at the same time, that would be counterproductive.

I have mentioned this helpful sight here before for people searching for an intergrative thinking doctor or dentist... IAOMT.org
Dentists who belong to this worldwide group are very familiar with residual jaw infections. Perhaps you could check out that site and see if there is someone in your area that would be good to consult about your situation.

Please let us know how you are doing!!

Bryanna

Bryanna,
As you know on Tuesday 7/8 I had the "source of infection" molar #19 extracted after having a disasterous root canal attempted by a general dentist (which I found out later is an automatic no-no that he shouldn't have done it and should have sent me to an Endodontist-what do I know I never had a root canal before -I took his word on "good faith" . The swelling in what I will assume after researching to the nth degree was in the vestibule (area between cheek & gum). After the tooth extraction the swelling wouldn't go down, and got quite worse 7/13/7/14. By the afternoon of 7/14 the puffiness inside my mouth was higher than the gum line (whichbecame too painful to open my mouth) BUT by late afternoon I felt a sudden gush in my mouth and my gum had "exploded" and out came blood & yellow/brown crap & yellow stuff thick like phlem. Totally gross!! As of today 7/16 the swelling has gone done but have a hurting gum/vestibule/a little swelling and feel like it still wants to swell and or ooze.. I'm still on the clindamycin and flagyll. Good news I guess, should I still go back to the Oral Surgeon or let nature heal it .... Except for some minor discomfort I am no way in the acute pain I was before it burst. FYI, Everyone thinks I need a lawyer to sue my dentist who shouldn't have done a molar Root canal in the first place .........any comments? BTW, I tried to go see the oral surgeon who took a look at the face swelling/infection on June 16th who actually prescribed more antibiotics including the flagyll (which is the "now" antibiotic prescribed for jaw infections)-they claimed they couldn't see me until end of July because of "all the college kids home getting their wisdom teeth pulled"..I called every day to no avail.......I had to do a telephone book search to find another oral surgeon who could see me as an emergency and pull the darn tooth via novacaine.

Hi Reeny,

Removing the infected tooth, #29, was the first step in removing the infection. Yes, the tooth was the culprit and to keep it would not have been a healthy decision because it was not going to get any better.

FYI........ many, not all, general dentists are trained to perform root canal therapy just as well as Endodontists. Who knows whether or not your dentist was or wasn't. However, the procedure itself has many flaws which include the inability to sterilize a tooth and cure the infection. So this could have happened irrelevant of who did the root canal. Sometimes the swelling occurs immediately and other times it can take months or years for it to show clinical signs of infection.

The swelling you had was extreme and the burst of infection that you experienced which was also extreme are a sign that there is an ongoing infection brewing in your jawbone. It is very different than a cyst or pimple on the skin........there is no similarilty whatsoever. It can swell up again and burst again like that or it can proliferate in the jawbone affecting other teeth and jawbone or it can internalize and travel elsewhere. From all that you have described, it counsd like this infection is by no means gone and the antibiotics may at most, minimize the clinical symptoms temporarily.

My suggestion is to go back to the oral surgeon/dentist who extracted the tooth. Tell that office when you call all about what you have experienced and it still feels like it's infected. He legally has to see you asap because he rendered dental treatment to you that resulted in a big infection. He may or may not have done anything wrong during the surgery, but he is still responsible to see your situation through to the end or refer you to someone else who can help you.

Knowing what I know....... this should not go on too much longer and no, unfortunately nature will not heal this infection.

Have you read Kami's post about her jaw infection? She ended up very ill, on IV antibiotics and had to have a piece of her jawbone removed due to the infection. Oral infections involving the jawbone are very serious and should NEVER been left up to nature to clear up.

Please see the dentist asap to have an xray to see what is going on in that extraction site. Please keep us posted!!

Bryanna

I just had tooth number 19 removed and its swollen and wont stop bleeding its been 2 days and my mouth really hurts it pussing up and there a lump in my jaw i can feel it when i talk and you can see it just by looking at me. when the Dr. pulled the tooth i heard it rip and ive had three other teeth pulled previously and it didnt bother me. Is this normal?

hi kiki,

No, that is definitely not normal by any means. Please go back to your dentist as soon as possible. Please let us know how you're doing.

Bryanna

Hi there
Im really hoping someone can help me, 14 days ago i had an abcess in my bottom right molar, 9 days ago i had the tooth removed, it was a difficult extraction as the roots were hooked into my jaw bone? anyway i ended up with dry socket and in terrible pain. My tooth is now healing nicely BUT i have this big swelling in the area between my cheek and my gum, its so hard to explain what its like, its very uncomfortable, like i have something about an inch long stuck in my mouth, it hurts to touch (begins to throb) my dentist said it would just go away, i have had 2 courses of antibiotics but it hasnt taken the swelling/lump away.
Does anyone know what it is?
Thanks
Terri-Jane