Failed root canal
 

So, I ended up having 2rcs last Wednesday. 1 upper 1 lower. The lower one went on just fine no infection, no pain.
However, the uper one, which I might add I have neglected for 2+ years, seemed to have developed an infection.
After 2 days of brutal (severe would not describe it accurately) I went back to the doc yesterday and he said that we can still save the tooth by draining it. Had that done and I must admit for the rest of the day I did feel much better.
But as I'm writing this the pain did come back.
My few concerns are:

1. Is it possible that the prescribed antibiotic (cephalexin) is not working in fighting the infection? I had previosly had abscesses that I had great success at treating with amoxycillin...
2. The pain was so brutal that 2 vicodins would barely make it go away for about 1hr or so. After that I still had to endure it for the next 3hrs when I could take the vicodin again.
3. The doc did mention that if the infection persists, he could end up shooting iodine up the canal, to make sure that the infection is completely cleared. I have not heard of this procedure before and was wondering how viable it is???

Lastly, I'm not really hung up on saving this tooth as it is on the side and would not mind that much having it extracted if that would guarantee to take care of the infection/pain.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Tony

Update 02/23/14

Spoke to my doc earlier today and he suggested switching to amoxicillin for the next 24hrs to see if there's an improvement.
Also rescheduled my next app for tomorrow morning to deal with this.
Initially, I was scheduled for Wednesday to have the post work done on both rcs.
My question is, should I/can I ask for a partial refund on the upper one since it never got finished?
I believe it will end up being extracted unless the iodine irrigation works wonders.
Should we even bother? At this point I feel like my body is just rejecting this thooth completely.
Luckily, I haven't developed a fever yet and there is no visible swelling.
Just at a loss why the antibiotics are not working at all...
Also, could this be a major concern if we end up extracting it???
I'm pretty sure you need antibiotics after an extraction. Hopefully he'll be able to figure something up...

Update 02/26/14

My oh my... What a doozy...
After switching to amoxicillin, everything seemed to go in the right direction. Absolutely no pain whatsoever...
This morning was my follow up for the post work on both rcs.
I get there at 10am and we begin...
Mind you, no pain on the upper one at all.
He asked me if I want an anesthetic shot just in case. After all the pain over the weekend I said why the heck not... First shot ok, second ok, third a little bit of pain.
He begins cleaning the tooth in getting it rdy for the reconstruction.
Minor discomfort but noting major until he begins cleaning with a disinfectant. Not sure what it's called, he did tell me but I forgot. The most excruciating possible pain I have ever experienced in my entire life takes over.
I know it may sound funny or scary to some but I literally felt like strangling him with my left hand and the hygenist with my right.
At this point all 3 of us freaked out.
He stops, takes another xray only to notice that the bone still had a lot of infection.
In a split second we both agree that this thing had to come out.
2 shots of novocaine and 30min later I'm Bubba the toothless.
He did pull it out fairly rapid with one minor chip. He scraped and cleaned the bone nicely.
Felling a million times better as I write this.
Really no need for pain meds at all. Kinda surprised actually. It's been 9hrs and the only discomfort I feel is from the shots in the gum...
Any idea how long it will take the socket to close up?
Should I rinse with a warm salt water as I read on this forum or just wait it out?
On the print out they gave me when I left they clearly mentioned no rinsing...
Any advice is greatly appreciated... But overall pleased with the outcome and level of care I have received although I had my doubts at first tbh.

Sincerely,
Tony