Swollen Lymph node abcessed tooth
 

Hello,

I found a swollen lymph node by my jaw a few weeks ago.. It was very tender, palpable, and I was having pain in my jaw, ear and neck. I went to the Dr. She seemed concerned because I didnt have an obvious infection. I told her that I did have a broken molar on that side of the face and that it had been bothering me. She seemed a little more relieved but put me on Bactrium (sp) I then made an appt with my dentist who took an xray and confirmed that I indeed had an infected tooth and needed a root canal. I was sent to an Edodontist he took xray and confirmed the need for root canal. He mentioned the Bactrium was not a typical antibiotic he would prescribe. but he went ahead with the root canal. In the meantime I had an ultrasound and the size came back 3.5cm I got the root canal done and the lymph node shrunk down quite a bit (About 2cm) then 3 days later the tooth started hurting so I took amoxicillin... after 4 of the 5 days of antibiotic I notices I had a pus bump on my gum on the last molar next to the tooth that had the root canal. They have now put me on Clindamycin I have been on for 3 days.. tooth is starting to not hurt and the little pus thing is looking less bad. My Lymph node had swelled back up a bit but is nowhere near the size it was. I went to my dr and she said the Ultrasound tech suggested a CT scan. I asked my dr if since I had a clear infection in my mouth if a CT scan was necessary or if it would make sense until I had the tooth issuse resolved. She agreed and we will move forward from there.. I have fatigue and my neck is sore down the side of the swollen Lymph node. I am wondering if I should be concerned? I am a very healthy person, I run half marathons, eat healthy and typically take good care of myself I just let this tooth break and go 6 months without fixing.... any advice on what to do next would be greatly appreciated.. Oh and my endodontist is on vacay until the 15th (he said he go the root out but didnt actualy complete the procudre)
mindini36 is online now Report Post

Hi mindini,

I am in the dental field and can offer you some information here.

It is good to hear that you care about your health and try to take care of yourself. So hopefully you will understand and appreciate the information I am going to share with you as it will be different than what your dentists have already informed you.

It is first important to know that the endodontist did not remove your root. Removing the root means extracting the entire tooth. What the endodontist did was a root canal procedure in which the interior of the large visible canals inside of the roots were instrumented in order to scrape out some of the infected nerve tissue. A toxic chemical is then used to disinfect the inside of the scraped canals in an attempt to kill off additional nerve tissue. However, every tooth has many hundreds of microscopic canals that are not visible and too tiny to gain access to. The disinfectants and antibiotics are also not affective in killing the bacteria inside of these canals. Therefore these tiny canals will always contain infected nerve tissue. A root canal procedure is done to give the person an opportunity to retain an unhealthy tooth for an uncertain amount of time. There is not dental procedure that can cure an infected tooth and make it healthy again.

When your gland becomes swollen this indicates that the infectious bacteria from the tooth has traveled through your blood and into your lymphatic system. Although the swelling of the gland is frequently seen with abscessed teeth and root canaled teeth, an oral infection has to be present for a long period of time and quite severe for this to happen. So this infection has been brewing for much longer than you may realize. You may not have had tooth symptoms indicating an infection because the bacteria was draining through the decay which prevented the bacteria from building up enough pressure to cause you pain. Had that opening closed off, swelling would have occurred and so would pain.

The bump with pus along the gum on the adjacent tooth is called a fistula. This indicates that the infection has spread into the jaw bone and it is looking for a place to drain. It could also indicate that the adjacent tooth is abscessed as well. It is not uncommon for an infected tooth to infect an adjacent tooth as the teeth share the same blood vessels and nerves of which the bacteria travels through.

The symptoms of your infection and the fistula may temporarily subside as the medication temporarily relieves some inflammation and reduces some of the bacteria. However, the root canal procedure nor the antibiotics is going to cure the infection or make the tooth healthy again because those tiny canals are full of infected nerve tissue and there is no means of removing it.

Unfortunately, the longer you keep this tooth, the more the infection will spread and the more bone loss will occur. The infection has already become system as indicated by your swollen gland. Unfortunately the only means of trying to cure the infection is to remove the source of the infection which is the tooth.

If you decide to extract the tooth, it would be best to have an oral surgeon do the extraction and not a general dentist because the surgeon is much more knowledgeable and experienced in removing infected teeth that are seriously broken down.

The CT scan may be necessary to determine the extent of the infection. However, it would be wise to consult with an oral surgeon and have him write out the script for the scan because it needs to be specifically dental related or it will not be sufficient.

I am sorry to be the one to deliver this news to you.... but if your health is a top priority, and it sounds like it is... then it's imperative that you know this information so you can make an informed decision about this tooth that you feel would be in your best interest.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask me.

Bryanna

I put up with this for one year without realising what it was.

Had two teeth root canalled, that failed. The pain got worse and touching the tooth was sensitive.

Then they were extracted but it was a good month for the pain / swelling to properly die down. I can still feel it, but I think it's more muscular now

But damn do I feel better

The funniest part was when the dentist said 'I am very proud of how that wound is healing'.

If you knew my dentist (yeah, he knows to just put the NOS on, deal with a few patients, then return to me) you'd realise how *** damn funny this was at the time.

I am going to agree with the Dentist above as their opinion seemed valid - remove the tooth (aka bite the bullet) and begin enjoying life again. Teeth are easily replaced.

Keep in mind if you get a root canal, and it fails, you may be paying for an extraction also

I have 8 crowns and 2 extractions - since I got rid of my tooth pain and fixed those problems my life has become so much better now I dont get headaches constantly, etc.

I hope you find relief from your Tooth problems, but rippin' er out may be the best solution. With 3-D printing, etc now it's really not hard for dentists to create a new tooth,

my dentist scans my old tooth, fixes them (reshapes/fixes) in CAD (or I do it, .. since I wanted vampire eye teeth.. ) then literally hits file-->print, then his machine spits out a new tooth in about 7 minutes, making the procedure very quick / cheap (I had all eight done in two brief sessions)