Posted by writeradmin
I’ve had a really bad toothache for several days. Distractingly bad. I went to see my dentist and he looked at my last radiograph, because it had only been a month since he took it. He didn’t see any signs of infection on it. He also didn’t find a crack in a filling that was on that tooth. He’s stumped. What he ended up doing was giving me some penicillin. He told me if the tooth stops hurting I won’t need to come back. The tooth stopped hurting briefly but it is starting to hurt again. Do you have any recommendations for me?
Olive
Dear Olive,
The first thing I am going to say is that you are not with the best dentist. In fact, you need to get away from this dentist as quickly as possible. I’ve heard some stories of dental incompetence, but this is beyond any recent stories. Let’s start with your examination. He looked at your old radiograph to determine if you had an infection. Of course he didn’t see any signs of infection. That radiograph was from before you had the toothache. Of course there was no sign of a problem! I can’t fathom why it never occurred to your dentist to take a new x-ray.
That’s not the only sign of incompetence though. Next, he gave you an antibiotic and told you that if it stops hurting you don’t need to come back. That is the horrible advice. It is definitely going to stop hurting. That is what the antibiotics will do. But, and he should know this, it will not cure your tooth infection. Once you finish the antibiotic, the infection will come back with a vengeance.
The only way to cure a tooth infection is for a dentist to get in there and physically remove the infected pulp. That can be done with a root canal treatment or a tooth extraction. The best option is a root canal because it saves your tooth. I’d only do the extraction as a last resort. If you end up needing that, you’ll also want to replace the tooth.
A tooth infection can quickly turn into a dental emergency. When left untreated, a dental emergency can turn into a life threatening emergency. You need to see a dentist and get him to treat your tooth. Just get a different dentist to do it.
This blog is brought to you by a gentle dentist in Baton Rouge, Dr. John Theriot.