Posted by writeradmin
I have a tooth which has been bothering me. My dentist said that he does not see any remaining canals of my molars because of calcification. This particular tooth already has a dental crown on it already. My dentist said he’s going to give me an antibiotic, but if that doesn’t work he wants to pull the tooth. Not only do I not want to lose a tooth, I have horrible dental anxiety and the idea of having a tooth pulled sounds awful. Is there someplace I can get more information about this before I agree to lose a tooth?
Evelyn
Dear Evelyn,
I want to address the anxiety issue first in order to put your mind at ease, and then we’ll go into your dentist’s plan. You are not alone in your dental anxiety. I want you to know that there is a solution that could make going to the dentist much easier for you. Whenever you need a dental procedure that spikes your anxiety, I recommend that you see a sedation dentist.
If your appointment is something simple like a cleaning, then you can use something like nitrous oxide. This will still allow you to get on with your day as soon as your appointment is over. If it is a more invasive procedure, such as a root canal treatment, dental crown, or tooth extraction, then I recommend you get oral conscious sedation. This will relax you so much that you can sleep through your appointment if you so choose to. However, it is STRONG. That means you will need someone to drive you to and from your appointment as well as stay with you for a few hours after your appointment.
As for your dentist’s plan, I am concerned. Antibiotics alone will not solve a tooth infection. Because of that, the antibiotics will fail. The only way to cure an infected tooth is to remove the infected pulp. It can be used as a diagnostic tool to see if there is an infection, but not as a means to heal it. Diagnostically, if the tooth starts to feel better with the antibiotics, then you have an infected tooth. If the antibiotics do nothing, then you have a different problem. Even if it is infected, once the antibiotics are finished the tooth will flare back up, so I don’t know what your dentist means by “if the antibiotic fails.” They’re going to fail.
As for the calcification, as we age the canals in our teeth shrink. This is completely normal. Sometimes the canals can be hard to see. However, even with a blocked canal, a root canal specialist should be able to navigate through them. My recommendation is you get a second opinion. I feel like you can do better than this dentist.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. John Theriot.