My husband was in a car accident that caused a concussion and damaged his two front teeth. The dentist wanted to give it a couple of weeks before doing anything. I assumed that would be fine, but over that time period his teeth turned dark. The dentist only felt dried blood and he wasn’t in pain so she just fitted him for temporary crowns. A couple of months later, the tooth blew up. He was in tremendous amount of pain. The dentist gave him five days worth of amoxicillan and then did his root canal treatment a week later. He left still in pain, which I thought was unusual. Shouldn’t a root canal treatment get him out of pain? A couple of weeks later, because he was still in pain she root canaled the tooth next to the one in pain. I didn’t understand that because that wasn’t the tooth hurting. There was still no relief so I took him to see an oral surgeon for a second opinion. He put him on a meddrol pack, which worked for a while, but the pain returned. I asked the dentist to check for other problems. She said there was a black spot on the x-ray but felt it was nothing. He has been suffering for months with no relief. Now he’s back at school trying to teach while this miserable. A teacher’s job is hard enough! Should I just take him to get this tooth extracted? He has a dental crown next to that tooth. With that in mind, could he still get a dental implant to replace the tooth that may need to come out?
Karen
Dear Karen,
What an absolute disaster. Your husband has been put through so much unnecessary pain. Here are the things I think should have been handled differently here.
First, when the tooth was first discolored, that was an indication that the tooth needed a root canal treatment right then. If your dentist would have done that, then the infection would not have set in, causing a dental emergency. The dried blood was also an indication that the root canal treatment was needed. Hhowever, your dentist waits until an infection has time to develop. That leads to the second problem.
It sounds like she gave him 5 days of amoxicillan and then did the root canal in 7 days. There are a couple of things wrong with this. The choice of antibiotic is questionable and not the best for tooth infections. She also did not give him enough antibiotic. He should have had enough to get him a few days past the root canal treatment, not end it before. That just gives the infection time to flare up again and then she seals the tooth, which locks it in there.
The root canal on the adjacent tooth was probably unnecessary and I have no idea why she would be thinking a black spot on an x-ray was nothing to worry about.
Don’t get this tooth extracted yet. It may still be possible to save it. However, I want you to see an endodontist, which is a root canal specialist. He also needs a different antibiotic. Ask for clindamycin, which is the more appropriate option for a tooth infection.
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