My husband fell on 11/29/11, while coaching my son’s basketball team. He suffered concussion, chin laceration with sutures and his front two teeth fractured. He was treated same day in dentist and ER. Dentist did not want to do any treatment for 2 weeks. In 2 weeks, tooth #8 (right front tooth) started to discolor without pain-she felt only dried blood and no treatment at that time.He was fitted for temp crowns and placed within 3 weeks.
Two months later, he had severe pain and an emergency root canal began with amoxicillin for 5 days. There was slight relief of pain for 24 hrs and then severe pain up to his nose with a cold sensation. Root canal finished one week later without pain relief.
Two weeks after that, the dentist root canaled tooth #9 (left front tooth) because she didn’t understand why there was still pain. Novocaine in place, still no relief and pain never by tooth #9? Probable unneeded root canal.
I decided to get oral surgeon second opinion, who suggested Augmentin TID for 7 days with medrol dosepak. 5 days into meds, cold sensation resolved and tooth #9 RC completed by general dentist who then removed filling from tooth#8 and my husband felt pain free for 1st time in 3 months! However, it returned at 50% within 24 hours, but cold sensation gone. I am a NP and I spoke with a pharmacist friend who said you will often see rebound pain with medrol dosepak quick tapers? He recommended a 2 week taper of prednisone with abt in place now that canal is open and can drain possibly? What would be recommended next step? My neighbor thought maybe tooth fractured at gum line? The dentist says she sees black spot on x-ray, but thinks it is nothing? My husband has been tortured for months without any pain control offered and is a teacher and is suffering. Do you think this tooth should have been root canalled immediately when it turned dark or 2 months later? Would that have saved the tooth and torture he is living? Do you think tooth could be saved? Should he need extraction, would you recommend implant next to permanent crown or bridge?
– Kathleen in New Jersey
Kathleen,
When tooth #8 (your husband’s right central incisor) started to discolor two weeks after the traumatic injury to the tooth, it clearly needed a root canal treatment. The nice thing about doing the root canal treatment at that time is that there is less chance of post-operative complications since infection would not have settled in yet – it would be just a matter of cleaning out the dead tissue, maybe leaving the tooth open for a couple of days as a precaution against flare-up, and then sealing it. I cannot for the life of me understand what your dentist thought was going on inside this tooth. Dried blood?? If there is dried blood in the tooth, isn’t it pretty clear that the tissue inside the tooth is dead?
And I don’t understand why there was a prescription for amoxicillin and for only 5 days. So if I am understanding this treatment sequence correctly, the tooth was opened and the amoxicillin started. I can’t tell from what you are saying whether the tooth was left open during this time or not. But then the amoxicillin ran out, and AFTER that, the root canal was completed – in other words sealed. Doing it this way, there would be a fairly substantial risk of flare-up. Once a root canal tooth is sealed, there is no longer any pathway for drainage for any infection that may be there. And a five-day course of amoxicillin would not be enough to completely wipe out the infection. In fact, amoxicillin would not be a first-choice antibiotic anyway for this type of tooth infection.
My recommended next step? See an endodontist (root canal specialist). An oral surgeon would not be a good choice of specialist to see here. And a pharmacist doesn’t have the correct training either. There is something to be said about getting a professional involved who has the specific training for this type of problem. I can’t tell by just e-mails what is happening here. But I can tell you I disagree with some of the treatment choices made by your general dentist, and the flare-up is not surprising to me at all. Doing a root canal on the other front tooth appears to me to have been a stab in the dark, and it also doesn’t surprise me that it didn’t help. And the prednisone would also be the wrong treatment if the infection isn’t resolved. And what is this about your dentist seeing a “black spot” on the x-ray but thinks it is nothing? That sounds almost grade school. Is there a continuous, intact lamina dura around the tooth? Is there a widened periodontal ligament space? You need an endodontist to look at this x-ray and read it, not someone who will try to take wild guesses at what is going on.
There should be no need to extract this tooth. None of what has happened is any indication that the root canal was not sealed properly. And even if there was that type of error here, there are several options for correcting that, short of extraction. You need the correct choice of antibiotic therapy – probably clindamycin at this point – which in most circumstances should get this to settle down in a couple of days. However, if there is a root fracture, that is a different story.
Dr. Hall
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.