Lateral root fracture in #2 tooth

[The Kingfish]

Recently I went to the dentist for my 6-month cleaning. While he was examining my teeth, my dentist found a small bump on my palate near #2 tooth. He said that it's possbile it's just a small cyst, but the location of the bump made him think there was something going on with the roots on that tooth. He referred my to an endodontist.

The endodentist tooks some films and ran some tests. He diagnosed the #2 tooth as having a lateral root fracture. I think he said there was an infection in the root that was draining into the sinus cavity, causing the small bump. He also said that lateral root fractures are rare are usally caused by trauma. He also said that a root canal will not help, and the tooth will eventaully have to be extracted.

All of this caught me by surprise. I haven't had any trauma to my face, so I don't know why I would have a root fracture. I also do not have any pain or swelling in that area near the tooth, and I can eat and talk as normal. I thought root fractures caused severe pain.

My dentist has already given me a referral to an oral surgeon to have the tooth extracted, but I'm a little hesistant to follow up right now because everything seems normal (other than the small bump). I'm 50 years old and I still have all 28 of my teeth. I want to keep the #2 tooth if possible because I know that an implant is expensive.

Any thoughts on what I should do?

 

[Dr M]

If there is indeed a fracture, then the only option is to extract the tooth. Leaving it, might risk infection spreading to additional teeth. The bump we call a draining fistula. The infection drains through a small hole, and since no pressure is building up, you usually present with no pain.
Fractures can happen over time, and could be because of various reasons, such as grinding, to accidentally biting something hard such as a seed.

 

[The Kingfish]

This is a quick follow up. I had the #2 tooth extracted in April and everything went well. The oral surgeon gave me a prescription for oxycodine to manage the pain (which I didn't need because there was very little pain).

But my issue now is that it's been 3 months since the extraction and the the little bump (palatal sinus tract) has not healed. It's not causing any pain, but I thought once the tooth was extracted the bump would heal and go away. Should the oral surgeon have prescribed an antibiotic to clear it up? Will it eventually heal over time?

 

[Dr M]

Has it become smaller at least? Sometimes it does take a while to clear up. Maybe go for a follow-up x-ray with your dentist, just to assess healing in the area.