Possible Abscess?

[Bungle73]

Hi.

I've got a tooth that I've had trouble with for quite a long time. Just over twenty years ago I had a filling replaced and a root canal done on it. Subsequently I've have had to have the filling replaced a few times as it fell out. The last time left hardly any support for the new filling, after the drilling, and that eventually fell out too. I left it quite a while (years) before seeing another dentist, and when I did see one he told me that there was some decay because I had left it so long, and it may need to be extracted. Seeing my reaction to this he said that he could try and save it by drilling out the decay putting a crown on it, which he did. This was in September/October 2017. The tooth was fine after this, until about a year later around the end of August last year. At this time I had some hot food burn my gum in the same area of my mouth. Ever since then I have had a re-occurring puss filled spot just above the crowned tooth, which I believe is an abscess. What I'm concerned about is this due to the burn, or was that coincidence that it occurred at the same time, and there is something wrong with the tooth? Also, what I'm really worried about is exactly what the treatment the dentist is likely to do, as I've been reading worrying things on the internet about it. I have no pain, but as I say, the tooth has had a root canal. Am I worrying about nothing?

 

[Bungle73]

I've been trying to treat it first with TCP, and then with Corsodyl gel but I'm not sure it's doing anything.

 

[Bungle73]

This is what looks like atm.

 

[MattKW]

It's an abscess, unrelated to the hot food.
If root canal therapies get reinfected from not being sealed with a good filling or if decay gets in there again, then it can take months for the bacteria to work down the inside of the canal to set off an abscess. Maybe this is what has happened to you. Considering that the last dentist wasn't keen on saving it, I regret to tell you I think your chances of successful retreatment are now even less. Go to a dentist.

 

[Bungle73]

It's an abscess, unrelated to the hot food.
If root canal therapies get reinfected from not being sealed with a good filling or if decay gets in there again, then it can take months for the bacteria to work down the inside of the canal to set off an abscess. Maybe this is what has happened to you. Considering that the last dentist wasn't keen on saving it, I regret to tell you I think your chances of successful retreatment are now even less. Go to a dentist.

Thanks the reply. That really wasn't what I wanted to hear. Now you've made me even more nervous about going to the dentist about it. I've already put off one appointment that I had scheduled for a checkup, because I was apprehensive about what he would do about it.........

 

[MattKW]

Well, he can't force you to do anything about it if you don't want to. But better to find out the situation now and plan for it rather than have unexpected emergency that makes you suffer at an inconvenient time. And don't do what so many people do by simply taking antibiotics; at best it might suppress the abscess for a while, but it'll never fix it.

 

[Bungle73]

Well, he can't force you to do anything about it if you don't want to. But better to find out the situation now and plan for it rather than have unexpected emergency that makes you suffer at an inconvenient time. And don't do what so many people do by simply taking antibiotics; at best it might suppress the abscess for a while, but it'll never fix it.

Am I looking at an extraction then? That was my worst fear. I have actually had two done before, but it was a very long time ago, when I was a child, because I needed to have a brace fitted.

The appointment I got when I re-booked it isn't until the beginning of March, because my dentist is on holiday.

 

[MattKW]

Probably an extraction. But abscesses sometimes " soften" the surrounding bone, and it shouldn't be difficult. That particular tooth (2nd premolar) has only a single root.