I have been doing a considerable amount of dental work and feel like I was on a roll getting my teeth back in shape. Three crowns, two fillings, one first time root canal treatment, and one root canal retreatment. The root canal treatment (the new one) still doesn’t feel quite right. Now I find out that I have an infected (and impacted) wisdom tooth that is near the root canal treatment. My dentist wants to remove the wisdom tooth, which I am totally down with, but I want to remove both the wisdom tooth and the tooth that recently had a root canal. My dentist is refusing to take out the second tooth. I’m willing to wait until I can do both. Can you give me any advice on how I can convince him?
Ebony
Dear Ebony,
I can tell that you are working hard to get your teeth in good shape. That is wonderful. As to the tooth that recently had the root canal, my guess is that your dentist does not want to remove it, is because there is not an infection there and it is a healthy tooth. If it were infected, an x-ray would show that. Plus, he makes more money by removing it. The only reason for him not to is his integrity. That is something to be grateful for.
I would not put off getting this infected wisdom tooth extracted. Dental infections are serious and will spread. If it is a lower tooth, your throat could swell up and block your breathing passage. If it’s an upper tooth the infection will be quite close to your brain. You don’t want something that could have been easily dealt with by your dentist to become something that is life-threatening.
Call your dentist and schedule something as soon as possible. My guess is the pain you are experiencing by the root canaled tooth is likely referred pain from your wisdom tooth.
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