A dental question...

My 16 yr old daughter Melissa, had to go to the Dentist because the gum around her back tooth was swollen, although no pain as such, anyhow to cut a long story short, she has an abcess,and now they want to do a root canal,there is no decay, infact the dentist said it was very unusual and she could see no reason for it,and could just be her anatomy, great ,poor kid

Has anyone else had this experience and should i be concerned,she is booked in next friday for the first of the three stage procedure, i am upset this has happened to her, she looks after her teeth and it just seem so strange, never heard of it happening before, and wondering if it will happen again, of course a root canal might not work, and we cannot possibly afford a crown,so here's hoping it all goes well.

Anyhow your thoughts please, thanks.

Can they not drain the abcess and treat it with antibiotics?

I've had abcesses before and was put on antibiotics to clear them up, no root canal necessary in my case at least so I really don't understand the need if they don't see anything on the x-ray.

I had an absess around one of my front teeth years ago. The greedy dentist I went to (he was sailing buddies with the guy I was dating) told me either lose the tooth or have a root canal done. I had a second opinion done (by his former colleague) who injected antibiottic directly into the absess. It cleared up and I still have my front tooth, intact. She told me that I have bone loss in that tooth. Haven't had a problem since.

Carole,

I don't see any reason why she should have a root canal at her age. I'd definitely get a second opinion.

They aren't going to give her antibiotics first to see if that takes care of it? That would be my first choice.

Yes Lori she is on antibiotics, hubby and i talked last night and we think a second opinion would be the best thing to do, i cannot quite understand it all either, we saw a programme here, a nz one once on Dentists, and it was mind boggling, went to one and they would say you needed this expensive treatment, another would say not necessary, i have to add that melissa's treatment is covered by our free health care here until she is 18, but the Dentist still gets paid the same amount, just not out of our pocket, we would have to pay to see another dentist, but i am fine with that.

Yes i am a bit puzzled as to why a root canal, interesting what you said too Donna, sure has got me thinking all right, thanks everyone.

A second opinion is a good idea. Funny, I never think about second opinions with dentists but I've never had any major work done.

Me neither i just take it for granted they know what they are doing, but after seeing that NZ tv programme i am lot more wary now,and i think it it because Melissa is so young, if it were me i probably would just have it done and not think twice about it.

Ok just to fill you in on what we decided, we thought a second opinion is a definite,so i rang the Dentist today, and the receptionist was great, i said i wanted her re-assessed and for the root canal not to go ahead, she offered for us to see another dentist in the practice, so for now we are going with this option, by then the antibiotics will be finished as well,she has seen cushla before, so i am hoping she has something different to say, and that they don't stick in with one another,as not to offend each other, if you know what i mean, i seriously doubt that Mei wang her other dentist will even know the appointment have been switched as they will probably fill that time up, so anyhow friday at 1.25pm we shall see what is going on. Thanks for listening.

I had a root canal on my back molar 1.5 years ago. If I had to do it again, I would not do it. I would have had the stupid thing pulled from my mouth. I had to go to an endodentist, he found the tooth VERY difficult to work on, and I was to go back to my dentist of 20 plus years for the crown. The root canal was $840, the crown was to be another $1000. Nearly $2000 for my back molar? WHAT???

Instead? I called around and heard a much nicer option. I simply had it filled. The filling will probably last me 10 years. I think the appointment and filling was $135 or so. In 10 years I will have it pulled. I wish to goodness I had never spent the $840. And thank goodness I balked at the crown price.

I don't go to the dentist anymore. He should have told me my options- including the low price ones!

The thing is there is actually no decay, only the abcess from what they told me, also i wouldn't really want to have it pulled as she is only 16, however i am concerned if they do the root canal, it does not work then we will have to find the money for a crown, which we just do not have. We are fortunate that the root canal is covered by our government dental health scheme, which covers most things until Melissa is 18 if she is still at school,but obviously crowns are not covered.,but like hubby said they might just want to do it and get some money,they still get paid the same.

I did some research online and found that is can often be mis-diagnosed, and that is is sometimes a gum problem not tooth, and also that root canals are often done when not necessary, this alone sent up red flags to me,yep i am hoping the second opinion is different,by that time the antibiotics will have been finished too, so here's hoping, i still might even go for a third opinion if need be.

A piece of food or something may have gotten under the gum. Does she have her wisdom teeth in yet? If I remember correctly, mine came in in my late teens or a bit earlier. As they were pushing through, I always had swollen gums and infections. I used a water pik and antibiotics. Btw..the reason they weren't pulled is because they came in slowly but perfectly, tho the upper 2 broke decades later and were removed.

Just my opinion, Carole, but I would have used a different dental firm. I don't know if the docs talk to each other or compare notes, or want to contridict each other. All my 2nd opinions were with different firms.

I've only had 1 root canal and it was necessary. My dentist does it as a totally last resort. I wuv :love: him.

Thanks for you post Karen, yes i am in two minds about having the second opinion done in the same office, but it was offered and is free, so we shall take that one, i still will consider a third opinion depending on what she has to say of course,this time i will be with her too, last time she went alone,so i can get the full story straight from her person to person not via phone, a conversation which was a tad hard as the dentist does not speak fluent english,however cushla does, so should be easier,wish us luck on friday,hoping for a different result,no she does not have her wisdom yet, but her teeth seem quite crowded,so yes i am wondering too all about that, i am pretty determined this root canal is NOT to go ahead, they will have to do some pretty good convincing to get me to agree i can assure you, obviously if it is the best thing for her,then i will agree, but not without lots of questions first.

Ok well thought some of you might be interested in finding out what the outcome was with Melissa, i just got back from the dentist,it appears suprise, suprise, that it is probably NOT a tooth issue but a gum issue, what i suspected all along,and that a Root Canal is NOT necessary, again suprise suprise,she has put Melissa on another course of antibiotics and we also found out the culprit, it was a popcorn kernel stuck in her gum,i could not remember Melissa even having popcorn, but then she reminded me she went to the movies and i also remember giving her a coupon to get the popcorn deal as it was half price, well that tub of popcorn has turned out to be the most expensive ever, sixty eight dollars later, yes i did have to pay, they said you only get one free one,and since i already had a consult had to pay.

I was a bit miffed at that i can tell you, considering i felt the other dentist should have said come back when your'e antibiotics are done and we will re-assess it then.

I am kinda hopping mad to think the other dentist was just going to start the root canal today, i am never having her see that dentist again, this one was lovely , really nice, and both Melissa and I thought she was great,she also told me Melissa had an impacted wisdom tooth, that was never mentioned before either, she never said to do anything, i suppose you wait until they bother you.

Melissa also had this horrible xray last time which made her gag, even this dentist said, oh i cannot manage that one myself, i won't be doing that today.

This has indeed been a learning experience, i never will take what any profession tells me as gospel, do my own research and demand second opinions for certain every time from now on.

There should not be anymore problem now, hopefully, if everything clears up,she has a small blister which she called a sinus or something like that, which she said likely indicates a gum problem and that it is draining and that was a good sign,that was before the xrays were taken.

I am so relieved my girl does not have to go through this, and really annoyed at the first dentist, i think she was negligent in her care really.,anyhow good news is the best to hear isn't it?:)

I am soooooo glad you got that second opinion! I bet Melissa is, too! :)

Oh Karen i am so glad too, as i said before i will never just accept a professionals opinion straight away, i will always do my own research first and then get second opinions.I tell you they would have to have done some real convincing to get me to agree anyhow, i just had a feeling it was not what they said and probably the gum.