Question:
broken tooth/root canal

Okay Now I am really worried,my surgery is in 17 days and I had needed a root canal but they said it was cosmetic so I have put it off cause of the cost, I found out yesterday Half the tooth finally broke, split in half the week part broke off. do you think they can just pull the tooth before surgury? They were going to have to build the tooth up even before the root canal. I just DONT want to put off the surgury!    — Diane S. (posted on September 28, 2002)

September 28, 2002
Don't sweat it sweety. Go ask your dentist if he can just build it up so you don't have to worry about it while you are doing this surgery thing. Then, when things cool down, you can work on getting the root canal done.
   — Carolynn J.

September 28, 2002
Who said it was cosmetic???? I manage a dental office and have never heard of a COSMETIC root canal!!!! A root canal is ness. because of an infection or decay into the pulp, which would have caused the tooth to break or some type of trauma to the mouth. General the order is Root canal, build up, crown. A crown is not considered cosmetic after a root canal either. PLEASE let me know if I can help in anyway!!
   — Jenn J.

September 28, 2002
See your dentist and see if he can do something temporary or have the tooth extracted. I have a tooth that had a root canal done years ago and the crown came off. I couldn't afford to have it replaced so I ignored it. Luckily it didn't interfere with my WLS surgery 10 months ago but September 11 I started having pain in that area and went to the dentist the next day. He put me on antibiotics and pain meds and made an appointment for the next week. That was Thursday. Saturday I woke up with a small apple on my jaw - saw the dentist again, he sent me to the emergency room where they gave me IV antibiotics and morphine. Monday red streaks were running under my jaw and the antibiotics were making me nauseated so I called my surgeon who is three hours away. His secretary said to get there as soon as possible. I saw him at 2:15 and was in the hospital before 3:00 with a massive jaw infection. I had IV antibiotics for 36 hours and have been on oral meds for 10 days since then and they just refilled them for another week. I saw the dentist this afternoon and I've either got to have the tooth built up and the crown replaced or have the tooth extracted but they won't do either yet because the infection still isn't under control. I have no feeling in half my bottom lip or chin and they can't tell me now if the nerve damage is permanent or not. It seems that the broken tooth is an open door for bacteria and it goes straight to the bone. You don't want this to happen shortly after surgery. It's very dangerous.
   — Patty_Butler