AboutFrederick R. Liewehr DDS, MS, FICD Expertise I can answer your questions about root canal therapy in general. PLEASE DO NOT ask me to diagnose your particular problems or recommend treatment as I cannot do this without examining you and seeing your x-rays.
Experience I am a Board-certified endodontist, former university department Chairman, teach dental residents, and have a private practice.
Question Hello. I had a root canal performed approximately 2 years ago - apparently my roots are not straight but rather curved somehow so a root amputation has been suggested. I have had pain off and on over the course of the past 2 years. This past weekend the pain became unbearable and the entire side of my face has swollen. I cannot open my mouth very far or eat. I was prescribed antibiotics and pain killers and told to come back in a week and they would perform a root amputation or pull the tooth. Does this seem correct as I have never had such swelling or such intense pain before and the swelling does not seem to be improving. Thank you for your response. Take care!
Answer If surgery is what is needed, then there is really nothing else that will help. Antibiotics do very little for dental infections, for a number of reasons that would take a lot of space to explain. Suffice it to say that the germs are hiding in the tooth, and the antibiotics can't get to them. They can help to keep you from getting too sick, but if your pain and swelling increases, you need to have other emergency treatment, such as an I&D, that drains some of the germs and pus. However, the definitive treatment is the surgery, and your dentist is really just trying to buy some time until he can get you in to do it. So, if you are in a holding pattern, that is about all you can hope for. If you get worse, by all means go back and let him look at you to see if anything needs to be done on an emergency basis. Good luck!
