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My upper front tooth keeps getting reinfected after a RCT. Do I need an implant?
A couple of months ago I went to to the dentist because one of my upper front teeth (8/central incisor) had been slightly but persistently hurting for a while and it had a history of being less responsive to cold tests than my other teeth. After doing an x-ray and a cold test she concluded that the root is dead but to be safe she started the root canal without any anasthesia so I could say something if I felt anything. I felt no pain whatsoever and sure enough the root was dead. So far so good.
The procedure went fairly well although apparently my tooth's root canal was unusually large so that her usual equipment couldn't reach far enough and she seemed quite baffled and said she had only seen this once before.
After the root canal she filled it with some temporary antibacterial filling and made another appointment for two weeks after in order to replace the antibacterial filling before doing the final filling two weeks after that. I went in for the first replacement and everything went well but I had to reschedule the second appointment because I went away on vacation. The new appointment was about 6 weeks after the last temporary filling and she said that was not a problem. However, about three weeks in I started feeling something in the tooth and as time went on it got more and more uncomfortable. Not exactly painful but an uncomfortable feeling that got stronger and lingered for a while when I drank hot beverages.
On my next visit to the dentist she assessed that it had reinfected and so she cleaned it out again, this time also using a laser. She filled it with another temporary antibacterial filling and scheduled the next appointment two months from now. She said that if that doesn't work the tooth might have to be removed. That was around 12 days ago and today when I drank my morning coffee I got a very slight hint of that uncomfortable feeling again.
I'm really not very happy about the prospect of getting an implant because for one I'd like to keep my natural tooth and more importantly, I can't really afford an implant right now. What are my options here? Do I insist on getting another antibacterial filling to see if that does the trick? Do I get a specialists opinion? From what I can tell my dentist seems quite competent and takes a prudent approach to any invasive procedure. Do I just bite the bullet and get an implant? (I would most likely have to go outside of the country to do that at a fraction of the price (i.e. around $1k instead of $5k) and I'm not looking forward to doing such a procedure with a dentist I have no experience with).
Any advice especially by professionals is welcome!
The procedure went fairly well although apparently my tooth's root canal was unusually large so that her usual equipment couldn't reach far enough and she seemed quite baffled and said she had only seen this once before.
After the root canal she filled it with some temporary antibacterial filling and made another appointment for two weeks after in order to replace the antibacterial filling before doing the final filling two weeks after that. I went in for the first replacement and everything went well but I had to reschedule the second appointment because I went away on vacation. The new appointment was about 6 weeks after the last temporary filling and she said that was not a problem. However, about three weeks in I started feeling something in the tooth and as time went on it got more and more uncomfortable. Not exactly painful but an uncomfortable feeling that got stronger and lingered for a while when I drank hot beverages.
On my next visit to the dentist she assessed that it had reinfected and so she cleaned it out again, this time also using a laser. She filled it with another temporary antibacterial filling and scheduled the next appointment two months from now. She said that if that doesn't work the tooth might have to be removed. That was around 12 days ago and today when I drank my morning coffee I got a very slight hint of that uncomfortable feeling again.
I'm really not very happy about the prospect of getting an implant because for one I'd like to keep my natural tooth and more importantly, I can't really afford an implant right now. What are my options here? Do I insist on getting another antibacterial filling to see if that does the trick? Do I get a specialists opinion? From what I can tell my dentist seems quite competent and takes a prudent approach to any invasive procedure. Do I just bite the bullet and get an implant? (I would most likely have to go outside of the country to do that at a fraction of the price (i.e. around $1k instead of $5k) and I'm not looking forward to doing such a procedure with a dentist I have no experience with).
Any advice especially by professionals is welcome!
COMMUNITY LEADER
Seeing an endodontist is advised. Your descriptions don't suggest the offended tooth is hopeless.if you do need an implant, you need to see a dentist near by, because implant requires long term follow up care. Most dentists are hesitant to take care of other dentists' implant.
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