First off, take a deep breath, everything will be fine.
Continue taking your amoxicillin until its gone, stopping early just creates more problems.
The grey color does indicate the nerve of the tooth is dead. Depending on the size and severity of the abcess, they may or may not need to drain it. Incision and drainage is only used for really severe infections, otherwise antibiotics are enough to remove the swelling.
If you are still swollen, most likely the dentist will not do the root canal that day. We usually like to wait until the antibiotics clear most of the infection first.
A root canal is a rather simple procedure, especially on front teeth. They are much easier than people think (not the dreaded thing everyone claims them to be). The dentist should get you numb, and after that everything is painfree. After, you should feel no pain, and the only discomfort you might feel would be from the healing bone where the body is still fighting the infection outside the tooth.
If your tooth is mostly intact, there is no reason the dentist would need to remove it.
How did you chip your tooth? How much of the tooth was chipped off?
Thank you for your info, I'm feeling a bit calmer now! It got chipped by a friend dropping a camera on my face..nothing exciting! It was just the bottom corner, starting about half way up the tooth - my dentist filled it in and it has been quite sensitive since. My face swelling has gone down a lot, its just the abscess itself now. It feels like a grape pushed up under my top lip, pushing into my nose! I hope it can be sorted out tomorrow. I'm glad a root canal isn't always like the horror stories that I have read!
Thanks again
The other day I found out I chiped my tooth I got infection in there and now have an abscesson my gums.also my face swoll up. I went to the dentist and I need to to pull the tooth. They gave me antibiotics but I have been taking them for two full days and the abscess is still there and blood is pooring out every so often. what should I do.
i had root canal treatment done on my upper middle large tooth around twenty years ago, from time to time over the years i felt a little lump on my gum, never caused me pain. last sunday i woke up with a severe pain in this tooth, went to dentist on monday, who took an xray and said i had a abscess. he put me antibotics and gave me pain killers also, its now wed and my lips and gums are swollen, the pain has gone down a tiny bit but i still cant sleep with the pain. is this normal that the pain and now the swelling has started. does the abscess have to burst or clear before it gets better. my dentist says he cant check the root canal work done previously until the infection clears., i am so worried about loosing my tooth. when will the anti botics start to work. i look forward to hearing from you, many thanks. ann
I have been vomitting for 2 days I'm on antibiotic but can't keep much down. Face and mouth swollen . When do I go to ER?
Just a little update... I wrote the original post back in 2009 and my root canal (and crown) on my front tooth lasted 8 years and then the problems started! In the last year, the abscess returned so I had another root canal (which failed) and then an apicoectomy last week by a specialist endodontist. But here I am... at 1am, lying awake in awful pain. I'm pleased to report I still have no fillings but I'm coming to the realisation it may be time to say goodbye to this tooth forever... gosh if it wasn't my front tooth I'd have got rid of it a long time ago. Who knows what implant options will be viable (if any!) after the (multiple) infections & surgical treatments. One crazy accident with a camera being dropped on my face, knocking my tooth and chipping it all those years ago, has resulted in a lot of pain, many dentist appts, waving goodbye to large sums of money and still no permanent solution as yet. Oh joy. If only 2009 me knew what I know now, maybe I'd have just had it out straight away. I'd be very interested to know if anyone else has experienced a similar situation and what end result they opted for!
I chipped my front tooth 44 years ago, and had a root canal, braces, bonding then finally a crown put on. In the early 90s, I had an abscess make an opening in the front of my gums and start draining. It seems that the metal point in my root canal caused the abscess and an endodontist did a second root canal, removed the metal and used gumma percha and it was fine. Now it’s 2018 and I have a soreness beneath my nose and I thought it was from clenching my teeth while I sleep. That was until I just poked my finger up there and there is a swelling about the size of a raisin and it is painful. Wonderful. I bet it’s a new abscess. Will be locating a new dentist in the morning and hope that I can get in somewhere. I’m nervous.