Tooth root extraction safe during Tx?

[Lainy57]

I am about to begin week two of 26. I have 2 roots that need to come out to begin the process of implants. After extraction, the dentist waits about 4 months for bone to grow back where the root was in order to put a metal post in. I am concerned about impaired bone regrowth due to the tx drugs. Anyone out there have experience with this type of situation?

[Lainy57]

Thank you all for your feedback! You definitely see my dilemma... I suppose the best approach will be to contact my dentist and give him my doctors number. I am just so worried of delayed responses and my next interferon injection is due this Tuesday! Wish me luck...I will post the outcome for those in the future!
Blessings!

[frijole]

I had to have a root canal done on treatment.  There was really no choice in my case and it created no problem.  I was given antibiotics. However,  I would hesitate to have teeth pulled unnecessarily while on treatment.  We lose saliva which is considered antibiotic while treating.  In addition, the treatment can cause bone loss.

http://www.natap.org/2000/dec/bonemindens330519.pdf

This article is a study on bone loss with interferon/ribivirn therapy and the T scores were lower than the control group.   I would not have my teeth pulled until at leasr 6 months after treatment

[pooh55811]

Sorry, I missed your second post about the infection. I agree that the infection needs to be addressed ASAP.

[desrt]

If you have an existing infection and you're currently two weeks into tx, make resolving that infecton a priority. It's going to be harder to get the antibiotics to do their job once your white counts drop.

[Advocate1955]

It sounds like either way could be a risk.  If you already have an infection present, waiting could lead to a risk of the infection spreading due to your weakened immune system and you white blood count while on treatment.  If you get the work done now, you run the risk of spreading infection for the same reasons.  I would suggest that you ask your oral surgeon to consult with your hepatologist so they can decide what is best in your specific situation.  Perhaps your hepatologist could prescribe some antiboiotics and Neupogen to try to prevent infection and build your white blood count either before oral surgery if they decide to do it now, or to keep things in check until you're done with treatment.  Treatment itself is hard on your teeth though, because of the changes in the salivary glands, which could also lead to an increased risk of further oral problems.
Keep us posted.
Advocate1955

[pooh55811]

Do you have to get this dental work done now? Can it wait until after treatment ends?

Personally, I would avoid any dental work such as the type you described  unless it is an emergency. In fact, I treated for 48 weeks and treatment caused me to have some gum recession of my lower front gums. I finished treatment on Aug. 25, 2012. I am going for a gum graft at the end of March 2013. I purposely waited to have the gum graft until I have been off Interferon for several months. (End of March is 7 months off Tx and I hope that is long enough.)


Here is a thread that may give you some insight into your situation. It is from 2011 and 2012 mainly, with posts being posted as late as this January 2013. I think you can see how many of us have had dental problems while on treatment and also one can see the variety of problems we had:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Anybody-having-Dental-problems-with-triple-therapy/show/1643547


Here is an old thread that may be helpful. Unfortunately, the links included in the thread are no longer good, but there is still quite a bit of information in the thread.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/From-Journal-of-Viral-Hepatitis-Prospective-Study-of-Bone-Mineral-Density-and-Metabolism-in-Patients-With-Chronic-Hepatitis-C-During-Pegylated-Interferon-Alpha-and-Ribavirin-Therapy--/show/723527

[Lainy57]

Thank you for responding!
I am on dual therapy Interferon and Ribavirin. And you are correct...not much studying done at all as it is so hard to find answers to. This is why I am partially depending on similar past experiences of hep c patients. I was also told by the dentist that I have a slight infection between the top of one of the roots and the bone. I am concerned about that infection becoming worse due to s/e of tx.

[desrt]

This is probably something that hasn't been studied much since people go way out of their way not to have oral surgery while treating. Extraction always carries a risk of bacteria entering the bloodstream and the lowered white cell count caused by interferon makes this a bad time to have these types of procedures done. Which combination of drugs are you taking?