Do I need a root canal yet? NO!

[Cheryn]

This is more a comment than a question.  On this site, I asked the question sometime last spring: I have had a brown recluse spider bite that seems to be affecting my whole body.  One of my teeth is sensitive and one dentist x-rayed and recommends a root canal. I can't see anything on the x-ray that looks like an abcess. How long can I wait?  Well the result is that a second dentist looked at the tooth and couldn't see that I needed all that work either. So I waited.  Once I finally got proper treatment for and began to heal from the spider bite the gland under that tooth went down.  My suggestion: don't be in such a hurry to do work on a tooth unless you are certain it really needs to be done.  My tooth does not hurt at all any more and I am changing dentists.

[Ria-pain]

It's nice to have a dentist who is open minded, too.  (One who listens to your symptoms, pays attention when things aren't adding up instead of jumping to conclusions and acting like he knows everything.)  There is always room to grow and learn, EVEN when you are a doctor of twenty years.  Nobody knows everything!  When I run into a doctor who is so confident and cocky that they rule things out immedietly and aren't open to learning from new situations/problems that arise, then i run AWAY. A person knows there own body more than anybody else.  Trust your instincts when things don't feel write.  Good luck to you Cheryn, and stay strong!

[Cheryn]

Brown recluse bites affect your whole system including the lymph system.  I suspect that was where my pain was coming from.  I understand your reluctance to believe that something percieved as "simple" as a spider bite could have such a powerful effect on a person, but it can cause any number of problems and the toxin possibly never leaves your body.  I still feel the effects 5 months later.  The reason I am changing dentists is I prefer one that takes a more conservative approach when things are not a certainity.

[mike1105]

it is not unacceptable for a root canal to be done when pain seems to be coming from a tooth, despite not being able to identify an exact cause--  many fractures are not visible on films and we assume sometimes that there is one based on symptoms. A root canal procedure oftentimes does the trick in these cases. in You cannot blame your dentist for not being familiar with pain disguised as tooth pain that is really from a brown recluse spider bite....... gimme a break. besides-- I for one am not sold on the fact that your spider bite had anything to do with the pain near your tooth.

[Jerome Bogin, D.D.S.]

I am happy things worked out for you and there is nothing wrong with getting a second opinion.