Root Canal Treatment

[nic3c]

My dentist has just discovered an abcess on my gum and says i need root canal treatment but he can't fit me in for an appointment until January. Surely it isn't good to leave the tooth that long? Does anyone know within what time limit it should ideally be done by and how i can get it done faster somewhere else?

[Jugglering]

Your dentist might also be thinking that your abscess needs to heal before starting to drill into the root canal of your tooth and possibly spreading the nasties around. Did s/he give you some antibiotics to get rid of the abscess first ? I definitely would not want any *invasive work* done if I had an abscess, I'd let it all heal up first. I hope you feel better soon !

[bednobs]

is this an nhs or private dentist?

[nic3c]

Some antibiotics were put in the hole when he drilled into the tooth to let the pressure out. I'm just worried about the fact that the root canal treatment is needed to save the tooth, so surely leaving it for 2 months won't help save it, the tooth will only decay more.

I think he's private, i pay for appointments anyway...

[bednobs]

you pay for the nhs too, just less. Anway if it is private, you are perfectly at liberty to go and find another dentist. You are paying after all. But first of all ask the dentist if its just him that cant fit you in or if its that the work cant be done till then
if its nhs, ask him the same but you may need to find an nhs dentist that still had uda's left

[MrXLA]

If you need root canal treatment (endodontics), then the aim of the treatment is to as much as possible eradicate the source of infection and allow natural healing (not as Jugglering suggests, if the area of infection would resolve on its own then you wouldn't need root canal treatment)
- However it is often necessary to instigate drainage and allow the acute infection to subside prior to continuing with root canal treatment (the aim of which will be to prevent further infection)
- Ideally you would have this completed as soon as possible (once acut symptoms have subsided, sometimes as little as one week)
- however if your dentist doesn't have appointments then he/she doesn't have appointments and thats unfortunate
- it leaves you with a number of options:
1) Wait (and everything could be fine)
2) Have the tooth extracted
3) see another NHS or private dentist who can fit you in sooner (although endodontics can be a lengthy procedure sometime requiring 2 or more visits)
4) Ask to be referred to a specialist endodontist (expensive but the most likely chance of a successful outcome)

[FUZZYBEE]

Local anaesthetic does not work if there is infection present, if the dentist saw an absess then he would have opened the tooth to relieve the pressure that the infection causes and placed an antibiotic dressing inside(which incidentaly is fab,tastes foul but really works). Then he would have just put a paste like dressing over the top which hardens over time but it's slightly porous so it would still let infection(pus) escape without pressure building up again. If it settles then all well and good, you probably can leave it for a while but all I would say is if there is definately no chance of appointment before Jan then just pop in and ask for a prescription and actually get it changed up in the pharmacy because these things have a habit of re-occuring 2 o clock in the morning- christmas day etc etc!!
You could always ask to be put on the cancellation list for appointment or maybe when you know you have a spare afternoon give them a call they might be able to squeeze you in. By the way you may get an odd taste every now and then but that will just be the dressing.
hope this helps
fuzzy x

[nic3c]

Thanks everyone for your help. It is my dentist who can't fit me in, he has no appointments free. I'll try contacting another dentist but i'm not overly hopeful (they all seem to have too many patients and not enough time to see them all). If all else fails i guess i'll have to wait and hope the tooth is ok.