This is the first post in our oral surgery myth busting series! We are going to address some common myths, specifically related to oral surgery and tooth extractions. Hopefully this series will provide some good real-world information and help a few patients along the way!
The myth is that you can't take an infected tooth out, or that it is best to wait for the infection to clear first. As a dentist, I hear this a lot from patients but even occasionally from other professionals. In fact, I just had a patient a week or so ago tell us they told her at the ER to wait until the swelling was down before seeing a dentist? Um, what?!
In dental school, I had an oral surgeon faculty member tell that the best treatment for an infected tooth is "cold steel and sunshine". At the time I barely understood what he was talking about but now over the years, I've come to realize he was just stating that definitive treatment with an extraction is the best course of action for an infected tooth. (A root canal may also be appropriate if the tooth is restorable).
While infections are often greatly improved with antibiotics and we use them all the time, they can take a few days to really get working. Many times that is longer than you'd want to be in pain and in some instances, the infection is too aggressive and antibiotics won't help by themselves.
It's also important to note that dental infections will not be "solved" by antibiotics. It may help for the time being, but it will come back. Think of the infection like a crack in your house. You can fix the crack but if you don't fix the foundation issue that was the reason for the crack, it'll come back. And probably with a vengeance!
We routinely see patients with infected teeth and remove the tooth same day. Often we will need to give more anesthetic in order to get someone numb, but most of the time we are able to get people just as numb as if they didn't have an infection. I've had patients with soft ball sized infections, and believe me, we do not wait on getting the problem tooth out!
Our schedule, your schedule, life in general, may warrant trying to use antibiotics to buy some time, and that's ok. But please don't fall for the myth that you can't remove an infected tooth because you absolutely can. Give us a call at 920-234-8904, schedule online here or have your dentist send a referral here if you have an infected tooth and we will do what we can to get that thing out of there!
Comments