Hello,
I had a root canal a few years back and could not afford to have it finished. The tooth is now a bit worn down but still looks the same. A dentist that I went to 6 months ago told me that it could be saved but I still needed to wait... I woke up a few nights ago in awful pain, when I looked in my mouth I noticed a tiny hole in the bottom of my tooth near the gum this tooth with the issue happens to be next to the half finished root canal tooth. The pain was unbearable so I made an appointment with the first dentist that could get me in. By the time I got there, I had a lump on my gums and my face and neck was hurting.

When the dentist first looked at my x-rays he looked at the half finished root canal tooth and immediately told me that it needed to be pulled then he looked at the tooth with the small hole that was causing me pain and told me that it needed to be pulled, along with the tooth directly across from it on the left side... I was shocked, I don't want to loose my teeth. He then told me that I have Altered Passive Eruption and I decay under the gum line and it is affecting my 2 back teeth and the only way to be able to keep my back teeth is to go to a periodontist and have a crown legnthening procedure and have bone removed... then follow that with root canals on both back teeth. I did make the appointment with the periodontist but why haven't any other dentists made them aware of this?

Im in so much pain right now that I have considered having the tooth removed but the issue with that is that the tooth is right next to the half finished root canal tooth and they want to take that out too. Im going to have a second opinion done on that tooth but in the mean time while I'm waiting, I'm suffering. The dentist I went to didn't offer me an antibiotic or anything for pain and it seemed like he was very quick to want to pull my teeth out... I just feel like I may be getting ripped off and Im confused and not sure who to trust. All I want is to stop this pain and keep my teeth.

Any advice would be helpful... Thanks:confused: :confused:

I need to know a few more things before I can figure out what is going on.

Can you tell me how much of the root canal was done? Have the canals been filled with the plastic filling material after the nerves were removed?

Did the dentist tell you the teeth were abscessed when he looked at the x-rays? I can't figure out why he'd tell you they need to be removed unless there was absolutely no way he could repair them by root canal and filling/crowns.

The tooth with the small hole in it, does it have any fillings in it already?

Did the dentist explain what Altered Passive Eruption was? How did he explain it to you?

If there was infection on the x-rays the dentist should have prescribed an antibiotic for you.

How are you feeling? Do you have a fever? Feeling run down? If you have a general feeling of malaise you might want to go to emerg and get an antibiotic. If it just the tooth and gum that are bothering you then I'd suggest taking some Advil (if you aren't allegic), brushing gently with an extra soft toothbrush and rinsing as many times a day as you can with warm salt water.

You are definitely doing the right thing by having a second opinion. There is no reason to have teeth pulled these days unless it is so badly decayed with no crown left to build upon.