Dental experiences with O.City

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Mecca

So a friend of my claims if you have an infection with an abscessed tooth a dentist won't drain it or pull it because of some shit of the infection getting in your blood and killing you, is this true?

Uh, yeah, that's not true. At all.

Abscesses can cross facial planes and get into some real ****ed up places. Look up Ludwig's Angina if you want an example. Shit can get away from you real quick.

Seriously, anyone reading, if you have any swelling intraorally, get it taken care of.

[burt]

Originally Posted by O.city

Look up Ludwig's Angina if you want an example.

I am not looking up any guys angina. Do some guys have an angina?

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by O.city

Uh, yeah, that's not true. At all.

Abscesses can cross facial planes and get into some real ****ed up places. Look up Ludwig's Angina if you want an example. Shit can get away from you real quick.

Seriously, anyone reading, if you have any swelling intraorally, get it taken care of.

Well that is interesting to know, I've had more than 1 person be like oh they make you do weeks of antibiotics before they do anything, they won't just drain it because blood and infection yadda yadda. I always thought that was bullshit cause well abscesses need to be drained.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Well that is interesting to know, I've had more than 1 person be like oh they make you do weeks of antibiotics before they do anything, they won't just drain it because blood and infection yadda yadda. I always thought that was bullshit cause well abscesses need to be drained.

It’s harder to get full anesthesia sometimes when there is a presence of infection due to the acidity or something (I don’t remember the exact science behind it) so you have to do some antibiotics first.

I try to limit use of abx as much as possible due to the issues with resistance that are rising, so I usually take the tooth out or drain it.

I have had patients with hot teeth or what we call irreversible pulpitis where it hasn’t abscessed yet but it is intense pain. Only way to fix it is extraction or root canal. Sometimes doing the root canal you can’t get the tooth all the numb so you have to do what’s called an interpulpal injection. Basically you tell the pt “this is going to be uncomfortable for a few seconds” and you drill a hole into the pulp or nerve of the tooth and shove a needle down into the root as far as you can and force anesthetic down it.

It’s not the most comfortable thing but it gives immediate relief and lets us work with a comfortable patient