A month ago I had a filling placed on a lower second molar. It bothered me every day since and I was taking daily ibuprofen just to get past the pain. I told my dentist I felt like I needed to come back in. He did an x-ray and said the tooth now has an abscess and I need to have it extracted. Is there another option?
Brandon
Dear Brandon,
Whether you have options will depend on whether you are on government-funded insurance or not. If you are on something like Medicaid, then they don’t give you options. You do the cheapest solution or pay for it yourself. In your case, that would be an extraction. This may be why your dentist only told you about the extraction. However, a dentist is supposed to give you all your options, in my opinion, that would include the ones where your insurance doesn’t cover things.
The best solution for an infected tooth, especially a lower second molar is a root canal treatment. This will help save the tooth. Plus, the tissue inside the tooth is dead. This means it would be less traumatic to have a root canal treatment as well.
There are financial considerations with an extraction even if that is what your insurance wants. If you save the molar, you don’t have to replace it. If you extract the molar it will require a false tooth be placed there, such as a dental implant. That will cost even more money.
My suggestion is you get a second opinion on this tooth. I am actually a little suspicious that the original filling wasn’t done correctly and that is why he is anxious to pull the tooth.
If it does turn out the tooth cannot be saved and you replace it with a dental implant. I want you to be certain the dentist who does the implant has significant post-doctoral training in placing them. For instance, Dr. Thomas is a Fellow at the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI). This means he not only has advanced training but has recognized skills. Implant placement is an advanced skill that requires post-doctoral training. There are horror stories from patients who had them done by inexperienced dentists.
This blog is brought to you by Sugarland Dentist Dr. Siny Thomas.