March 2020 - Kentucky Dental Group

I’m worried about my daughter but my pediatric dentist won’t see her during the quarantine. She’s had a loose tooth bothering her and now she has a fever. I called in but they said a tooth infection doesn’t have a fever. Is that true? Do I really have nothing to worry about?

Mandy

Dear Mandy,

I’m hoping there is some sort of miscommunication here. Maybe what your pediatric dentist said is that a tooth infection doesn’t usually have a fever. However, any infection can cause a fever. Before you panic, that doesn’t mean your daughter does have an tooth infection.

My guess is you are very diligent with her dental care. Unless there was a cavity they were watching at her last checkup, there likely isn’t one now that has progressed far enough to become an infection. It’s likely she’s fighting something else off right now. You mentioned the tooth is loose and bothering her. Sometimes loose teeth can be painful themselves.

Because of COVID-19, they’re asking us to stay quarantined and only treat essential cases. I’m sure this is making you nervous because it feels like you don’t have access to the care you need for your daughter. You’re a caring mother and want the best for her. Here’s my recommendation.

Keep an eye on her. If the pain in her tooth gets worse, pull it. It’s loose and should come out without too much problem. If there is an infection there, pulling the tooth will take care of it.

If you do that and she’s still in pain a couple of days after you pulled the baby tooth, you can call the dentist back and tell him you want to come in for an emergency dental appointment. It shouldn’t still be hurting a couple of days after it is removed.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. John Weaver.

I have pain in a molar and went to see a holistic dentist. He did some x-rays and said there doesn’t seem to be much of the canal left only calcification. He’s giving me antibiotics and if that doesn’t work he wants to extract the tooth. I’m not too crazy about that. Have you heard of this before? Is there another alternative?

Casey

Dear Casey,

When a tooth is infected, it needs a root canal treatment.

I want to hit the pause button here because I’m concerned regarding what I’m hearing. I’m worried your dentist doesn’t understand some things. There are good and bad medical practitioners in every field, including dentistry. It sounds like your holistic dentist is at best confused.

Let’s start with the antibiotics. If you have a tooth infection, these will not cure it. When antibiotics are used for dental infections it is to hold the infection at bay until a root canal treatment can be done. What will happen is the pain will go away as you’re taking the antibiotics. However, once they’re done, the infection will blow up again. Until the infected pulp is physically removed it will spread.

Let’s say, however, the antibiotics don’t help at all, not even when you’re taking them. That means an infection isn’t the cause of your pain. This means your dentist will be extracting a tooth without a true diagnosis.

Just because your dentist can’t see the canal well on the x-ray doesn’t mean it is not there. I’m going to recommend you get a second opinion, if possible from an endodontist.

As for the calcification, as we age, our canals tend to shrink. Plus, if a tooth is irritated, it will build up dentin on the insides of the pulp chamber. In the more extreme cases, it will block the canals. However, an endodontist will have special tools to get through the calcified parts.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Holistic Dentist Dr. John Weaver.

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