Question:
My wife had a couple root canals after which she developed infection
that would not go away with several courses of antibiotics over
several months.
Finally 2 dentists recommended she have surgery, I believe an
apicoectomy (sp?).
When the (other, unknown to the one who did the root canal) dentist
took new x-rays to see about doing the apicoectomy, he said, when he
saw the x-rays, that the root canals had clearly been botched, because
the dentist had perforated too far through. I don't understand the
terminology, but basically as I understand it, when he went in to
clean up the hole where the root was, the tool he used went way past
where it should have gone, thus perforating her and opening her up to
infection. Does that make sense? Did I explain that well enough for
you to understand it? Well, if not, hopefully the x-rays will tell the
story better.
Anyway, then the dentist showed the x-rays to 2 other dentists, and
they all agreed that the root canals had been botched, based on the
x-rays.
I would like to get more opinions from professionals before going back
to talk to the dentist who did the - allegedly botched - root canal.
You can view the x-rays here: http://tinyurl.com/ipd9
If these pictures don't show it well enough, let me know which part
you need to see better, and I'll try to re-scan them to show them
better. These are little 1 inch size xrays.
Answer:
Unfortunately this forum is not the place for me to address your
primary question, however, in my opinion, if I saw this case today, I
would want to remove some of the root canal filling material, apply
mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA, Proroot, Tulsa/Dentsply) and hope for
a resolution of the problem. The upper bicuspid is sure suspect as the
root canal filling material is diverging in a way that is not
consistent with normal root anatomy.
For the tooth on the right (lower photo) I doubt apicoectomy could
help however a few addititonal x-rays taken at different angles and
preferably at 90kVp could provide definitive diagnosis. The lower
photo is considerably foreshortened and if the dentist is using a
paralleling x-ray technique an XCP could sure help!
She seems to be fine, now, but who knows, after some time...? We can
only hope, because she had NO problems when we went to dentist #1 who
said she needed a bridge. He botched the bridge and then she needed a
root canal.
We went to dentist #2 to get the root canal under emergency
conditions. Then he later did another root canal. Then she developed
severe infection. Then dentist/surgeon #3 did the apicoectomy.
What I am curious about is that the dentists who looked at the xrays
took one look and said it clearly showed that the root canal job was
botched.
Well, yes, frankly it does appear that way... Because I am not getting
even a diplomatic answer as to if this was good work or not? Though,
from the lack of anyone saying it was good work, I tend to suspect it
was not, or at least might not be...
Let me put it this way, based on the xrays you can see, is there
enough there for you to say you would not go to this dentist for a
root canal?
And one more question you should be able to answer non-judgementally:
What, in your professional observation, DO the x-rays show, in
layman's terms, please. I mean, what does it show that is is not good,
despite whether or not there may have been "reasons" it didn't come
out good? What am I looking at? (Because I do not understand what I am
looking at, only what the 3 dentists told my wife, which, 2nd hand, I
am not clear on.)
