Root canal cyst

[Carter]

Hello

My dentist did root canal treatment on one of my molars around five years ago. Over the last few years the tooth has been fine and not caused any problems. However over the last week, I have noticed that there is an ulcer on the gum adjacent to the tooth and brown stuff seems to come out of the ulcer when i push the gum around the ulcer.

I looked on the internet today and some sites seem to mention that this ulcer might be caused by a root canal cyst and my tooth may have to be removed. Is this the case? Should I show this ulcer to my dentist?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Hi

Thank you for your post. Root canal treatment can sometimes fail and if they do, sometimes a sinus tract forms on the gum and drains out the pus away from the area of infection. This brown stuff that you have seen is probably pus being drained by your sinus tract.

You will need to see a dentist ASAP as while this sinus tract is open, a dentist can place a piece of opaque root filling material into it and take an xray of it, to show him exactly where the pus is draining from.

Once the origin of the pus is located, the offending tooth will have to be either root treated again or extracted.