Should my dentist treat the infection before doing root canal treatment?

[Tom 09]

Hi

I have a sore tooth at the back of my top jaw that has been aching through out the last couple of days and its beginning to drive me mad with pain and agony.

I am pretty sure that the tooth is infected and I know I don't want to have the tooth removed, so my only option is to have it root filled. My question is can my dentist root fill the tooth whilst there is so much infection there?

Should I see my dentist first for an antibiotic prescription and let the infection settle before having root canal treatment? Can he do the root filling without giving antibiotics first?

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

The response to your question would be both yes and no. This is because it all depends on the situation. Sometimes if there is too much infection starting the root canal can be helpful regardless of antibiotics being started or not because if there is a lot if pus collection then it can be drained through the tooth and opened canals, allowing the infection to be drained.

In other cases it may be better to treat the tooth with antibiotics first and usually this in cases where the tooth cannot be fully anaesthetised and no mater how many injections are given, pt simply feels the pain specially as the tooth is touched and pressure is applied to it. So it all depends and it need to be assessed clinically.