Question:
I had root canal work done yesterday and it was all going well until
the dentist irrigated my tooth and the most immense pain shot accross
my face. Turns out that she had drilled beyond the apex of my tooth so
the irrigant went up into my sinuses. She had to flush the tooth with
local to ease the pain.
Woke up this morning and my face is twice the size it was yesterday,
my cheek and jawline are very swollen and tender but the tooth seem to
be ok. Cant get hold of my dentist and just wanted to know if this is
common or not.
Answer:
running straight to the hospital is probably not needed. see your dentist
first, have you called him/her yet?
For what ever reason I missed that line. Well if all else fails, including
leaving a message with the front desk, emergency contact numbers for the
dentist, paging, answering services etc, sure. What do you think the
hospital will do? They will tell her to see her dentist after they give her
pain medication and antibiotics if she wasnt already given them. Penicillin
and percocet cures just about any dental problem as far as most ER's are
concerned. The average ER doc is quite dental stupid.
Without seing her personally, it sounds like post-op swelling or soft tissue
irritation from irrigants. Some ice followed by heat, pain control and
antibiotics. So, I would recommend tracking the doc down and if that is
unsucessful take a trip over to the friendly neighborhood ER and then find a
new dentist who makes themself available for situations like these. Hey, now
I know why I get all those tooth calls on the weekend! Unless she lives near
a University hospital with dental residents, wasting time on the phone at
home is better than sitting in your local ER reception area for hours on end
to get limited help especially for something that will most likely resolve
over the next few days. Unless ofcourse you like the free TV thats stuck on
one channel.
I think that the hospital will observe the patient for any unusual causes of
her condition. It does sound like an irrigation accident. But, hey, do we
really know? Where is the swelling? Is it causing her to have difficulty
breathing due to encroachment of her airway? Is she allergic to anything the
dentist may have used? If my face was swollen to TWICE its normal size and
I couldn't reach my doctor then I wouldn't hesitate to get checked at the
ER.
Peritonsillar, lateral pharyngeal & submandibular/sublingual swellings
affect the airway, not cheek swellings. Allergies would tend to more of a
systemic picture, not so well localized depending on severity. We havent
seen her response so I am going to bet she either went to the hospital or
finally found her dentist. Playing the numbers and without seeing her, its a
local response to her rtc therapy and nothing more, especially since its
only been a day.
