Root Canal Treatment

Zamboni

I've had a lump on my upper left gum for a long time now and there is no pain or anything.
It changes shape and size and I had it checked with a doc to make sure it was not dodgy. He seemed fine about it and said go to a Dentist.
My dentist is not exactly a ray of sunshine, bless her, and told me I need root canal treatment on upper left 6.
She did not tell me anything else about the lump i.e. hows it linked, the actual cause etc.
All I want to know is will Root Canal Treatment get rid of this lump?
Is this lump dangerous if left untreated?
Would anyone have an idea of the cause/relation between the tooth and the lump?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

A chronic (not painful) infection in the nerve of a tooth can cause a lump on the gum beside the tooth. Basically the dead nerve (due to trauma, deep cavity, deep fillings) causes infection which has nowhere to go except out the tip of the root in you jaw bone. If this gets big enough it will cause the bone to expand leading to a pus filled cavity or abcess. This can get bigger or smaller depending on the state of the infection. Also there are other cuases such as harmless bone growths called exoestosis, cysts and others. I would reccomend following your dentists advice. Usually a root canal will remove the cause of the infection (dead nerve inside the tooth) and the swelling will resolve 9sometimes slowly. Dont worry a root canal is a very common and painless proceedure.

Zamboni

Shelby Nutritious Leakage wrote: »

A chronic (not painful) infection in the nerve of a tooth can cause a lump on the gum beside the tooth. Basically the dead nerve (due to trauma, deep cavity, deep fillings) causes infection which has nowhere to go except out the tip of the root in you jaw bone. If this gets big enough it will cause the bone to expand leading to a pus filled cavity or abcess. This can get bigger or smaller depending on the state of the infection. Also there are other cuases such as harmless bone growths called exoestosis, cysts and others. I would reccomend following your dentists advice. Usually a root canal will remove the cause of the infection (dead nerve inside the tooth) and the swelling will resolve 9sometimes slowly. Dont worry a root canal is a very common and painless proceedure.

Thanks for your reply Fitzgeme.
Is the root canal performed under local anaesthetic and how long would the procedure take?
I recently had my two top wisdom teeth extracted. The dentist almost had to climb on top of me the get them. She said they were the biggest she'd ever seen.:eek:
I hope its not as bad/traumatic as that!

copacetic

it's nothing like wisdom tooth extraction. local only and should be 30 mins or so.

Helen2

Copacetic, this is very re-assuring. I too have been putting off root canal treatment for over a year now. Googling didn’t help matters at all…..

copacetic

don't get me wrong, it's not fun, but is more like a getting a really difficult filling than a wisdom tooth.

mlelsc

Personally I would find a dentist who will fill you in with all the layest information on Root Canal as there are so many dentists out there who seem to be doing botched jobs! Ant they are so expensive too...Have had a few root canals done and in my case even though I was attending a top notch dentist they didn't work for me! Think dentists need to be more honest and open with their patients with regards to having this treatment done!!!
By the way if you went to Newry you would pay over half the price for the treatment up there! But then you can claim back expenses on a MED1 form form the revenue here!
Root Canal is done over a few sessions too!

Merv86

Watch the money hungry dentists! I was quoted €1900 for a root canal and capping two weeks ago and almost went with it. I got quoted €700 today from from my old dentist who has a good track record. Shop around for a decent dentist and a good price, it will be well worth your while.