alternative to pulling a tooth due to abscess beneath it?

amother

Mon, Jun 25 2012, 9:31 pm

My ds is 4 1/2. He banged his upper front teeth two years ago and they turned gray, signalling nerve damage. We've been monitoring them, and the X-rays yesterday showed an abscess full of pus below one tooth. The dentist says we must pull that tooth, and that it will be difficult and painful for the child.
It will probably be two years before an adult tooth grows in its place.
Does anyone have experience with this?
Is there an alternative to actually pulling the tooth?

Marion

Mon, Jun 25 2012, 10:19 pm

We had this with DS#1 when he was two, only it took 7 months for an issue to develop. He's been toothless on top since then.

We were told we could either pull it (5 minutes, with laughing gas, in the dentist's office) or do a root canal (an hour, under general anaesthetic, in the hospital). We chose to pull the tooth because it was "only" a baby tooth, and because the dentist was honest enough to tell us that there was an 85% chance that the root canal would not be successful and we'd wind up pulling it anyway. We wondered why we'd want to put him through 2 procedures if we could do it right the first time.

He's now six and a half. He lost his first two (bottom) baby teeth last Sukkot and while he now has adult teeth on the bottom, he's STILL missing that one tooth on top. Meanwhile, he's cute, and at least now all his friends are losing their teeth too!

FWIW, I don't know how difficult it was for DS, but it was painful for ME as his mom to watch!