Have a root canal on a wisdom tooth? (teeth, pulled, pain)

[Checkered24]

I have a wisdom tooth with an abscessed nerve, which needs to be extracted or treated through a root canal.

Conventional wisdom generally says to pull a wisdom tooth. It is not needed, and may have hidden nerve canals which the root canal may not detect or clear out, which could lead to problems after a crown is put on.

In my case, my dentist feels my wisdom tooth could be saved, and has encouraged me to consider a root canal, despite the fact that he is unsure the canal would have a great chance at success. Seems he is asking me to take a big financial risk in doing the root canal, instead of electing to have the tooth pulled.

Anyone here know more about the odds of a root canal on a wisdom tooth? Is this even worth considering? My gut feeling is to go for extraction, and suffer thruogh the recovery! (Plus I do not have any dental insurance, so root canal and crown will be massively expensive for me!).

[zoso1979]

What is the real benefit of keeping the Wisdom tooth and having the expense if you really don't need it? If it were ANY other tooth it might make sense. I'd lean towards NOT having the root canal.

[CD's Only Mrs. X]

Wisdom tooth experience here.....

Have the wisdom tooth pulled.

I had 4 impacted wisdom teeth. The first two bottom ones cause me a great deal of pain with infections and hemopaligic migraines. The day they were removed I felt so much better. The second two were equally as bad and had them both removed five years later.

My husband had a partial impacted wisdom tooth that needed a root canal. It became infected so bad he could not open his mouth. The doctor felt extraction not a root canal would be best. He never had a problem since the extraction.

I am not a dentist nor do I pretend to play one on CD but if I were you I would seek the second opinion of an oral maxifacial surgeon and get them extracted. This is not a regular molar that would be worth saving.

ETA You wrote of the financial gain he would get for the root canal. It seems this dentist is more concerned lining his pockets than your well being.

[jaijai]

That seems absolutely crazy to me.
There is no reason that i know of to save the wisdom teeth.
And root canals are costly, often painful and not always successful and many feel that they can greatly compromise health.

Root Canal Dangers - Weston A Price Foundation

Having a tooth or teeth extracted is not fun but a good oral surgeon (it's not just about yanking the tooth out) can accomplish the job relatively easily and without causing you too much pain.
A few days of down time and a little pain medication and you'll be done with it and will not have to worry about the issue any more.
At the very least, get a second opinion although i wouldn't even bother doing that.
I'd simply find a different dentist to care for your teeth and who can give you a recommendation for a good oral surgeon.
I'm very surprised that any dentist would recommend performing a root canal on a wisdom tooth!

[CD's Only Mrs. X]

Originally Posted by jaijai

That seems absolutely crazy to me.
There is no reason that i know of to save the wisdom teeth.
And root canals are costly, often painful and not always successful and many feel that they can greatly compromise health.
Root Canal Dangers - Weston A Price Foundation
Having a tooth or teeth extracted is not fun but a good oral surgeon (it's not just about yanking the tooth out) can accomplish the job relatively easily and without causing you too much pain.
A few days of down time and a little pain medication and you'll be done with it and will not have to worry about the issue any more.
At the very least, get a second opinion.
I'm very surprised that any dentist would recommend performing a root canal on a wisdom tooth!

Completely agree with this!

To perform a root canal on a wisdom tooth seems that dentist rather make big bucks than care about patient.

[NJBest]

Get an opinion from a dental school clinic. They aren't in it for the money. Then get the procedure done by your dentist.

[Marv101]

I second that; depending on where you live, there might be a major university with a dental clinic which will save you serious $$$$ on this procedure or any other dental procedure.

At the dental clinics here in LA at both UCLA & USC, students do the work (at USC they have to be in their third year of dental school in order to do procedures0, but there are tons of dentists around to supervise.

[Checkered24]

Thanks for the opinions! I appreciate it! I have been leaning towards getting it pulled since it just does not seem to be a tooth worth saving. Especially since saving it brings it's own complications and is not guaranteed!

[Cali BassMan]

Save your self some money and pull it

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by Checkered24

Thanks for the opinions! I appreciate it! I have been leaning towards getting it pulled since it just does not seem to be a tooth worth saving. Especially since saving it brings it's own complications and is not guaranteed!

I think that it's good that you're leaning toward having the tooth extracted.
If you get to the point where you're leaning toward having a root canal on that tooth the please, get a second opinion!!!
Recommending and then doing a root canal on a wisdom tooth seems close to being unethical.