I am not thrilled with dentists as a whole. It’s nothing personal but I’ve have never had a pleasant dental appointment. I’ve had a wisdom tooth with a cavity and let it go. It has pretty much rotted out. The top part is completely gone. All the way to the gumline. There doesn’t appear to be anything inside the gum. Can I let it go or do I need to do anything about it?
Ellory
Dear Ellory,
First, I am sorry that all of your experiences with the dentist have been discouraging. I have a solution to that which we will get to in a moment. First let’s get to your question. If the crown of the tooth is gone, the remainder of the tooth will decay and you should be fine. Because the tooth is open, there is very little chance that an infection will get into the bone. You won’t have any enamel left so the decay will dissipate.
I will say if the decay on that tooth got so bad that the crown either decayed or fell off, then you likely have decay on other teeth. You lucked out with your wisdom tooth not developing an infection during all that decay. You might not be so lucky with the other teeth. Even though I think you are probably fine with your wisdom tooth, I think it would be wise (see what I did there?) if you had the other teeth checked. This way you can prevent an infection before it starts. These can turn into dental emergencies quickly. Believe it or not between 6-10 people die every year from a tooth infection.
How to Have Anxiety Free and Pain Free Dental Care
I am going to recommend that you see a sedation dentist, specifically one who offers oral conscious sedation. This is a medication that he or she can give you to take shortly before your appointment. This is very strong and you will need to have someone drive you to and from your appointment. Some patients call this sleep dentistry because it is strong enough that you can sleep through your appointment if you want to.
People who’ve avoided the dentist for much of their lives find that by using dental sedation it completely changes their lives. They are finally able to catch up with years of missed dental work becuase of their anxiety.
This blog is brought to you by a compassionate dentist in Gilbert, Dr. Matt Roper.