Root canal and illness

[MelbyG]

I had a root canal back in June and soon after that I became ill. Odd symptoms which included debilitating nausea, weight loss, just very unwell. I asked the dentist at the time if my symptoms were related but he said no. I also asked my doctor who said that illness relating to a root canal would be very obvious and much more drastic. The doctors starting looking into it and after seeing various specialists, thinking it could be anything from blood cancer to gastro problems, results from my tests all came back normal and it was inconclusive. Symptoms came and went for several weeks and during this time I found out the root canal had failed, was put on antibiotics and then a few days ago had root canal retreatment. There is not much pain in my tooth but I now feel awful again with stomach upset and chills. I'm going back in to see the dentist again today. This has been going on for so long now and I feel that the infection in my tooth has been the cause of my overall ill health although no one seems keen to pinpoint that as the issue. I suppose the only way of knowing is if the tooth gets pulled and I start to feel better but the dentist is keen to do all he can to save the tooth. I understand why but the last few months have been so debilitating - I've had to take a lot of time off work and am so fed up of feeling rotten. The confusion in all of this is that I am also going in to the menopause and my tooth problems have coincided with missing periods and so I can' t work out if some of my nausea etc. is menopause related or tooth related. I'm also not sure if my dentist is reluctant to say that my symptoms could all be down to my tooth problem in case it's an admission of liability. Has anyone out there had similar issues with root canals/infected teeth leaving them unwell or any dentists who can be honest about patients who may have had ongoing symptoms as a result of an infected tooth.

Did you have nitrous oxide, OP?

@UpTheLaganInABubble
Where are you going with this?
I think it's highly unlikely that the OP had a rubber dam on and a nasal hood for inhalation sedation with nitrous oxide /oxygen simultaneously.

@usernom123123 I don't know anything about dental procedures so I've no idea whether it's likely to have been used or not. I was asking in case the OP's symptoms are due to B12 deficiency

@UpTheLaganInABubble
The link you are referring to is statistically negligible for patients v for healthcare workers working with Conscious Sedation / Anaesthesia.
It may be that the OP has B12 & folate deficiency but that won't be to do with her Root canal treatment.

@usernom123123 to quote you: @Phimma
Your root canal failed that's why the pain disappeared once the tooth was extracted.
There may have been retained vital pulp left somewhere in that tooth's root canal network, there may be residual infection or perhaps inaccessible accessory canals. It is not always possible to successfully root treat every tooth that warrants it.

*The root canal didn't fail as confirmed by my dentist, and a maxillofacial consultant.

You can tell me different but I prefer to listen to the experts.*

@Phimma

• The root canal didn't fail as confirmed by my dentist, and a maxillofacial consultant.

You can tell me different but I prefer to listen to the experts*

^^
Ahh, your dentist and a maxillofacial consultant looked at your extracted tooth under a microscope then, they must have done, as there is no way of knowing from clinical and radiographic examination.

phimma a successful root canal is a bit of rubber plugging up the tooth root canal system, that's not going to cause pain. It's a completely inert safe substance.

If you had pain and the pain went when the tooth was removed then the tooth was causing pain, it was therefore a failed root canal. A successful root canal would not by nature be painful, because there's fuck all to cause pain

Even if you use your focal infection theory the root canal has to fail for there to be infection/inflammation causing illness elsewhere.

The only other option is your tooth was high in your bite causing facial pain, not s failed root canal but not caused by a root filled tooth either, and the tooth didn't need extracting. I assume the maxfax consultant would have checked this out

Maxfax consultants are not experts on root canals, it will jave been minimum 15 years since they went near a root filling if ever. And you won't find a maxfax consultant in the country who will agree with your previous article.

@BlueCornsihPixie

I dislike all these people who think able to diagnose (but fail) for me.

It's not wanted.

Please desist.

Just go away.

Thanks for your input @Ash39. Really appreciate a dentist's perspective. It may just be that I'm unlucky this time. As I said, I've had a successful root canal before. I've had every test under the sun and seen various specialist with a view to possible cancer and all tests are normal and and there is absolutely nothing wrong with me on paper. You can understand why I am therefore grasping at straws and concluding that the only thing that has happened to me in conjunction with my symptoms is the root canal which is why I'm wondering if anyone else had a similar scenario. Either that or I am experiencing rather drastic menopausal symptoms which is another possibility I haven't ruled out. I will wait and see if the retreatment takes (5 days later and I am feeling a bit better)

@UpTheLaganInABubble No nitrus oxide.

I am slightly anaemic so B12 is a possibility but nausea isn't really a common symptom of that.

@AnneKipanki
Yes, a weak immune response is what I'm thinking. If hormonal imbalances are going on then my resistance to infection may be low and that's why I've possibility had an adverse reaction to dental work.

As a small follow up to this it seems that the root canal has worked this time. After 10 days my permanent sore throat/hoarseness has gone and I feel 'normal' for the first time in a long time. My appetite has returned after months of digestive problems and I have more energy. I do think the latent infection in my tooth has definitely been the thing that tipped me into ill health but I will follow up again in a few months in case this thread helps anyone in the future.