Dentist help - shadow on xray in DS14 jaw

[tpmumtobe]

DS14 had an ortho consult today. All fine until the xrays which showed a shadow in his lower jaw, at the base of his lower central incisors. Turns out it was there (albeit a lot smaller) 4 years ago and has got bigger. He has an urgent appt with the dentist next week to review.

Can any dentists advise what this might be and how they might investigate it further? He's v anxious about the dentist generally and I'd like to be prepared in terms of what might need doing at that appt. Will they have to cut into his gum to explore it further?

Weirdly I had a spontaneous abcess in the same spot in my lower jaw in my late 20s (no decay in the tooth at all) and so did my Dad at the same age, so I wonder if it's something like that?!

Hopeful bump. He's now been referred for an urgent CBCT scan and I'm panicking slightly :(

I'm sorry you have this worry, Op. I hope the fact you had a similar problem when you were young is a comfort. I hope you get the appointment through quickly and will be thinking of you

Just wondering what happened with your son? My 11 year old has just had a shadow discovered in a dental x ray and now we are waiting for the radiologist to write a report. I wrote my own post and yours was listed in the similar threads section.

@elliejjtiny It turned out to be a long/slow growing abcess which needed a very ordinary root canal procedure. Either caused by him knocking it when he was smaller or possibly a genetic defect. It's given him no bother since and he's having orthodontics with no problems.

Whereabouts is your son's shadow?

Thank you. It's on the lower right part of his jaw when Looking at the x ray so not sure if that means it's on his right or left side. It's not touching any of his teeth, it's lower down by about half a centimetre and it's about the size and shape of 2 peas stick together. I'm glad your son's shadow was easily fixed.

Is it around the root? At the very bottom of the long thin end?

No, it's nowhere near the root. It's about half a centimetre down away from the end of the root of a back tooth that is visible in the x ray but not visible in his mouth yet.