I had a cavity 2 yrs ago and the dentist said he would fill it and during the procedure he exposed the nerve. He said I would need a root canal, but I had just found out I was pregnant so I decided to wait. When I finally went to the dentist they said I had an abscess and I needed a root canal but they wanted like $1000.00 and would not accept a payment plan, I went to 3 different dentists and the same thing. I’m sorry but I think that is absolutely ridiculous, most people can not walk in with a grand to take care of a tooth. Anyway 2 yrs later and now I have been feeling really sick, tired, sore neck, dizzy, headache, sinus problems, just totally not like myself, I have passed it off as lack of sleep. Then I heard you can have a stoke or the infection can spread so I went to the dentist and they put me on erythromycin and I go back on Fri for x-rays. Is it possible my infection spread and am I ok while I am on the meds should I have more tests or am I overreacting?
Disclaimer: The information in this website should not be used as a substitute for the care and advice of your personal dentist or another physician.
#1 by higgy on February 25, 2010 - 3:34 pm
The answer about it only being able to affect your lungs….totally wrong! With that said….you have an infection….and YES it can spread…I had an infection in my top front left tooth….one that I didn’t even know existed until I had routine xrays..and by that point, it had spread throughout much of the front part of my hard palate…That tooth ended up needing a root canal…followed by an apicoectomy…and removal of ALL the infected bone….quite a bit of my hard palate…a year later, things are better with it…and the bone has started to regrow…but YES…they can spread and they need to be dealt with….there are some places that will let you use a program called “Carenet”, you might want to look into that.
#2 by Anonymous on February 25, 2010 - 8:02 pm
Truthfully an absession to the tooth can only effect the lungs.
because the drainage goes down in your sleep not up. Your
tissues in the lungs absort the inflamation and can cause scaring
of the lungs. You may expexience soom dicomfort like hypertention, loss of sleep, and breating problems. Also the infection usely heels itself over time. But I recomend antibiotics
#3 by karen on February 25, 2010 - 8:27 pm
I don’t know about a brain abcess, but yes, any mouth or nasal infection can go into our brains and also into our blood stream effecting our hearts.
It has been proven that even tongue rings, can cause heart problems. Any germs can get straight into your blood stream, and make you very sick.
Healthy dental is better health all over .
#4 by Clammy S on February 26, 2010 - 12:48 am
HI,
If you let it can on too long, the infection could get into the blood stream and spread anywhere. 2 years is a long time I’d start taking care of it.
LAmmy
#5 by Jesse on March 3, 2010 - 11:10 am
I know that its been awhile since this was posted but I Just wanted to put my comment up here to let you know that YES it can go to your brain. I had an abscessed tooth that I didn’t know about (didn’t have any signs of problems) so for about 2 months I was feeling horrible thought I had the flu. my fever eventually got up to a 106 and of course I went to the hospital. and well to make a long story short I had brain surgery to remove the “pockets” of infection. then after i was sent home i was still on strong antibiotics through a “pic line” in my arm for a month.. so please if you ever think something is wrong with a tooth get it looked at, i wish i had. would have been soo much less painful. learning to walk again… trouble with reflex’s… not seeing right for months.. yes.. get the tooth looked at.. or even a MRI. but the brain isn’t the only place the infection can go.. well hope everything went good though.