Should an infected tooth still be pulled when the pain is gone?

My right lower tooth near the front of my mouth was bothering me, and the dentist said it was infected. That was over a month ago. She prescribed 10 days of antibiotics. Since then, the tooth has been totally fine. I have an appoinment with the same dentist to have it pulled in two weeks. Do I really still need to do that? The pain is gone.

Louisa in Alma Gardens

Dear Louisa,

I’m sorry, but this infected tooth does indeed need to come out. Even though the pain is gone, the infection that originally caused the pain is only being held at bay. It will eventually come back.

I’m surprised the dentist had you wait this long between your course of antibiotics and the extraction. Many top-rated dental clinics in Mesa keep appointments free for time-sensitive care. Usually, it’s best to do the extraction about seven days in to the course of antibiotics. At that point, the infection is well-controlled.

The problem with extracting a tooth with an active infection is an infection produces pus. Novocain just doesn’t work that well if there is pus in and around the tooth. For that reason, if your pain returns before the extraction, you’ll need to reach out to this dentist. Tell them about your pain and request more antibiotics so you don’t have an active infection when they remove the tooth.

Six weeks is a long time to go from starting antibiotics to removing the affected tooth. I think the dentist should have got you in sooner or referred you to someone who could treat this Mesa dental emergency more quickly.

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