For a few years now I have had a lot of toothache around one of my bottom front teeth. The gum beneath it feels swollen. There is also a deep pocket that goes quite deep into my gum and when I press on it white stuff comes out of the pocket. The dentist I have just seen said no I definitely don’t need a root canal. Could you please let me know if this is anything to worry about because I’m getting to the point where I just feel like pulling it out when it is aching.
Thank you,
Belinda from New Zealand
Belinda,
I can’t tell for sure what is wrong without seeing you, but I can tell you that something is wrong. When you can express pus from around a tooth, that means there is infection.
I would suspect gum disease, because of the pocket around the tooth that you speak of. And, when you start seeing pus, it could be at a fairly serious advanced stage. I don’t know much about your dental care system there in New Zealand. I would have thought your general dentist should know enough about gum disease to recognize that. We treat gum disease in our office all the time. But since you’re not getting a good answer from your general dentist, I would seek out a periodontist or gum specialist for an evaluation.