The Wonders of Surgery, The Apicoectomy
An apicoectomy is an oral surgery root canal
treatment procedure that is carried out to
save a tooth which might otherwise need to
be extracted. Even when a large amount of bone has been
lost, most of these cases heal uneventfully
and new bone is seen to fill in about the
end of the root completely in six to 12
months. A couple of case histories of apicoectomy
surgery from my personal practice are
discussed, and before and after x-ray pictures
are shown. The first, of a woman patient, is of interest
because of large, almost identical granuloma
infections showing lateral canals which came
from the upper teeth on either side of her
two front teeth (lateral incisors).
Though her severe gastrointestinal involvement
improved dramatically with root canal treatment
of these teeth and nutritional counseling,
restults were not completely satisfactory. With our current knowledge of Dr. Price's
research discoveries - and in spite of the
long history of service of these two teeth -
with indsight it appears she would have been
better served by removal of these teeth. The second case involved the largest cyst
surgically operated upon, which was caused not
by tooth decay but by a football injury.
he filling in of new bone at the infection
site around the two teeth after six and 12
months proved gratifying to me and the patient.
Because he moved away, I am unware of his
subsequent health history. The successful healing in these two cases
emphasizes how difficult it is for dentists
nd patients a like to believe these teeth
could still be carrying infection. For those suffering severe degenerative
disease problems, it will be only by having
seemingly healthy root filled teeth removed
that judgement of Price's work will be possible.
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