Fistula

Posted on January 30, 2003 in Dentition

The hygienist ran a gloved finger along the facial side of my gums. A sharp balcony, no longer than three grains of sand lined up, jutted out beneath the temporary crown on the lower right where Dr. Morrison had done a root canal last April.

“It’s called a fistula“, she announced. A pocket of hardened gum into which pus running over from inside the crown collects. I feel no pain from the tooth partly because it is dead and partly because the fistula relieves the pain by catching the runoff.

Triage for the tooth happens on Monday. Does Dr. Morrison attempt to save it or does he declare that it has taken too much flak and shrapnel for the attempt?

Sometimes this happens.