Dental treatment near to THR surgery date.

Nocturne

Hi, I'd be grateful if anyone has information or opinion on this - my TLR date is provisionally February, one year after assessment, waiting for exact date. At dental check up xray last week was advised of cavity under tooth, which could become infected. Dentist is unable to tell if cavity is infected from an xray and I currently have no pain so it may not be. NHS advice is any invasive dental procedures should be done and healed at least 6 weeks before surgery date, and if after surgery, not for 3 months (to prevent any infection travelling to surgery site). I've waited so long, in pain but being patient as I know many of us are suffering too, that the thought of delaying my surgery further is very depressing. It seems to be a gamble - delay dental treatment till after surgery and risk gum infection developing which would impair healing, or delay surgery for several more months (obviously have to queue several weeks for dental appointment) and ask for stronger pain relief as pain is 24/7, wrecking sleep and making all the daily demands we have extremely difficult. I know there's no easy answer to this but would be grateful for anyone else's take on it. Thanks for reading.

PeterJ

Hello @Nocturne a difficult dilemma. Have you discussed this with your consultant for the hip surgery? It would be a shame to end up going back on to a waiting list when you are so close.

Janlyn

@Nocturne I agree with @PeterJ regarding speaking to your consultant. It would be such a shame to go back on the waiting list but also you really don't want an infection.

If it's any use at all I had a similar problem with a dental cavity during lockdown and I wasn't able to get it treated for a good number of months. I actually used salt rinses a couple of times a day and was amazed how clean and comfortable I managed to keep it until I could have treatment. Maybe useful as a precautionary measure but definitely get proper advice.