Gum boil and surgery

[Ozark]

Has anyone here had a gum boil that required surgery? My situation has developed as the result of a fall back in the 1980s that broke my jaw. Now I have severe bone loss in the area around a tooth near the jaw break and have developed this gum boil at the surface which implies infection underneath. I am most concerned about the risk of infection and slow healing following surgery to have this taken care of. I am currently on 9.5 mg of pred and I'm not sure if this dose is high enough to cause problems surrounding infection and healing. Has anyone else here had problems with oral surgery while on pred and at what dose were you on at the time? As usual, thank you in advance for your reply. This is just a wonderful and invaluable group for those of us who suffer with this damnable PMR disease and I'm grateful to all of you for being here.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Nothing like that - but pred didn't affect my extraction at all.

You need to discuss it with the oral surgeon.

[Ozark in reply to PMRpro]

How much pred were you on at the time of your dental extraction? And to clarify a bit, my situation will probably require the extraction of the tooth as it has a pocket of chronic infection beneath it and it has no supporting bone structure around it. So my suspicion is it will be more of an extraction and not so much a surgery. So your comment does apply.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Ozark]

Can't remember but I imagine it must have been IRO 10mg. I imagine the biggest problem will be the bone regrowing. You haven't been on alendronic acid at any point have you?

[Ozark in reply to PMRpro]

No, nothing like that, I've only been on Prednisone. The bone loss around this tooth is due to the trauma of the broken jaw many years ago. It's been a slow process of bone reabsorption. So it is my suspicion that what will happen is that the tooth will be removed and some kind of bridge work will go in as a replacement. The only way to replace the bone would be a bone graft which I refuse to endure and I'm not even sure that this would be something that the dentist would advise.

[Sandradsn in reply to Ozark]

I think it is very wise having that tooth extracted if you have chronic infection around it.It's much better to remove it and the infection should clear afterwards.

[rejuvaaesthetica]

This means that you have to treat these underlying causes before gum boils will go away. Your dentist will likely treat with antibiotics, as well as deep cleaning and possibly even a root canal or other procedures to remove infection and restore oral health. In rare cases, gum boils could be linked to oral cancer.

[rejuvaaesthetica]

Gum boils often develop in response to oral health concerns like gingivitis or tooth decay. This means that you have to treat these underlying causes before gum boils will go away