I am a 50 year old healthy female 5 weeks post op with left tkr. I had s cracked tooth I didnt know about, and it has recently gotten worse. There is no pain, or swelling, and I see the dentist in two weeks. I have been reading about infection of my tkr due to dental problems. Should I be worried, as I do have a bad taste coming from that tooth. I called my is who gave me an RX to take before the dentist. What about until? How common is an infection after tkr? Thank you
Hi. Thanks for the query. If you have a cracked tooth and there is bad taste from the tooth then it is a clear indication that the tooth is having an infection and although it is not painful bur it can flare up and become progressively painful and swelling can occur due to infection. Although if you have undergone total knee replacement 5 weeks back then the tooth infection is less likely to infect the area of surgery as there must be appropriate healing by now, but the tooth infection is left untreated can cause septicemia. So my suggestion to consult an Emergency room and get a script of antibiotics like Augmenting and gargle with antiseptic mouthwash solution. Do warm saline gargles. As soon as you can see a Dentist, consult the dentist and get an x-ray of tooth done and if tooth can be saved immediately get the Root canal done or else get the tooth removed. Hope this helps. Regards.