How a specialist saved my bleeding mouth

When your regular doctor fails you, it’s time for a second opinion

By ZAHID H JAVALI

For over two years, I was suffering from bleeding gums all around my mouth. My regular dentist in HSR Layout of over six years insisted that it could be because of heredity or some gastric issue. But that shouldn’t be because my parents don’t have that problem and neither did I have an issue with my stomach.

The issue reached a flash point when the dentist (with a basic bachelor’s degree) suggested that a healthy tooth that was partially broken had to undergo root canal to prevent the painful gum problem I was experiencing on one side of the mouth. But despite the surgery, when he fixed the crown, the problem remained. Neither was the measurement of the tooth accurate and nor had the gum pain subsided.

After a few days and much thought, I remembered a dentist friend of mine, an old advertiser of Residents Watch, who had moved out a few years ago. He suggested that I consult a gum specialist (periodontist) for my problem. The moment I met her a week later with my mouth xray, she found bone loss all around and did a deep cleaning, even under the gums by applying a local anaesthetic gel. It took about half an hour, but ever since, I have had no bleeding.

The moral of the story? When your current doctor doesn’t fix your problem or tries to blame something other than his own discipline of medicine, it’s time to wake up and go for a second opinion. And again, it’s important to go to a specialist who is much better at solving these issues. It took me two years and several drops of blood to realise this crucial fact. If you are having similar health issues and you realise that your family doctor has a basic degree, it’s time you went to a specialist and put an end to a chronic health issue. Even if it means stepping out of HSR Layout and going to the remotest corner of Bangalore to get yourself examined.

There’s more. Not only did this specialist diagnose my prevailing issue, she was also able to prevent future pain. One look at the X-ray, and she asked me to get both my top and bottom wisdom tooth removed because they were touching my neighbouring molar. She also found that one root canal done more than 15 years ago was partially done – only halfway through the canal when it should have been touching the bottom. So she directed me to a specialist in the same clinic who was good at this.

Once all of these were done, she found that my gums had healed very well and there was no need for any flap surgery or bone grafting. Instead, she just did a laser surgery with just an anaesthetic gel for four of my bottom teeth, just to be on the safer side. And finally, the moment of reckoning. The troublesome tooth that had refused the crown earlier accepted it without fuss and there was no pain in the gums thereafter. It was a happy ending to a bloody story.