
08/04/2025
A 26-year-old patient underwent a root canal treatment (RCT) for tooth number 37 at another clinic three years ago. The dentist had also advised surgical removal of the adjacent impacted wisdom tooth (38), which was decayed and posed a risk. However, the patient chose to delay the extraction, assuming it could be done later.
Fast forward three years—when the patient returned with discomfort, an X-ray revealed that the untreated wisdom tooth (38) had become severely infected, and the infection had spread, damaging the distal root of the previously treated tooth (37). Now, unfortunately, both 37 and 38 must be extracted.
This case is a reminder: a wisdom tooth ignored a healthy tooth destroyed