A patient with a missed infection had a lima-bean-sized cyst at the tooth root that two specialists overlooked. Dr. Katie To explains why chronic inflammation matters more in people with Alzheimer's, dementia, or cancer, and why generic answers fail when you need to see the whole person.
Ask whether there's an active infection. Now, in this patient's case, she came in, she had 2 different providers, 2 specialists tell her— general dentist said there's an infection, and then 2 other providers said there's not an infection. Well, guess what? There was a lima bean-sized cyst on the root end of the tooth that we could see when we took the tooth out, and we removed that as well and sent it to pathology. There was an infection. Then factor in the whole picture. What's the inflammatory load? How healthy is the patient? What's the health history? And what else is going on? For patients that are very sensitive and their body is already already burdened with Alzheimer's or dementia or cancer or any of those types of things, having something additional that's chronic inflammation can cause that patient not to heal well. We want to make sure we evaluate in the entire person, the whole body health. Be wary of anyone on either side who gives a blanket answer without looking at you.
