Azithromycin?

And I'm pretty sure they call it a "dose pack" because it comes in a little cardboard pack, with the pills for each day in individual blister pouch thingies. 

Some dentists will prescribe antibiotics before or prior to a root canal to decrease the amount of infection that is there.  Don't forget that a root canal is done to treat an infected tooth.  There is often pus and abscess formation associated with these kinds of situation.  The antibiotics will lessen the pain because it decreases the pressure of the infection which is the cause of the pain in the first place.  Second the effect of the local anesthetics is diminished when there is an active infection.  Hence you will hear of stories of people who were given numerous "shots" of novacaine and it still hurt.  Third, once the root canal is completed often dentists will prescribe antibiotics to get rid of any lingering infection.

Hope that helps.

MyUC

Sorry my update took so long... holiday hubbub!

A little background: I had great teeth until I was put on high doses of pred for a long period of time when I was first diagnosed with UC. This caused osteopenia and I also believe it caused my teeth to become less strong and less resistant to decay. I've bounced this idea off my dentist and he said he'd never given it any thought, but it made sense that a drug that has ill effects on bone mass would also affect the teeth.

Maybe a year ago or so, I noticed a rough place with my tongue on a lower molar. I went to the dentist and he said the tooth had cracked clean through along the back. He wanted to know how it happened and said it should have been a noticeable pop. I had no idea how it had happened. I was fitted with a crown. This was my second crown. I also have one on the upper, same side.

Recently, I started noticing more and more sensitivity of that tooth/crown to both hot and cold foods. Went back to the dentist and was informed I needed a root canal. Since I already had a crown, it was a one visit procedure that wasn't any worse than having a tooth filled. The crown was replaced. I was told some of the canals didn't even bleed, indicating they were "dead" and I understand that to mean there was a high possibility of infection, hence the antibiotics.

The tooth was sensitive to pressure for a couple of days and I tried not to chew on it, but the sensitivity to hot and cold was gone.

I did okay on the antibiotics. I didn't have any major symptoms, but I did notice some mild digestive upset. If I ate more than just a light meal or snack, I would feel a little queasy and there was definitely a lot of gut rumbling going on. I was glad to get the three doses done.

I am glad the procedure is over and it went well.  I guess you didn't need any of the information that I posted, I was just trying to help. 

Notsosicklygirl:

Antibiotics are sometimes used to treat the infection of the infected tooth that needs a root canal.  The reason I said somestimes is because it depends on the preferance of that particular dentist.  Teeth can be directly dealt with and a manipulation of the pulpal chamber or removal of the infected nerve tissue directly deals with the problem at hand.   This is different from an infection in a close space in the body, i.e. a liver infection.  Some operators will forget the antibiotics all together and just do the root canal and some will combine them. 

In closing you bring up an important point.  I often advise placing a crown on a tooth to avoid a root canal procedure.  If a tooth is deteriorating and is not crowned often the tooth will eventually require both a root canal and a crown or need to be extracted.  If a crown is done early enough and in the right situation a root canal may be avoided.

Welcome back princesa.  If either of you have specific dental questions let me know.

MyUC  Happy New Year

Just to clarify my answer because I believe it to be true.  In my opinion, both as a dentist and a person, I do believe that doctors over prescribe antibiotics which does more harm than good in the short and long run.  No doubt about that from my point of view. 

If patients are in a lot of pain often antibiotics will be prescribed for teeth that need root canals.  This lessens the pain and deals with the problem quickly because the medication is treating a true infection.  If a patient doesn't have that much pain or no pain often we will not prescribe antibiotics.  It's as simple as that.  Yes there are nuances but we don't need to go over that at this point.

MyUC