A Novel Approach of Treating Dental Cellulitis with Intracanal Medicament Nitrofurantoin – A Case Report

Nitrofurantoin is a drug that is currently used in the treatment and prevention of urinary tract infections due to its anaerobic bacterial coverage. Dental cellulitis originates from primarily anaerobic bacteria in a necrotic pulpal environment invading into fascial spaces such as buccal, infraorbital, canine, sublingual, and submandibular. Patients who develop cellulitis present with severe pain or with no pain, swelling, sometimes associated with fever and malaise. The patient was diagnosed with dental cellulitis associated with the upper left 2nd premolar. Intra-oral drainage of the cellulitis was performed through the root canal with the placement of intracanal nitrofurantoin along with systemic antibiotics. The majority of the swelling had subsided within 3 days, which was followed by completion of the root canal treatment upon which the patient was symptom-free.