Hi Tom,

I received your personal message... glad the extraction is done

There are various blood markers that indicate inflammation and infection in the body. Unfortunately, unless you were bit by a snake or had acute appendicitis or something else similar happen that would immediately get into the blood stream or other organ, the bacteria has to be prevalent enough at the time of the blood draw to indicate an unhealthy or abnormal level.

Oral infections can progress slowly over time and not show up in the blood work until enough of the bacteria has entered the blood stream. This does not mean however that the bacteria is not filtering into the blood, because it is. Routine blood work is not sensitive enough to pick it up until it's severe. There are specialized blood tests that are more sensitive than those routinely done, but many doctors are not even aware of them and they are very expensive and most insurance companies do not cover them. I would have to do some research into what they would be but you are probably not going to find someone to do them. Unless you went to an infectious disease specialist.

It can be difficult to determine when an oral infection has caused you ill health or when it has settled in an organ, a joint, or a bone elsewhere. Sometimes the bacteria shows up "unexpectedly" when someone has surgery in another area of their body and pathological cultures identify and confirm the strain of bacteria(s) as being most prevalent in the mouth. I have known many people who went in for a hip or knee replacement and the surgeon found osteomyelitis (bone inflammation and infection often found in the jaw bone with root canaled teeth or long term infected teeth) brewing in the joint which compromised the new replacement. I have known people and actually had a friend of mine succumb to brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme which the tissue cultures of the tumors confirmed the same strains of bacteria as what was found in his extracted root canaled teeth and jaw bone.

This is why I cannot stress enough on this forum how important it is to not retain dead or infected teeth. Pain is not always a symptom until the problem has progressed. We have to rely on our dentists to inform us of any early signs of infection and there often are many, but sometimes they are more visible to the dentist than to ourselves. We also all need to do our part and become wiser patients about the common sense risks associated with keeping dead or infected teeth. Agree...?

I know you are trying to keep yourself healthy and are concerned about your dental health. It's been several days since your extraction, how are you feeling?

Bryanna




QUOTE=threeputt;1091333]Bryanna, just a quick question on this. If someone had an infection in their body from infected teeth then blood work should show it correct ? Otherwise how would you know ? I read you reply and was just wondering about this. Tom[/QUOTE]