frostyjohn,

Please try to be positive... you are not imaging what is physically happening! In all of my years in dentistry.... I have seen countless mistakes and misdiagnosis. I cannot stress enough that you just have to keep searching for the answer.

Regarding the polyp... it may be necessary to have it removed. However, it is equally important to find what caused it because it can grow back again if the culprit is not discovered.

A couple of things come to mind....

1) Let the ENT know the ENTIRE history of that extracted tooth. Get your records and xrays of all of that. That history may be helpful in getting the proper diagnosis.

2) If the tooth were the culprit, then it is imperative that if the polyp is surgically removed, then the entire area of that location all the way down to the tooth socket needs to be explored for residual bacteria and debrided if needed.

3) If any visual infectious bacteria or necrotic tissue/bone is not removed during the removal of the polyp, the problem will not be solved.

4) Sometimes oral surgeons and ENT work together surgically on a patient. One does the nose the other does the dentistry. Ask your ENT if he thinks this would be necessary.

If the polyp in unrelated to the infected tooth.... then you still have to determine the cause or it will return. Polyps form for different reasons. Ask the ENT to provide you with them as something may ring a bell to you that you have either forgotten about or thought it had no correlation to the formation of the polyp.

Repeated sinus infections are linked to various things. Ask the ENT to provide you with that information as well.

Many times polyps are formed from a constant irritant. Could be infection related but not all of the time. Sometimes the irritant is in your diet, your environment or your lifestyle. Food that has been grown in chemical laden soil, food that has been sprayed with chemicals, food that you are sensitive or allergic to can all cause sinus problems and eventual polyps to develop. Environmental factors in your home, at work or in your neighborhood again all contributors to sinus problems. Lifestyle factors.. what you sleep in, bathe in, apply to your body, breathe in like smoke or chemical fumes, anything that irritates your immune system can cause sinus problems.

Sometimes we have to take a serious look at all of those things and make changes wherever we possibly can to become well again.

I often recommend the guidance of a nutritionist who can order various testing to help determine what the irritants could be. Conventional medicine falls very short on stuff like this.... unfortunately.

Hang in there... fingers crossed that this ENT doctor is able to give you some answers.

Keep in touch with us..
Bryanna