btdt,
I sincerely hope that your venting makes you feel better. That is the strongest you have "sounded" in a long time and I am relieved to see that you still have some fight left in you! I sincerely hope that you can use that same tone with those dentists who are jerking you around. I know how difficult it is to have to demand that you get quality care especially when you don't feel well and you are in pain. I see it every single day with people pleading for answers only to be prescribed yet another medication. You can read about that very thing on this forum over and over again.
I can only tell you that you have to keep trying and you have to stop accepting their lackadaisical diagnosis by prescribing you yet another antibiotic. Again, I know how difficult that is to do and please understand that when I say that to you it is not meant to insult you or to insinuate that you are to blame for anything. It is meant to keep the fire in your spirit to be a strong advocate for yourself. I hope I am making myself clear on that as I have no ill intent here what so ever. I have spent a lot of time here talking to you over the years.. I think that shows that I do care about what is happening to you.
I looked back over all of your posts beginning in 2011. Your dental problems have been ongoing for a very long time and you have taken numerous prescriptions of antibiotics and pain meds. At this point your system is truly ill and none of your dentists, physicians, not even the oral pathologist seems to give a damn about your health. Am I right about that?
We talked about your root canaled teeth and you said they ache all the time. I explained that irrelevant of what shows on the xray, those teeth are chronically infected and I explained why. Your dentist keeps ignoring those teeth and misdiagnosing them as sinus problems instead. It is typical for dentists to do that because they see nothing wrong with root canaled teeth. Keep in mind... dentists are educated to "retain" teeth no matter what. Root canals do not cure infected teeth and they know that but they will rarely share that with a patient. Root canals are done to attempt to buy time with infected teeth and that is all. Infected teeth can and do lead to sinus infections.. not uncommon, just often not correlated with the teeth. You mentioned having a kidney infection, again not uncommon for someone who has oral infections, just not often correlated with oral infections. You've had numerous visits to the hospital, physician, different dentists ..... my God you have truly been through hell.
I want to address your broken jaw as I feel this may show yet another ill or misdiagnosis. The area that was recently diagnosed as broken could that possibly be a scar in the bone from your previous brake? Or could you have some form of osteonecrosis going on? The dentist who saw this should have compared the location of it to previous radio graphs taken at the time of your accident. Was that comparison done?
Arthritis in the jaw joint can be painful and intermittent usually brought on by change of temperature or overuse of the jaw joint. Most often it is not a constant pain like infection would be. However, you may have some undiagnosed problems with your jaw, like osteonecrosis, or TMJ that may be related to your accident. Has any of that ever been brought up by your dentists?
You could also be gridning or clenching your teeth which would cause your jaw to ache and cause pain in various areas of your mouth. Was that ever discussed?
You had ortho when your jaw was broken in the accident and ended up with gum recession. Was your jaw wired shut or did you just have braces put on your teeth? Either way, it could be that your bite was never aligned properly. That too should be looked into by your dentists.
I wish I could help you more than throwing this information out there to you. I can only offer this to you and hope that you are able to do something with it. Make a diary of everything from the accident to present. Write down all the things I have mentioned to you throughout our posts and make a list of everything you need to discuss with your dentist. Please don't settle for another medication....you have to pursue the diagnosis the best way that you can in spite of feeling lousy and in pain.
I am so sorry you are going through this. Please do not misinterpret anything I say to you as being insensitive to your situation. I truly wish I could do more for you.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by btdt
I left the dentist I had when I started this thread and have seen three other dental surgeons the new dentist sent me to a fourth dental specialist at a hosp who was a pathologist she looked in my mouth and did not see any sign of infection.
It is not that I have been accepting anything lying down... I have been trying. The fact that the dental pathologist did not see any reason for concern on examination says to me my new dentist is doing his best and whatever is going on is not a normal dental issue but something outside the box that is not obvious. At least at this point and perhaps since I have been seeing him.
I have not withheld or lied about anything... I had a car accident in 2012 may not have added that I also had surgery in 2013 unrelated to my mouth... but maybe ventilating caused a problem I can't say.
I had a fractured jaw broken in several places in a car accident in 1985... I am sure I said all this but maybe I missed something or did not think it relevant to a tooth extraction.
Even looking at my xray the pathologist at a major hosp did not see a problem except she said I had arthritis which i had been told before and which in my mind accounted for the jaw pain... she suggested muscle relaxants only.
It was a month after seeing here that a report came from the radiologist at this major hosp saying I had a fracture. It may be that the fracture is difficult to detect that only a person with precise training was able to spot it... I am not mad at the people who did not see it not yet... at this point I am just glad somebody seen it and hopeful it can be repaired.
I had no idea my issue was a serious as it now seems to be... I got use to the pain as thought it was arthritis but the infections were a problem I know the antibiotics are not good for me believe me I know better then you what they can and do damage in my body still when nothing else works they are the only game in town that I see just now. A bandaid for sure but one I can't live without as this affects my thinking and is very painful when the infection is there. I have been to emerg it got me no place... but sent back home on more antibiotics. I think it is best to follow up with people who are aware of my history then the hosp emegency room... where they are in a hurry and often just sent me home with pain pills.
I am not happy about this either but unless you know some way to make people in health care do what you want ... I don't know what else to do.
Thanks for taking the time to write I guess I was just hoping something would be obvious and it isn't simple, or common I guess. I have been stressed by the state of affairs for a long time and really don't appreciate you saying I am accepting... as I don't feel I have any choice at some points and have kept pushing to get this resolved or would not be where i am not... granted it is still not a good place to be... but better than not having any clue what is going on ...now there is a place to focus at least. Terribly sad it has taken so long I can't help it if people don't believe me pain is a very difficult thing to impress on others they either believe you or they don't. I can't make them... I am not a cryer I should not have to cry my words should be enough.... I feel like your blaming me in some way and that is unfair ... there said it straight up.
I have used this site as a source of information hope and stress relief when i am feeling panicked but think this is the end of the posts from me as I feel insulted.
I may or may not come back and tell you what happens it may depend or your response to this post or just my lack of humour over this entire situation.
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