Hi Jo Jo,
Thank you for answering my questions.
As I had expected and you confirmed, you did have root canaled teeth in your upper right resulting in osteomyelitis. Again, this is clear evidence of the chronic infection residing in root canaled teeth because osteomyelitis is an infection in the bone when the bacteria has traveled through the bloodstream or has spread from nearby tissue. Osteomyelitis can also be caused by an injury or trauma in which the bone becomes exposed to germs. For example, when a tooth is extracted there is always trauma to the bone. But combine that with incomplete debridement of the socket and the germs will multiply which can lead to osteomyelitis.
I am glad that you recognize that the infection should have been diagnosed much sooner. It's not like you didn't try to get help, you most certainly did. But here lies the problem..... it is no mystery amongst dentists that root canals are expected to cause problems. But until the infection is severe and/or the patient says remove this tooth, dentists tend to leave the problem undiagnosed. The medical profession for the most part is clueless about infected teeth. However, radiologist are well educated on diagnosing radio graphic pathology. So you are right, who are you suppose to turn to for help?
Also it can be unfortunately difficult to find a dentist who will eagerly take on a case that has been complicated by root canaled teeth... late or misdiagnosis of infections.... and/or incomplete surgeries. To be honest, anyone who gets involved with your case will know that to attempt to remedy it could cause further complications and/or they may not be able to meet your expectations of full healing. So they know they run the risk of getting caught up in a law suit in spite of trying to help you.
If it were me, I would seek an oral surgeon or oral surgery group in private practice. Not an insurance driven practice. Ideally, the oral surgeons should have a dual medical/dental degree... MD and DDS/DMD. When you call for an appointment do not go into too much detail about your case. Just request a comprehensive surgical consultation for an infected root canaled tooth. Then you obtain physical copies of ALL of your radio graphs from your dentists and bring them with you. This way there is no verbal interference between the offices as you do not know what conversation would occur without you present. I hope I explained that okay.
May I ask if you are in the US? If so, what state? Myself or someone else here might be able to give you a reference.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by jojo23
Hi Bryanna,
Thank you so much for responding.
To answer your questions about my upper jaw, the osteomyelitis was caused by two root canals in my right upper maxilla.
The hardware is still there, I guess the position of my head was a bit different when the scan was done.
All of the healthcare people that missed the infection in my mandible, from my dentists to the radiologist that read my ct scans have tried to minimize what is going on in my jaw and the extend of the infection. Not one of them has ever acknowledged that they failed to diagnose the infection for years.
My attitude has always been what do I need to do to fix this. Knowing that the infection was present in my mandible for a long time I was concerned about bacteria resistance and the condition of my jawbone.
All of them told me once the tooth was gone the infection would be gone as well, like it was no big deal. Now that I am still having problems they are not being helpful.
I did question the oral surgeon about the extend of the infection and asked him about debriding the socket. He told me that the infection would come out with the tooth.
I am in the process now of trying to find someone to help me. Sometimes I just don't know what to do. It is very hard to live with this pain.
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