Chemar,
I know this is not what anyone wants to hear. Believe me, I address this very issue every day with people and I see the disappointment and fear in their expressions.

Literally, 9 out of 10 people can relate to your story. Dentists are taught to convince the patient that teeth should be "saved" irrelevant of how infected or broken down they may be. However, that word "save" simply means "retain". Root canals, apicoectomies, amputated roots do nothing to "cure" an infected tooth. Teeth start out as live body parts and once the nerve becomes infected, it rapidly spreads to other parts of the tooth called the dentin tubules which are also filled with nerve material. These tubules are microscopic, therefore, they cannot be cleaned out and antibiotics cannot kill the various strains of bacteria that develop because there is no way to culture it to know what's growing in there. The nerve material inside the tubules becomes necrotic and remains infectious. In addition to that, our teeth get their nutrition from the blood supply that circulates through the nerves, just like it does in every other part of our body. Once the nerves are severed, as they are when they are removed from the inside of the roots, the circulation stops. It is very common for people to end up with 2, 3, 4 root canaled teeth in a row as the infection has spread through the bone. Depending on the persons immune system, the infection can spread rapidly or take months to years before it shows up radiographically.

Chemar, never hesitate to question your dentist about his experience extracting teeth near or in the sinus cavity. He may be the nicest guy in the world.............. but he needs to know how to deal with a sinus perforation irrelevant of how small or large it may be. Most general dentists DO NOT know how to repair a sinus perf, nor do they have the material to repair it. It takes special training and experience to know what to do. Oral surgeons see sinus perfs all of the time, so they are ready and able to repair it.

I have seen so many "mistakes" because the patient didn't question the dentist and because the dentist didn't want to offer to refer them out for fear of losing the patient for restorative work. Please make sure you ask what his experience is with sinus perforations and how he would handle it.

I know this is scary........ I realy do. But in the right hands, you will be fine!!

Bryanna