Hi Suzqwalk,
It sounds like the root of the tooth and possibly the infection had perforated the sinus. Depending on the status of the infection, this may heal on its own or it may not. The dentist should have informed you if the sinus was perforated or not. You can call his office and ask them to give you that information. They legally cannot withhold it from you. Ask for a copy of your records, surgical report and xrays to be sent to you. They have to comply with that request as those records belong to you. I suggest this because you may have further complications and this information would come in handy if you end up seeing another surgeon.
Did the surgeon say it was okay to keep the gauze in there covering up the wound? Do you notice any discharge from the surgical site? Do you have any sinus or ear pain?
Do you smoke? If so, it is best to stop because the chemicals in the tobacco can prevent the sinus from closing and can keep the wound from healing closed completely.
If there is no infection brewing in that area and you do nothing to aggravate it, the sinus membrane can take several weeks to close. The gum tissue may even close over before the sinus does. If the symptoms decrease and the site closes, this area should be monitored with an xray every few months to assure proper closure. If the symptoms stay the same at the end of 2 weeks and/or you develop worsening symptoms and/or sinus or ear pain, then do not wait to have it clinical and radio graphically evaluated.
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Originally Posted by Suzqwalk0673
Hi I am so hoping i can find answers or at the very least someone that has some idea of what I am experiencing- and not think im crazy! (lol)
I will try my hardest to keep this question from turning into a book so here it goes:
one week ago i had my upper last (or first-if you start at back) molar extracted by an oral surgeon- i had a very severe infection (abscess) which was draining a greenish horrible tasting thick mucus like substance into my mouth for approx a week prior to that - i had been to the Emergency room and put on Clindamycin 5 days prior to extraction - (after the ER visit i called the oral surgeon's office and they suggested I wait a couple days to get the antibiotic going through my system and let it drain as much as possible) I went to my oral surgeon appointment on Monday and they took xrays and examined my mouth, they told me I had two choices- 1) have them drain it right then but they didn't know how numb they could get me due to the infection or 2) I could come back the next morning (i had eaten b/c i wasnt told not to & late afternoon appt) after fasting 6 to 8 hours be put out and have it drained and the severely decayed tooth removed- I have a huge dental phobia so i obviously chose to go back and be put under-
brief backround - this tooth had been totally broken for about 2 years, I think the tooth may have been pretty much dead as I was having no pain in the tooth at all for at least a year now- only pain was the abscess on the gum line next to the tooth- since last November (approx 7 months ago)i have had this come and go- my gum would become sore, my cheek would swell, I would be very stuffed up and my eye would leak, had a lot of pressure and frequent headaches came with it so I thought it was a sinus issue because there was no tooth pain - I would call my primary doctor and have an antibiotic called in for me for a sinus infection - prior to this most current time this happened 4 times in the past 7 months- a week prior to my er visit is when i last time i called my primary doctor for an antibiotic at which time he told me he wanted me to see an ENT as soon as i was feeling better, however the antibiotic, augmentin, had not helped and that's when/why I ended up in the ER
So I went to my appointment on Tuesday last Tuesday - they put me under and did what needed to be done when I woke up I was a bit out of it and didn't even know I had been put to sleep yet- (but was kinda shocked when my husband told me beginning to end i had only been back there for 25 minutes) I went home and pretty much slept on and off for at least the next 12 hours or so followed their directions didn't smoke or drink from straw etc etc
On Thursday 48 hours after extraction I started to notice a piercing job of pain when I would breathe in to deep or took a sip of something too cold as the day went on they started to notice when I was talking it felt as though my tongue was being suctioned up towards socket-
by Friday morning I noticed upon talking that not only was it a feeling of suction when I spoke but also when I drank but i also started to notice an odd echo type sound when I talked, however when I asked others if I sounded different and they said no- (since no one seemed to understand what I meant by echo sound the best way I could describe it would be if you pinch your nose shut and speak through a empty paper towel tube-to myself that's how I sound to myself) by around noon on Friday (72 hours after extraction)my husband noticed that when I spoke I sounded very naselly- the only pain I was having was still only when air or cold entered the socket I called the oral surgeons office and asked if I could get checked out before they were gone for the weekend they told me that oral surgeon who did it was not in and to wait till Monday- my husband did not want me to wait and called back and insisted I come in to just get checked -so they agreed - when I went in a different oral surgeon Henry over my mouth and he pressed on my gum line with what look like a tongue depressor he pressed so hard I almost jumped out of the chair and then he left the room never said anything to me,the dental assistant in the room squirted something in my mouth to clean area and had me spit it out, she did this a couple times and then she rubbed a tiny piece of something with brown medicine on it over the socket and had me bite down on gauze- she told me to keep the gauze in my mouth and bite down for at least a half an hour, scheduled me to be seen by the original surgeon on Monday morning, and sent me on my way- I drove home and when I took the gauze out I immediately had the same echo and suction feeling so I put the gauze back in ( thinking maybe it needed to stay a little longer) - I noticed that when the gauze was in covering the entire area I could talk fine, drink fine and eat fine (well as fine as you can eat with gauze in your mouth!) so this continued the entire weekend and because of the strange sound I get of my own voice and the suctioning I kept goes in my mouth prettymuch around-the-clock- it seems to be the only way I can talk drink or eat normally- on Monday morning today I went to C the oral surgeon who originally did the extraction I explained to him what i am experiencing he had me open my mouth he put gloves on, pulled my cheek open took a look (with
his bare eye- no light,no tools, no nothing) just a quick peek and he said it looks great- i said "well is all this going on normal? " He said "well you had a severe infection and it was very close to your sinuses, give it 3 to 4 weeks to heal"
I said "ok but no one seems to understand what I am trying to explain - is this normal?" again he didn't give me a direct yes or no answer instead he said "it looks fine" I said "so do I need to come back or anything?" and he said "no" and walked out of the room.
so here I am still feeling exactly the same nothing has changed and I'm wondering if this is something anyone has ever had or heard of?? what this could be or what causes it?? I guess I want to know if its "normal" after such a severe infection? Thanks so much for reading this and I look forward to hearing what you have to say thanks so much!
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