Hi Doitashi,

I will re post some of your original thread and reply in bold type.

<<I have been viewing threads on this discussion board for the past three or so years since I learned on my own the hard way that my tooth #13 (root canal tooth/cracked), #3 and #14 were all badly abscessed and the direct cause of my chronic and worsening health issues for close to 30 years. Thanks to Bryanna and her very informative advice to other members, I have been able to research and pinpoint this problem with my health and overcome the challenges of navigating through the maze of dental specialists, etc. I learned that you have to be your own advocate not only with medical doctors but even more so with every dental specialist (know your complete history) to clean this mess up and start to recover. No one has your best interest at heart except yourself.>>

WHAT TYPE OF DENTIST (GENERAL, SPECIALTY, HOLISTIC, CONVENTIONAL) WAS THE MOST HELPFUL TO YOU? WHAT DENTAL PROCEDURES DID YOU HAVE DONE THAT YOU FEEL BENEFITED YOUR OVERALL HEALTH? HOW IS YOUR DENTAL AND SYSTEMIC HEALTH NOW?

<<I realized my wife was dealing with the same chronic health issues as I was. Lucky I have her medical and dental records for nearly 30 years. She already had 5 root canals by the age of 23 and three more over the next 20 years!! Surely only one or two of all of these root canaled teeth at the most had to be actually infected.>>

A ROOT CANAL PROCEDURE IS DONE TO ATTEMPT TO "RETAIN" A TOOTH FOR AN UNCERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME. THE PROCEDURE IS DONE FOR DIFFERENT REASONS, NOT JUST INFECTION. I WILL LIST SOME REASONS:

1) PULPAL INFECTION
2) DEEP DECAY OR FRACTURE
3) TOOTH TRAUMA
4) EXCESSIVE LOSS OF ENAMEL AND/OR LOSS OF TOOTH STRUCTURE ABOVE THE GUM LINE MAKING THE RESTORATION OF A VITAL TOOTH IMPOSSIBLE.
5) FORCEFUL AND/OR TRAUMATIC ORTHODONTIA (BRACES)
6) ROOT RESORPTION
7) CHRONICALLY INFLAMED PERIODONTAL LIGAMENT
8) PERIODONTAL DISEASE
9) EXCESSIVE TEMPERATURE SENSITIVITY OR OTHER PAIN DUE TO EXCESSIVE GUM RECESSION
10) JAW BONE CYSTS WHERE UPON REMOVAL ALTER THE VITALITY AND INTEGRITY OF THE HEALTH OF THE TEETH IN THAT AREA.
11) RC'S ARE DONE ALMOST ROUTINELY IN SOME OFFICES PRIOR TO MAJOR DENTAL WORK, LIKE CROWNS OR BRIDGES.

HOWEVER, RETAINING A NON VITAL TOOTH IRRELEVANT OF HOW IT BECAME NON VITAL OR HOW WELL OR POORLY THE RC PROCEDURE WAS DONE, IS GOING TO BE A SOURCE OF CHRONIC INFLAMMATION DUE TO THE BASIC BIOLOGICAL FACT THAT EVERY ORGAN OF THE BODY REQUIRES VITALITY TO BE HEALTHY. THE TOOTH WILL ALSO HARBOR INFECTIOUS BACTERIA INSIDE THE DENTIN TUBULES AND VERY LIKELY THE LARGE CANALS AS WELL DUE TO INABILITY TO COMPLETELY ERADICATE THE MICROSCOPIC NERVE TISSUE.

ANY ORGAN, INCLUDING TEETH, THAT HAS PERMANENTLY LOST IT'S VITALITY (OR IN OTHER WORDS ITS CIRCULATION) IS GOING TO BE A CHRONIC BURDEN ON THE IMMUNE SYSTEM.

<<Long story short, even though we have both started to get some of this mess under control and cleaned up, we just learned that her root canal tooth #2 extracted in Nov 2014 (problem tooth since the 80s and root canal 17 years ago) has at least one if not two retained and badly infected roots and she was never informed of this by the OS. The PA x-ray still shows the infection above this tooth (root) #2 and a CBCT 3D scan last month shows at least one of these roots in the palatal area and possibly another in the mesial/buccal area of the socket.>>

ROOT CANALED TEETH DO NOT "GET BETTER" OVER TIME. IN FACT, THE MICROORGANISMS OF BACTERIA THAT INITIALLY RESIDE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF A ROOT CANALED TOOTH ARE EVENTUALLY JOINED BY OTHER SPECIES OF BACTERIA MAKING THE INFECTION MORE DIFFICULT TO ERADICATE, EVEN AFTER THE TOOTH IS EXTRACTED. THEREFORE, LEAVING ANY RESIDUAL TOOTH ROOTS, DISEASED TISSUE, OR BONE IN THE JAW BONE DURING THE TOOTH EXTRACTION IS LIKE HAVING THE INFECTED TOOTH STILL PRESENT.

<<She just went to a holistic dentist with this recent scan and PA x-ray and the dentist agrees with the report that there is some sort of sclerosis or "abnormal healing" in the socket ". He debrided the surface area/bone from #1 thru #5 (other teeth extracted prior) but did not attempt to look or to remove any roots in the #2 socket.>>

DID THE DENTIST PERFORM ANY BIOPSIES OF THE TISSUE AND BONE THAT HE REMOVED?

<< He thinks this is probably not a root (s). With all of the issues we have dealt with I am sure I can see the infection in the sinus above where the root was (is) even again with sinus surgery after the extractions last year. 1" cysts were removed from each maxillary sinus but now there again is a cyst in the right sinus.>>

THE DIAGNOSIS AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THERE ARE RETAINED ROOT TIPS NEEDS TO DETERMINED. THE EXACT LOCATION OF THEM ALSO NEEDS TO BE DETERMINED. DURING THE SINUS SURGERY, WERE THERE SCANS TAKEN OR WERE THEY JUST TAKEN PRIOR TO THE SURGERY?

IF THE SINUSES APPEARED "CLEAR" ON A 3D POST SINUS SURGERY SCAN (AFTER THE SINUS SURGERY WAS DONE) BUT THEN LATER "NEW" CYSTS APPEARED IN THE GENERAL SAME AREA.... THIS COULD BE DUE TO OLD OR NEW INFECTION. MEANING, THE BACTERIA CAUSING THE ORIGINAL CYSTS COULD STILL BE PRESENT AND DIFFICULT TO SEE ON THE SCANS. OR YOUR WIFE COULD HAVE OTHER REASONS WHY SHE IS DEVELOPING CYSTS IN HER SINUS. ARE THERE OTHER ROOT CANALED TEETH STILL PRESENT IN HER MAXILLARY ARCH?

<<I have PA x-rays from Oct 2014, Nov 2015 and Dec 2015 and can post if authorized for review>>

IF THE ADMINS ALLOW, YOU CAN POST THE XRAYS ON THIS FORUM. I WILL TAKE A LOOK BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT I AM NOT A DENTIST OR ENT DR. SO MY OPINION WOULD BE LIMITED IN THIS CASE