Cleo,

The shiny irregularly shaped blob on Jamm's that is clearly visible in the extraction site on the radio graph is without question mercury from a retograde amalgam filling that was placed in the jaw bone at the apex of the (now extracted) molar at the time of the apicoectomy. The other shiny "fragments" are pieces of mercury that have broken off and traveled to other areas and become embedded in the soft tissue.

I do not believe it would behoove Jamm to seek a monetary reward or reimbursement for neuro consults or meds from OS #1 at this time. Her first priority should be to get in to see another oral surgeon to perform a proper and thorough debridement of the extraction site and clean out the sinus if needed. She needs to keep impeccable records of everything, only seek reimbursement from OS #1 for the second surgery done by OS #2 and keep it strictly to that without mention anything to OS #1 about further action OR closing this case, and then see how things heal over the next few months.

Here's the problem with accusing OS #1 of wrong doing, other than his less than optimal oral surgery to extract the molar. Because the tooth was root canaled and had an apicoectomy, the tooth, jaw bone and sinus were already in trouble long before Jamm ever saw OS #1 for the extraction. So any temporary or permanent nerve or pain problems in that area could be directly due to the longevity of the ongoing infection of 20+ years in that molar AND from the root canaled pre molar.

Completely eradicating an infection of this type will be a difficult task even for an outstanding surgeon. Simply because bacteria hides in the nooks and crannies of the jaw bone and you cannot remove what you cannot see.

Also, if nerve damage did happen to occur after any of these follow up surgeries, it is not necessarily the fault of the oral surgeon performing those surgeries. Doing surgery in an area of the jaw bone that is already in a compromised state is risky due to the long term infection. What needs to be taken into account is that the various bundles of nerves associated with that quadrant of the mouth have been inflamed for 20 years making it basically impossible to determine the exact culprit(s) of nerve damage, if any should occur.

Bryanna