Dave,

I'm sorry if my post implied that your current jaw infection was the tooth that had the periodontal work done. Since I had no idea (or don't remember) which tooth was done in either case, my intention was to make a general statement about any correlation between oral surgery and jaw bone infections. My apologies for not making that intention clearer.

Both of your dentists performed procedures that are routinely done in the conventional field of dentistry on patients who present with your particular dental problems. Neither procedure is considered negligent in the eyes of what is called "standard of care". It is what they are taught to do in dental school and the ADA backs those teachings up 100% so long as they are done according to the textbook. Does any of that mean they are performed without risks to your health? No, not by a long shot.

Jaw bone infections are common and it is my experience that basically every person with root canaled teeth will eventually have them. The degree or intensity of infection varies, but like any chronic infection anyplace in the body, it is something that always puts alot of stress on the immune system. Again I apologize if I failed to make myself clear in that any jaw bone infection is serious and should not be taken lightly. By the time the infection from a tooth has spread to the jaw bone, it has been brewing for quite some time. Most dental problems do not show any signs or symptoms until they have reached a level of inflammation that sends off signals to the brain that something is wrong.

I really wish there was a way to preserve a tooth that was infected. But there is not. Teeth are vital body parts just like every other part of the body. For example, if a person crushed their finger and the circulation of blood was cut off and there was no way to restore the blood flow, the bone would become ischemic and gangrene would set. If that non-vital finger remained on the hand the chance of gangrene proliferating to the rest of the hand would be pretty certain. If the finger was removed before the gangrene set in, the chance of saving the hand would be positive. A tooth that has been root canaled is just like that crushed finger in that there is no longer any blood able to flow through it to keep it healthy. That's why a dentist will tell you, a root canaled tooth is a non- vital tooth and becomes brittle due to the lack of blood supply. Just like the finger which is only one of five others and attached to the hand..... etc........ the tooth is only one of many which share the same jaw bone and vascular system as the rest of the body.

I am just putting the information out there to help others become informed of what their conventional dentists are not sharing with them. It is easy to research on the net if someone wanted to do that. Each person has to decide what they feel is in their best interest and my intention is to just provide the information not the solution.

Bryanna