Hi tyler,
It is not unusual for an infected and/or fractured tooth to cause TN like pain. If both dentists conclude that the tooth is in trouble, then the tooth could be the main culprit and the sinus infection/pain may be a secondary issue related to the tooth. It is not unusual for an infected tooth to infect the sinuses.
To root canal the tooth ultimately means she will be keeping an unhealthy tooth. The root canal procedure can only treat the canals that are visible and accessible. The remaining microscopic canals remain infected with necrotic tissue. She will be addressing this tooth again in the future and her pain and sinus condition may become chronic from the infection remaining in the tooth.
To amputate the necrotic root means the other root harbors infection which ultimately means the same scenerio as above.
To remove the entire tooth means to remove the source of the infection. This means the sinus will no longer be irritated and will have the opportunity to clear up with antibiotics. As for the TN pain...... this may nor may not subside completely. There are different causes for this type of pain and if it is solely tooth related, hopefully once the tooth is gone, so is the pain. If she has a tooth grinding problem, that needs to be addressed asap because that could be a contributing factor to her TN pain.
Tyler, please let me know if this information was helpful to you. Keep us posted on how she's doing.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by tyler
Hey all,
Background:
My wife was having some minor tooth/jaw pain that slowly escalated over a period of 2 weeks. She then got a cold and subsequently a sinus infection. She began experiencing facial pain that was so severe we made a few trips to the hospital. After no diagnosis that seemed correct, doctors threw her on carbamazepine for TN. It may have worked, it is tough to say as she still wakes up in the night in pain (I think this is from grinding). The pain has now localized to one tooth and a number of dentists concur, the tooth is a problem. She has no feeling on one side (can't feel cold during the ice test), but pain when the ice is applied to the other side. They believe half of the root is necrotic and want to root canal or extract tomorrow.
She has been on antibiotics for 8 days now for the sinus and the pain seems to have subsided in the tooth. She is now hesitant to have the tooth worked on, but my feeling is that if the root has died something needs to be done anyways. TN can not be ruled out, and we can't say for certain if the carbamazepine has worked or the antibiotics have helped. I guess my question is, should she have the work done? Does this sound like a tooth related issue? The pain was always face and teeth and jaw and eventually localized to the tooth. At night, possibly after grinding the bad tooth, she wakes up with pain in the upper jaw and the sinus above. Sound like a tooth thing, or is there more going on here?
Thanks!
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