Hi Dana,
The connection between Bisphosphonate drugs and bone infection is simply that the drug inhibits the formation of new bone. This means that when there is an infection in the jawbone, in spite of antibiotics and dental treatment to eradicate the infection, the drug prevents the growth of new bone. So the infection becomes extremely difficult to treat. There is no controversy about these facts. The controversy stems from the lack of written evidence from the dental and medical profession with regard to the "number" of their patients who encounter this problem. In dentistry, we are so use to seeing jawbone infections that the medical background of the patient is often overlooked as being a part of the problem. Thus the lack of connecting all the dots....... drug = infection.
All root canal teeth remain infected as it is impossible to remove all of the infected nerve material from the inside of the tooth. As long as these teeth are present, she will have proliferating infection. To remove those teeth will rid the source of infection but because of the decreased ability to regrow new healthy bone, she may continue to have chronic pain/infection where those infected teeth were.
This is a very tough situation especially given your mom's age. She should consult an oral surgeon to talk to you about the removal of those teeth and what it would entail to take care of the lingering infection.
Wish I could give you better news.... I feel bad that the endodontist chose to root canal her teeth as he knew he was not "curing" any of her problems. I see this all the time.... I cannot tell you how bad this makes me feel.
Please take your mom's symptoms seriously... she needs to get this taken care of as soon as possible.
Please keep in touch to let us know how she's doing.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by DC02
Hi everyone. We're writing to get advice for our mom, who is almost 80 and has had three failed root canals in the past 12 months. We've read every post here, so we understand the pro's and con's of root canals. But they've been done (highly recommended endodontist), and our mother developed a jaw bone infection a few months after the first root canal -- that isn't going away.
Our mom took Fosamax for under a year then was switched to Actonel for six years. (She stopped it six months ago, as per her GP's instructions.) We understand the current controversy over these meds, but don't know if the infection is related to the medicine. Our general dentist & the endo don't think so.
At this point, it's time to find a new dentist/doctor. My mother is getting depressed, the infection has been hanging around for at least eight months, and we're concerned about her. Does anyone know what kind of dentist/doctor my mother should see? An oral surgeon? All suggestions are very much appreciated.
Thanks all!! -- Dana
|