Originally Posted by Bryanna

Hi facepain2009,

It is important that the ct scan include the oral cavity as well as your sinuses. So make sure your ENT dr is aware of the long history of infection on this tooth.

Here is what I think happened.... the tooth was root canaled at 14 yrs old probably due to extensive decay. The dentists excuse of not removing it because of the close proximity to your sinuses.... was a bunch of BS because sooner or later, this tooth was going to need to be extracted and of course it would have been better to extract it before it infected the sinuses. From that point forward, the tooth was infected because root canal therapy does not cure the infection residing inside of the microscopic canals..... thus the tooth remains infected.

The tooth was not showing symptoms of a problem until the filling came and and so forth. However, most dental infections do not show symptoms until the problem has progressed. Radio-graphs are often the first notion to the patient that they have an infection. So it's been infected for at least 14 years....

The release of pressure that you felt was most likely the pressure from the infection perforating the sinus.... that's not good. The surgeon probably cleaned up what he could see in the sinus when he removed the tooth .... but the infection may have spread further than he could see. Given the history of this tooth, he probably should have sent you for a dental cat scan prior to the extraction to see the extent of the infection.

A tooth infection can spread into the jaw bone quite easily and this is a huge risk associated with all upper root canaled teeth. Anytime the infection has gone into the sinus, it will also be found in the jawbone.

I hope the ct scan comes up with a conclusive diagnosis and you are able to get the proper treatment. Please keep us posted on what's going on.. !

Bryanna