Hi Syd,
FYI... I am in the dental field and I can answer your question.
That tooth is definitely a chronic source of infection. From your description it has been infected for 7 years and to be honest, there is no dental procedure, including root canals or apicoectomies, that can cure an infected tooth. The infection has obviously spread to your sinus cavity causing chronic sinus infections. Just so you know, this is very typical of an infected tooth... your case in seen daily in every dental office.
The only way to attempt to cure your sinus infection is to remove the tooth... remove the cyst and bone surrounding the tooth... and have sinus surgery to remove all of the visible infection. Correcting your deviated septum is secondary to all of this. If you do not remove the tooth, you will keep the source of the infection which is the tooth and your sinus surgery will be unsuccessful.
Because of the long term chronic infection with this tooth and due to degree of your sinus infection... your oral and nasal surgery should be combined at the same surgery. This is when both the oral surgeon and the ENT surgeon work together at the same time. Doing one without the other is a huge risk of infecting the surgical site of whichever one is done first.
Please keep in mind..... nothing can cure the infected tooth. To keep this tooth under any circumstances means to "retain" an infected tooth that will continue to infect your sinus and deteriorate your bone. Also, it is important to know that the roots of our upper teeth are only 4 inches away from our brain. Long term infections in upper teeth can and will cause an infection of the brain.... which is a very difficult condition to cure.
Please think very carefully about your situation so you can make the healthiest decision possible.
Hope all goes well... Please let us know how you're doing.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by syd
Hello,
I am new to this site, and hopeful of some helpful info.
Approx. 7 yrs. ago I was having an upper molar prepared for a crown when my dentist said "opps". He went too deep and exposed the nerve/pulp on the side of my tooth. A patch was applied. The crown was later applied. I shortly after developed a bad infection that came out with a large lump on the roof of my mouth. It was treated with antibiotics. I ended up seeing an endodontist and had a root canal. A short while later I developed another infection with a lump above that tooth. The endo operated again thinking I was reacting to the filling material saying it had gone a bit past the end of the tooth. He did say their was a cyst which he removed. For years now, a few times a year I get an infection which I thought was a sinus infection. It settles down but seems to come back. Now my dentist is saying I need the tooth removed as the infection is eatting away the bone in my jaw.
I saw an ears/nose/throat specialist to see if my sinus could be re-infecting this tooth. the dr. said I have a bad deviated sepum, a cyst in passage and the drainage tubes are mostly blocked. So my sinuses do not drain properly. I will have surgery in Jan 2013 to correct this.
Can someone please advise me as to whether or not they think my sinus could be causing all this problem with my tooth. I would like to keep my tooth if possible, but am worried about the ongoing infections. They seem to be getting worst and more frequent.
Sorry for the long post, but needed to give all the dtails for best answer possible.
Thank you,
Sydney
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