Originally Posted by Bryanna

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