Hi Stacy,

The first thing to be aware of is that infected teeth rarely show signs of a problem until the infection has spread beyond the tooth. Even when the infection has spread the symptoms can be anywhere from vague to severe. With that said, the tooth and the bone can be infected for months, even years before it is addressed. Also, infected teeth are sometimes over looked or "watched" by the dentist way longer than they should be because if the patient is not complaining of chronic pain then the apical lesion (cyst at the tip of the root) that is often seen on an x-ray is misdiagnosed as scar tissue instead of the infection that it really is.

A perfect example of this frequent on going infection is directly related to all root canaled teeth. During a root canal, the only areas of the tooth that can be "somewhat" debrided are the visibly large canals. The microscopic canals, of which there are countless numbers of them in every tooth, also have nerve tissue inside of them but because there is no way to access these tiny canals, this once live tissue becomes necrotic and remains infected for as long as the tooth is present in the mouth. Another problem with the root canal procedure is that the repetitive scraping and high speed rotary drilling inside the tooth causes injury to the tooth resulting in major inflammation. So visualize the entrapment of the bacteria inside these tiny canals surrounded by angry inflammation and then add to this the toxic chemicals used as irrigation in an attempt to "kill" off the residual tissue in the large canals that were missed during the scraping. Eventually, the pressure from the trauma, inflammation and chemicals forces the bacteria to proliferate through the tooth into the ligament into the jawbone. Sometimes but not always, the bacteria burrows a hole through the bone, through the gum showing up as a "pimple" above/below the tooth. This pimple is called a "fistula" and it is the bacteria finding a way to release the pressure. This does not mean the infection has left the tooth, it means the infection has proliferated.

Therefore, once a tooth has become infected, it remains infected irrelevant of what procedure is done to it. Long term tooth infection will cause deterioration in the surrounding area of bone and often beyond that. Upper teeth can be in close proximity to the sinuses. It is not unusual for a tooth infection to spread to the sinus and again, the longer the infection has been present the more proliferated the bacteria and inflammation can become and the more difficult it can be to eradicate it completely. Removing the infected tooth (preferably instead of doing the root canal) is the first step in eliminating the original source of the infection.

There are countless nerves in the face and head that can become irritated, traumatized, and injured from the proliferation of these infections. It can be very difficult to pinpoint where this begins and where it ends. Treating this can be very frustrating because one treatment may help with one area and not another... and so on.

You have had a lot of medical testing done that has basically not been able to pinpoint the problem. Are your physical symptoms real?? I believe so. Could some of them be related to anxiety over all of this... sure. But that doesn't dismiss the fact that something is going on. Can this problem be figured out here.... unfortunately no.

The fact that your symptoms subside completely when you lay down, I believe, is an important symptom to look into. Obviously there is a release or relief of pressure or inflammation someplace in your head when you lay down. What do the doctors say about this symptom?

Bryanna