Bryanna,

The dentist did not say anything about periodontal disease, but his mother had major periodontal disease and had to have all of her molars extracted at the age of 28 and the rest pulled & dentures before the age of 40. Also his dad was born with brittle teeth due to his mom not drinking milk when she was pregnant. He too has had all of his teeth removed before age 40. My husband has had several molar teeth or wisdom teeth crack & break and no problems with his gums. His family has never had access to dental care during his childhood and finally got benefits in the last 9 years. I am also wondering if any of this could be hereditary? His older sister had almost the same molar problems at about the same age (35), and his younger sister (23) is starting to exhibit the same problems too. I am assuming the lack of care he received as a child/young adult has contributed to this, along with the work environment. He's been mining for about 10 years now. A lot of the miners here have dentures.

I am going to ask the dentist tomorrow if he saw or suspects a perforated sinus and if he needs to see a ear, nose, & throat dr. and at what time frame after surgery should he be seen. Also the last two dentist's he's seen have told him that his teeth are able to be saved (root canals, etc). We tried a temporary root canal on one molar two months ago, but it failed and became infected within a week. Husband is not a fan of root canals, just like you. He'd rather have them pulled and deal with dentures to stop the viscous cycle.

The physician he saw on Friday is very "old school". He's seen him a few times. I don't care for the guy because he doesn't respect women patients. He thinks the sinus infections are secondary to the teeth infections and he's skeptical of the BP going down after having surgery tomorrow. Yet the dentist, which is also the surgeon, and the anesthesiologist who's working on him tomorrow, both agree that having the teeth removed will greatly improve his health, reduce his BP, and stop the infection cycles. These guys are fresh out of school, within the last 7 years. I trust their opinions and assessments much more than the old physician. They appear to be up to date on the latest medical information and have seen cases like this before.

The last full blood panel was done in 4/2010. Everything came back within normal range. The physician, nor the dentist, have suggested a new panel be done. Husband & I did discuss getting a new full panel done the other day, would you suggest a new one to document changes? His dental/sinus problems have become frequent/chronic after the last panel.

The insurance agent who sold our policies to his company is helping me prepare a case to the health insurance company. Her first reaction to this was that it could be considered a workman's comp. situation, but the company owner is the type of man who hates workman's claims. He will treat you differently and get you to quit if you make a claim. We can't afford to lose this job. This man is known for making you "unhirable" in the mining community if you make him mad. We convinced the agent to not go that route due to the owner's personality. She is having me gather all medical records, dr's notes, and any letters on our behalf so she can present it to the health insurance company.

I will ask about the necrotic bone situation. I assume he won't know about that until during surgery. He starts his 14 days off in the morning, so he'll have time to heal before returning to work. I am going to do my best to have him healed as much as possible before he has to return to that environment to avoid complications as much as possible.

Thanks for quickly answering my post and all the help. I will post an update over the weekend.

Amy