Raye,

The oral surgeon is an *****. Your symptoms are classic sinus perf or tear. Thank God for the ENT dr!! I'm so sorry for all that you have been through. :/

The fact that the tissue has closed over is okay. They can still fix the tear anyway and hopefully that will be it! However..... if by chance your symptoms drastically subside by thursday, ask them to take another xray to make sure it is still open. I say this because if the tear reduced from 3-4mm to 1 mm then it may just close on it's own.

Hang in there Raye..... you will be okay.

Bryanna

Thanks Bryanna
 

Thanks Bryanna.
That's exactly what the ENT said lol. He also thinks I have trigeminal neuralgia from all this, but not sure really.

I still applied the moist heat yesterday which was immensely helpful.

My dentist was so upset at the original oral surgeon - and the ENT told me what he thought of my original oral surgeon which was NOT nice :) I have a team of good ones now (I believe affiliated with a group I have seen you recommend!) They could NOT BELIEVE the original oral surgeon's behaviour and lack of complication followup.


And guess who calls me today? The original oral surgeon (I am sure he heard through the grapevine some rumblings from colleagues, worried.) I of course let him have it and let him know what the others thought of him! I intend to report him to the college of physicians and surgeons in Canada.

Yes it's true in Canada we have to push - it gets tiresome when things go wrong.

Thanks for all your help and I'll keep posting updates

Raye (Nickname: Marcie)

Raye,

I am glad to hear that the ENT concurs with me... reassures me that I am understanding you correctly :)

Is the new dental group affiliated with the IAOMT organization? They are the ones I usually recommend to people as a referral source.

I didn't realize you were in Canada. When you said Dalhousie I assumed India! Yea, keep pushing.... sometimes you have to do that to be heard.

I check back later....
Bryanna

Well what a time it has been. Saw the oral surgeon in Halifax who agreed to fix my perforation in surgery the next day, then his decision was overturned by his superior who did not see or assess me himself. (Teaching hospital)

So back to dentist, a third oral surgeon, ENT still following. Here it is almost 7 weeks later, and an xray taken on Thursday by a new dentist still showed a oroantral communication...the extraction site is healing nicely but the edge of my molar beside it is still dripping sinus fluid. The dentist called the third oral surgeon but he doesn't want to go against the ENT, and wanted me to call the ENT. Why don't these specialists talk to each other?????

The ENT sent me for another CT on Friday (not the dental kind - we don't have that at our regional hospital) but he wouldn't look at the dental x-rays. So I am waiting to hear back from the ENT this morning but am still very upset that all this has happened. I finished my antibiotics 2 weeks ago but think I should be on them still so will ask today.

I am considering going to Ontario for care instead. Bryanna, any recommendations would be most helpful.

Also, who is the best doc to repair a perforation? An oral surgeon or an ENT?

One of the oral surgeons (the one who overturned the surgery - he wanted me to go back to the original oral surgeon who tore my sinus and refused followup) said an ENT shouldn't be fixing this, so I am a little concerned about that as well.

Hi Raye,

WHY did the superior nix the oral surgery?? That is a huge question for me and one that I would seek the answer on because it was one of two things.... either he didn't want anyone in the program to be involved in your case for fear of a law suit or he didn't feel there was a need to have it done.

Have you insisted that the doctors speak directly to each other? That would make the most sense... they need to discuss your case and concur on a decision. Not have you go back and forth like this.

The routine CT scans may not show what they need and they know that. So please no more of these types of scans.... not healthy for you to keep doing that. Because the sinus still draining as you stated in your post, there may not be a need for another antibiotic at this time. I would continue to rinse with warm salt water 3-4 times a day to keep the bacteria down.

Regarding who does the sinus closure procedure.... it really all depends what is involved in your particular case. Oral surgeons repair sinus perfs all of the time. ENT's get involved with the surgery depending on where the perforation is and if the sinus is very infected. Again, this is something that the doctors need to discuss with each other.

I am so sorry you are going through this. Please stay firm in your attempt to get help... don't let anyone make you feel like your hands are tied. Be insistent and expect these drs to communicate with each other. I know that may not be easy for you to do....but it may be the only way to get this taken care of. Believe me, if it were happening to any one of them, they would not be passive by any means!

Stay in touch ok...
Bryanna

Hi Bryanna,
the superior nixed the surgery because he wanted me to go back to the original oral surgeon - the one who refused follow up. I tried to explain to him, but he wouldn't listen.

That's why my dentist referred me to another oral surgeon afterwards.

I am trying to get them to talk to each other. I don't have an infection (thank goodness) and continue the salt water rinses. I have involved our occupational health nurse at my work and hopefully I'll get some of these specialists to actually talk to each other, and get a dental scan that will actually show something.

Raye