Hi dr teeth,

Regarding the maxillofacial surgeon... he is not an Otolaryngologist or ENT physician. So I would consult with one of those before undergoing the gland surgery to see what surgical options there may be.

So what type of alternative practitioner have you decided to see??

Bryanna

Dr. Teeth, you have been through such an ordeal! I have also had some problems with an infected root canaled tooth, which was extracted in June. Although the socket appears to have healed nicely, I still am having some strange sensations on the same side of my face, behind my eye and into my skull. I sound very congested in my sinuses, but do not feel like I have a cold. The panoramic x-rays show some inflammation in my sinus. I called my ENT and was referred to a sinus specialist, who has ordered a cat scan of my sinus. That will be next Wed.

I would like to continue following this thread to hear about your symptoms and whether surgery or homeopathic treatment will help you. Please keep us posted. Bryanna, thank you as always for all of your wonderful insight and wisdom!

Best of luck with your situation, dbpei. I will post updates here when there are any further developments.

It has been a long, strange road, that's for sure! Hopefully when the RC teeth are extracted, my life will begin to return to normal.

Thanks Bryanna! I'll make sure to follow your advice if surgery becomes my only option.

She's a nutritionist and uses Reiki, along with other types of energy work. The sessions so far have definitely left me feeling better! Best I've felt for several months, actually!

I can't wait for these RC teeth to finally be gone!

Root canals are not a problem. I have root canals in almost all my teeth...and now it's time for dentures. Reason? I was a Coca Cola drinker for years. I had Coke at my bed stand at night and would swish it around when I awoke at night if I had a thirst issue. (I know...really dumb...but I was in my 30's and of course, we are invincible at that age.

A week from tomorrow August 19, 2013, I will have all of my remaining upper teeth extracted. I've been wearing a partial for around 5+ years and that has now failed. I am scared to death. I'm a good golfer but the anxiety has me playing the worst golf of my life. (but that's another story)

I have the choice of having implants but am at the age where spending an extra 15k over the 25k all of this is going to cost doesn't make much sense to me. I already have an implant on my right eye-tooth #11 but maybe an implant on my left eye-tooth would be a good idea? Let me know what you think.

Hi archie,

Your statement tells a very clear story for countless people all over the world ....<<<<Root canals are not a problem. I have root canals in almost all my teeth...and now it's time for dentures.>>>

Obviously your soda drinking contributed to your extensive tooth decay. But if the root canal procedure was the "cure" for those decayed teeth.... how come those teeth need to be removed? It sounds like you may have other contributing factors for your tooth loss but the idea of "curing" a decayed/infected tooth with a root canal was obviously a temporary means of retaining those ill teeth and not the cure to the cause of their illness.

I bring this point up in this forum because people are misinformed about the importance of the health of their teeth and without the proper education from their dentist they become so afraid to lose the teeth that are diseased.
Then at an older age....they are faced with removal of these teeth and concerned about wearing a full denture. You are fortunate in that you have been wearing a partial denture because you are already use to how that feels against your palate, etc.

The implant that is replacing #6 your right eye tooth..... how long has that been there? Will they be removing that along with the other teeth?

Bryanna

I have returned with an update! I thought it was the right thing to do, as so many people tend to post when they have problems, and then disappear with no follow-up or resolution to their situations.

So, after months of waiting, my RC teeth were finally extracted 4 weeks ago. It took ages to get a hospital appointment with the oral surgeon, but eventually one was scheduled, and I arrived full of anticipation...

Only to find that when my name was called, it wasn't the oral surgeon doing the procedure! It was one of his registrars. I was quite unhappy about this, and proceeded to explain my situation and history to her. I told her about my previous conversation with the oral surgeon, where he said that he would thoroughly clean and scrape the sockets to make sure all infection was removed. I asked her if she would be doing this, and she said no, that she just had instructions from the surgeon to do a routine extraction of the two teeth.

I then asked her if she would speak to him (he was actually working in the next room) but she refused. She said that he was always extremely specific with his instructions, and if he wanted extra scraping done, he would have given her those instructions. So I was left with a choice to go ahead or refuse the procedure (and possibly wait weeks or months for another hospital appointment), so after her attempting to reassure me that the teeth were the source of the infection, and that the body would heal itself once the teeth were extracted, I let her go ahead with the extraction. However, I told her that I would only sign the consent if she promised me that she would be extremely diligent in cleaning the sockets, and do some scraping to get rid of at least most of the infection.

In her defense, she said that she would go very slowly and gently to try to get the root tips out with the teeth, otherwise she would have to go back in and get them afterwards. Luckily, the root tips came out with the teeth, she then did a lot of soft tissue cleaning and suction, and I felt her do some scraping in each socket. And I was sent on my way. I had a 2 unit temporary partial ready to go, but was told to keep it out as much as possible for the next 48 hours to allow the clots to form.

The next part was quite remarkable - as I left the hospital, everything looked different to when I had arrived. Colors were more vibrant, and my eyesight was already clearer! When I got back to the car, I rolled up my sleeves because I was so warm, where I had felt cold and shivery on the way there. I checked the temperature, and it was 2 degrees colder than it had been earlier!

I had no pain whatsoever the rest of the day, so I think the registrar did a good job, if not as thorough as I wanted. The following day I woke up with what seemed like a horrible flu - my ears were blocked and I could hardly hear a thing, and my head felt completely blocked and stuffed up. So I hit the couch for the day! The next day I woke up expecting more of the same, but my 'flu' was gone! And the best was yet to come...

For several months prior to the extraction, my hearing had been deteriorating quite noticeably. The day after the extraction I literally could not believe my ears - my hearing had returned completely, and when I switched on my stereo at home, I was blown away by how bright and clear everything sounded! In fact, the sound was so bright it was almost painful!! Anyway, over the next couple of days my brain readjusted and everything just sounded normal again.

I've been seeing the holistic therapist weekly for bio-energy balancing sessions, and her first comment when she saw me 3 days after the extractions was "wow, your eyes look much clearer". She also said that the massive energy blockage around my head was almost completely gone. Over the past 4 weeks she has been helping me to slowly recover, and the current state of play is that my liver is now apparently working very hard to expel the accumulated toxins, and that there's also a bit of an energy blockage around my stomach. She has repeatedly told me that this will take time, and that I can expect to see earlier symptoms returning, but it is a sign of the healing process and my body gradually regaining strength. And sure enough, the abdominal pain that I had during all of last year, and that went away a few months ago, has now returned.

So, 4 weeks later, the other strange symptoms I had been experiencing (dizziness, brain fog, chronic fatigue, heart palpitations) have also started to improve, although not as much as I had hoped. Again, apparently I must be patient while the recovery happens.

Bryanna, I would very much appreciate your thoughts on my situation now. I'm pretty sure you'll be as annoyed as I still am that the oral surgeon handed the procedure off to one of his registrars after all his talk. Do you think I should contact him and ask him to do a follow-up procedure to clean any remaining infection from the sockets before they close up? I can't help thinking that I might have been making a better and faster recovery by now if that had been done properly first time.

Many thanks!

Hi dr teeth,

So very nice to hear from you!!

I'm glad to hear that you have made such progress in your physical health since having these teeth removed. It is true that the physical symptoms you were having may return, but hopefully they will not be too bad and then they will go away for good!

Along with the holistic therapist, what else are you doing to regain your health? Are you eating a clean nutritious diet and drinking plenty of water throughout the day?

I would not recommend that you have those surgical sites re opened and cleaned at this point.... unless you were having pain or swelling.

At this time there is really no way to know if that dentist was thorough with the surgery. I think she was completely out of line in the way that she treated you at the beginning of the appointment.

In a month or so an xray could be taken to see if it shows any signs of pathology but it will not show any bone growth as it is too soon for that to have happened.

Thanks so much for giving us the update! Keep in touch
Bryanna

Hi Bryanna

I'm trying! I can really feel a difference when I drink lots of filtered water.

Ok, thanks for that! No pain or swelling, so I'll leave well enough alone then.

I'm glad you agree. It's frustrating to be in a situation where I'm left wondering if I could have been feeling much better by now. But it is what it is...

Ok, I'll ask my dentist to take an xray at my next appointment in a couple of months time. That should hopefully give enough time for some bone growth.

Do you have any thoughts about bone grafts in order to minimize bone recession? Reason being that the extracted teeth are #24 and #25, and I'm concerned about their appearance in such a prominent position. The oral surgeon had mentioned the possibility of grafts at a later date, but that was during a conversation about possible implants, which he then recommended against.

After the extraction, I spoke to my family dentist about my options, and his recommendation was to be as non-invasive as possible. He suggested a chrome partial, but I said that I really don't like the feeling of the temporary partial I have, and I can't wait to be rid of it. I said that I want something that feels like real teeth again, so he suggested a 2 unit bridge which is secured to the adjoining teeth with wings and doesn't require the adjoining teeth to be filed down. I researched it, and I believe he was talking about a Maryland bridge.

Any thoughts on this as a solution for #24 and #25?

Thanks as always, Bryanna. Your advice is much appreciated!

Hi Bryanna

Just wondering if you have any thoughts regarding my last couple of questions in the above post (grafts/bridge)?

Many thanks!