[Rube_Goldberg]

I've been lurking on this forum for several weeks. I wanted to share my story of dental woe in the hopes that it helps someone else...if this is not appropriate, I'm sure the mods will delete. Mainly I want to reinforce some of the great advise that is given here.

For the past 4 years I've dealt chronic sinus infections on the right side of my head. I never had a history of sinus issues nor do I have allergies. About 2 years ago my intuition told me that a molar that had a large filling in it may be the culprit. My dentist said that tooth (#2 molar) was fine and teeth don't cause sinus issues. At that time a pimple started forming on my gums right at the that tooth. I went to my dentist, he claimed to not know what it was, he popped it and was at a loss as to what it was. Again I was told that the tooth was fine.

6 weeks ago I woke up with the entire right side of my head swollen! I got antibiotics at an urgent care clinic, and set up an appointment with an ENT...because I thought it was a bad sinus/ear infection not a dental problem. A CT scan revealed it was an infected tooth. my dentist started a root canal treatment, put in a temp filling...this was done twice and each time the infection came raging back. I was supposed to go in next week for the permanent crown.

Here is where I owe this forum a million thanks . I had a feeling that this infection wasn't going to go away with the treatment I was undergoing. I felt terrible everyday, and all of my sinus symptoms persisted. After reading through the many posts on this site, I made an appointment with an oral surgeon to have the tooth removed. My appointment was today! The surgeon was skeptical of what I was telling him and was kind of acting like I was crazy to want the tooth extracted. He called my ENT and spoke with her at length, then called my dentist to get some history from him.

After those calls the surgeon came in and said I was absolutely right to want to the tooth removed. My ENT agreed that at extraction was the best option, and both she and the surgeon will stay in communication and work on this, and once the extraction site is healed I need to see her to ensure that the communication between the tooth root and the sinus cavity is healed. YAY!

The tooth popped out in 1 piece in what seemed like 30 seconds. And despite all the protestations of my dentist (former dentist at this point), there was still a massive infection in there. One of the roots of the tooth was soft and falling apart, another root had the rod from the RCT punctured through it....only one of the 3 roots looked OK. He cleaned out the socket, stitched me up and sent me on my way with a script for some antibiotics. I'm very hopeful and happy at this point. This forum armed me with enough information help me to stand up and be an advocate for my health...and not just go along with the "experts".

Had I listened to my dentist, I'd still be in agony and no where near the road to recovery. I now fully believe extraction and implants (if necessary) are the way to go.

[Bryanna]

Hi Rube_Goldberg,

I cannot thank you enough for sharing your dental story with us. I am sorry you had to go through such nonsense to finally get the problem properly diagnosed and treated. I commend you on persevering through all of that!!

Your dental experience tells a very COMMON story about the dentist focusing on the "tooth carpentry" rather than the health of the tooth and of the patient. It is ludicrous for a dentist to tell a patient that teeth cannot cause sinus problems. ALL dentists know better than that. SO many times a crown is put on a root canaled tooth leaving the patient to believe that now all is well because the tooth is covered. Only to discover that the infection has deteriorated the roots of the tooth, the jaw bone and often beyond into the sinus. So many people are unaware that they are living with this circus of bacteria brewing in their body from their root canaled teeth.

I hope you have been fortunate enough to remove the problem in time and that you have an uneventful and complete healing.

Thank you again for sharing your story. I hope others read it and begin to question their dentist more thoroughly.

Please let us know how things are going and what you decide to do as far as the replacement of the tooth!

Bryanna

Originally Posted by Rube_Goldberg

I've been lurking on this forum for several weeks. I wanted to share my story of dental woe in the hopes that it helps someone else...if this is not appropriate, I'm sure the mods will delete. Mainly I want to reinforce some of the great advise that is given here.

For the past 4 years I've dealt chronic sinus infections on the right side of my head. I never had a history of sinus issues nor do I have allergies. About 2 years ago my intuition told me that a molar that had a large filling in it may be the culprit. My dentist said that tooth (#2 molar) was fine and teeth don't cause sinus issues. At that time a pimple started forming on my gums right at the that tooth. I went to my dentist, he claimed to not know what it was, he popped it and was at a loss as to what it was. Again I was told that the tooth was fine.

6 weeks ago I woke up with the entire right side of my head swollen! I got antibiotics at an urgent care clinic, and set up an appointment with an ENT...because I thought it was a bad sinus/ear infection not a dental problem. A CT scan revealed it was an infected tooth. my dentist started a root canal treatment, put in a temp filling...this was done twice and each time the infection came raging back. I was supposed to go in next week for the permanent crown.

Here is where I owe this forum a million thanks . I had a feeling that this infection wasn't going to go away with the treatment I was undergoing. I felt terrible everyday, and all of my sinus symptoms persisted. After reading through the many posts on this site, I made an appointment with an oral surgeon to have the tooth removed. My appointment was today! The surgeon was skeptical of what I was telling him and was kind of acting like I was crazy to want the tooth extracted. He called my ENT and spoke with her at length, then called my dentist to get some history from him.

After those calls the surgeon came in and said I was absolutely right to want to the tooth removed. My ENT agreed that at extraction was the best option, and both she and the surgeon will stay in communication and work on this, and once the extraction site is healed I need to see her to ensure that the communication between the tooth root and the sinus cavity is healed. YAY!

The tooth popped out in 1 piece in what seemed like 30 seconds. And despite all the protestations of my dentist (former dentist at this point), there was still a massive infection in there. One of the roots of the tooth was soft and falling apart, another root had the rod from the RCT punctured through it....only one of the 3 roots looked OK. He cleaned out the socket, stitched me up and sent me on my way with a script for some antibiotics. I'm very hopeful and happy at this point. This forum armed me with enough information help me to stand up and be an advocate for my health...and not just go along with the "experts".

Had I listened to my dentist, I'd still be in agony and no where near the road to recovery. I now fully believe extraction and implants (if necessary) are the way to go.

[Rube_Goldberg]

Hi Bryanna!

Your wonderful advice is what motivated me cancel that last appt with my dentist and get that bum tooth yanked! You really are doing a great service to everyone who finds this forum.

That dentist really messed me up. The CT scan revealed that I have two teeth on the left side that are infected. One is the #14 premolar (this one had a RC on it 12 years ago), and the one next to it...I forget which one, when I go for my follow up with the surgeon next week I'll find out. My dentist NEVER told me that there were other teeth with issues. In fact, he said all my other teeth were fine!? That had to have showed up on x-rays, and the write up that the ENT sent over with the CT scan stated that two more teeth were infected and there was possible communication between them and the sinus cavity. I know that because the oral surgeon read everything to me that the ENT sent, my dentist did nothing. I'm very angry over it all.

So now, I have 2 more teeth that need removed , I can't even imagine how missing 2 teeth side by side is going to be like. I'd plan on replacing them with implants (if possible), but I know they can't be placed right away....so I guess I'll look like a jack-o-lantern for a while. But that is preferable to have dead, infected teeth in my head.

Originally Posted by Bryanna

Hi Rube_Goldberg,

I cannot thank you enough for sharing your dental story with us. I am sorry you had to go through such nonsense to finally get the problem properly diagnosed and treated. I commend you on persevering through all of that!!

Your dental experience tells a very COMMON story about the dentist focusing on the "tooth carpentry" rather than the health of the tooth and of the patient. It is ludicrous for a dentist to tell a patient that teeth cannot cause sinus problems. ALL dentists know better than that. SO many times a crown is put on a root canaled tooth leaving the patient to believe that now all is well because the tooth is covered. Only to discover that the infection has deteriorated the roots of the tooth, the jaw bone and often beyond into the sinus. So many people are unaware that they are living with this circus of bacteria brewing in their body from their root canaled teeth.

I hope you have been fortunate enough to remove the problem in time and that you have an uneventful and complete healing.

Thank you again for sharing your story. I hope others read it and begin to question their dentist more thoroughly.

Please let us know how things are going and what you decide to do as far as the replacement of the tooth!

Bryanna

[Bryanna]

Hi Rube,

Thank you for the kind words. YOU have been positively instrumental here with posting your story as I am sure that those who are in similar situations who are reading it are saying..... this could be me!!

It is not unusual for people to have infected teeth to be told everything is good. I know that sounds impossible but it is pretty typical. Dentists are tooth carpenters, you may have seen me write that many times on these forums. They focus on the tooth carpentry much more so than the pathology thus leaving infected teeth in someones mouth. You would think that the dentist would still have to inform the patient of the infection but here's where the "pathology" issue become obscured.

Most rc teeth show signs of clinical and/or radio-graphic pathology due to the chronic infection, so it is assumed that's what will be found. If the findings are not huge and/or the patient is not complaining about specific dental pain, then the likelihood of the dentist mentioning them to the patient is slim to none..... as he proceeds to put another crown on the tooth. I know.... that is unbelievable!! I know...... I think so too.

Every person cannot go in for periodic CT scans as the repetitive radiation is too great a health risk. So you would think that when ANY pathology shows up clinically or radio-graphically that it would be best to inform the patient at that time and let that patient decide if they want to keep the tooth and risk their health or remove it before it makes them sick.

You are much wiser now for having experienced this whole ordeal and although the idea of removing more teeth is not what you want to be doing... you know that keeping infected teeth is going to make you sick.

Replacing infected teeth with dental implants is risky due to the residual bacteria that could still be lurking in the jaw bone. So do not be too quick to let anyone convince you to hurry up with the implants. You have about a year from the extraction date to decide if that is the way you want to go. In that interim you can have the sites monitored with a small dental xray to see how the bone is healing.

Again, I am not happy about your situation.... but I am so glad that you came here to share it with us.

Please keep us posted okay
Bryanna

Originally Posted by Rube_Goldberg

Hi Bryanna!

Your wonderful advice is what motivated me cancel that last appt with my dentist and get that bum tooth yanked! You really are doing a great service to everyone who finds this forum.

That dentist really messed me up. The CT scan revealed that I have two teeth on the left side that are infected. One is the #14 premolar (this one had a RC on it 12 years ago), and the one next to it...I forget which one, when I go for my follow up with the surgeon next week I'll find out. My dentist NEVER told me that there were other teeth with issues. In fact, he said all my other teeth were fine!? That had to have showed up on x-rays, and the write up that the ENT sent over with the CT scan stated that two more teeth were infected and there was possible communication between them and the sinus cavity. I know that because the oral surgeon read everything to me that the ENT sent, my dentist did nothing. I'm very angry over it all.

So now, I have 2 more teeth that need removed , I can't even imagine how missing 2 teeth side by side is going to be like. I'd plan on replacing them with implants (if possible), but I know they can't be placed right away....so I guess I'll look like a jack-o-lantern for a while. But that is preferable to have dead, infected teeth in my head.