Marie,

So glad your surgery went well and it was not nearly as awful as you had thought it would be. Also glad to hear that the sinus perforation was small. Most of the time they will heal on their onw.

Make sure you have something to eat before you take the pain meds or the antibiotic. Also it would be most helpful to supplement with a probiotic. I may have mentioned that to you before. The probiotic will replenish some good bacteria that was destroyed by the last antibiotic and it also boosts the immune system to help with the healing.

I would suggest that you sleep with 2 pillows so your head is propped up and not lying flat. Elevating your head will reduce the bleeding during the night.

I hope you have a good restful night. Please check back with us tomorrow.

Bryanna

Well, I didn't sleep much because of being propped up and my mouth filling up with blood and saliva but today the bleeding stopped so I am happy about that. Now I have some soreness, slight headache, upset stomach, and bad taste in my mouth. Today I had mashed potatoes, jello, milk shake but feeling weak. I hope I get some sleep tonight so I can drive my kids to their different schools which aren't close by. Today I was lucky because being election day my husband was off of work (his company has a day off on election day) and he did everything for me. Wanted to vote (I always vote) but wasn't feeling up to it. Lucky I am a stay at home mom so I don't have to force myself to go to work tomorrow but there's plenty of things that aren't getting done around here when I am not feeling well. There's nothing like dental problems to put you on a diet. I've lost 7 pounds since the root canal two weeks ago and by the time I can eat normally it will probably be another 10 which will actually make me a little underweight. I am afraid to chew due to the stitches and stories I read here about people getting food stuck.

Bryanna, do you know how long will it take the sinus perforation to close and how long before the stitches dissolve? The OS just said don't blow my nose for two weeks - that will be a challenge with my allergies and residual sinus infection. So far I've been taking Sudafed but when it wears off I get rebound stuffiness so maybe I will stop taking it and go to an antihistamine which dries me up like Benadryl.

Also, do you know why, despite paying these dentists and endodontists, and oral surgeons thousands of dollars for procedures they can't spare even a couple minutes with a patient to explain the procedures and answer questions? They act like you are on an assembly line - they rush in, do the job, and rush to the next person. Even the nurses don't say anything more than what is on the post-op sheet they shove in your hands as you leave in a stupor. It's almost like they want you to book a separate appointment to talk about your case. There's no point in changing dentists or doctors because they are all like this. I have experienced both skilled and quack dentists but all of them, without exception, barely give you the time of day.

Anyway, done with the rant. We will see how tomorrow goes.

Marie

Hi Marie,

I hope today is a much better day for you!

I suggested that you prop your head up when you sleep because it helps reduce the bleeding, reduce the amount of blood that you swallow and reduce the amount that your face will swell. If you were bleeding a lot, to the point where your mouth was "filling up" with blood, then you should have placed a moist piece of gauze over the extraction site and bit down for 30 minutes to help clot the blood. Just as you would do with any other wound, you apply pressure over the wound to stop the bleeding.

Expect to feel sore for a few days, that is normal. You do not have to lose weight during this time if you are eating healthy. I suggested that you eat "healthy" soft foods to regain your strength and boost your immune system. Jello is nothing but sugar and food dyes. Replacing that jello with a sliced banana or unsweetened apple sauce would be better choices. You also need to eat protein to encourage bone growth and repair the damage that has been done during the surgery. Make some home made soup and stew. That way you get all the nutrients you need to be well and neither of those require a lot of chewing. Drink water throughout the day. You can only expect to feel as good as you are taking care of yourself. Nutrition plays a key role in healing.

Do not worry about the stitches. Avoid eating on that side of your mouth to reduce the likelihood of getting food in the wound. You will have an odd taste in your mouth for several days, that is normal as you have an open wound in there, the stitches are only for primary closure meaning the wound it not closed shut. Do not rinse with any mouthwash because the chemicals are harsh and will irritate the wound and slow down the healing. It is very important to keep your mouth clean so brush and floss all of your teeth twice a day. For today and tomorrow gently rinse with warm salt water 3 times a day. By the fourth day rinse a little more vigorously, 3 times a day, with the warm salt water and continue with the rinsing until the wound closes over with gum tissue. Dissolve-able stitches can take about 2 weeks or so to dissolve completely. Depends on what he used.

Sinus perforations heal over time. Could be a few weeks or longer. If there is residual bacteria then the opening will not close. So it is important to keep yourself healthy and your mouth clean. Blowing your nose or drinking through a straw will prevent the sinus opening from closing. So avoid those things for several weeks.

Your chronic sinus problems from allergies should be addressed to find out what you are allergic too. Have you looked into that at all? Using products like sudafed, benadryl or others on a daily basis will not only eventually stop working but you will end up with a rebound affect. Meaning you will become congested and your sinuses will become inflamed from over using those meds. Chronic sinus trouble is a tell tale sign of your immune system not being able to handle whatever it is that you are sensitive or allergic too. Using those meds is just putting a temporary bandade over the problem.

Regarding your discontent with your dentists..... as I mentioned in an earlier thread, your dentist did not treat you properly. He did what he did for the $$$ as he knew this tooth was unhealthy and needed to be removed. He was not about to give you anymore time than he did because he didn't want you to question what he was doing. The endodontist, same thing.

Are these dentists a part of an insurance only practice? Do they all work in the same office? Is it a dental clinic?

I would seriously consider letting the insurance company know what has happened. If you paid anything out of your pocket for the root canal and the crown, you may be able to get a reimbursement from both dentists as they knew this tooth needed to be removed and they expressed that to you in spite of going forward with both procedures.

Take it easy for a few days... the laundry and such will be there for you to do when you are up to it.

Bryanna

So a little better each day but still have some pain and the dull headache and bad taste in the mouth. Literally everything I eat tastes gross. The antibiotic was giving me a really bad stomach so I am decided not to take it, at least until I can get some food into me and get my strength back. I didn't have any probiotics on hand and I don't trust my husband to buy the right thing but I have been drinking Kefir so hopefully that is good enough. I did stock up on healthy type baby food so I've been eating that. Still too sensitive to chew and I my jaw gets out of whack and sore if I chew too much on the other side so I am still pretty much sticking to mush but healthier mush. I am rinsing with salt water sometimes and diluted hydrogen peroxide other times. When I look in the mirror there is white stuff stuck in there but I don't know if that's food or puss. When I rinse it doesn't come out.

My oral surgeon is not affiliated with my dentist although my dentist refers people to him. He does take our insurance but I will still have to pay about $350 when all is said and done for the whole procedure including anesthesia.

With my allergies, I've been on allergy shots for decades but the problem is I've always had excess mucus production and post nasal drip. The shots have helped my allergies in general but haven't made a dent in the constant mucus production I've had since birth. Now my two kids have inherited this problem. We have the most allergy-proof home you could ever imagine. Not pets, dust-proof covers on everything, no carpeting, only natural cleaners used, scent-free soaps and shampoos. I avoid all the foods I've test positive for. Yet I still get a lot of drainage all the time.

Anway, we'll see how the weekend goes. Thanks again, Bryanna for all your advice and support!!

Marie

Marie,

The bad tastes is expected as you have an open wound in your mouth. If you eat whole foods meaning fruits, vegetables, fish..... and stay away from processed and refined foods like jello as well as sugar you will find that the bad taste will be much less because the healthy foods do not feed the bad bacteria that lives in our mouths like those other foods do.

It is not wise to just start up the antibiotic again as you will risk getting a secondary infection. When you take an antibiotic, in order for it to get to the bad infectious bacteria, it first has to kill off the good/protective bacteria which takes about 48 hours to happen. When you stop the antibiotic, your immune system immediately sends out cells to create good bacteria. So if you then start up the antibiotic again, it takes another 48 hours for it to get to the bad bacteria. This confuses the immune system and different species of bacteria can multiply in an unhealthy manner. So you should never stop taking an antibiotic until it is finished unless it has made you ill and/or you are allergic to it. In order for an antibiotic to be effective, you need to take it for a certain length of time. It will not be a favorable outcome if you start and stop it... then start it again.

I had mentioned to you prior about why your having intestinal issues with the medication. When someone has intestinal upset when taking an antibiotic it indicates that the person was lacking good, healthy bacteria in their intestines to begin with. So since you are still experiencing those problems, the kefir you are drinking is either not potent enough or you are not drinking enough of it to make any healthy difference.

Also, when you have this intestinal reaction to antibiotics and you do not take a probiotic supplement for at least 3 months, you run the risk of developing an intestinal infection your intestines become overwhelmed with bad bacteria and this can occur weeks or more after your last antibiotic pill.

So it would behoove you to take the probiotic supplement.

Baby food.....is processed food. In a pinch that would be okay. As a daily diet for an adult it is not healthy. You can get more nutrition and more variety from steaming your own raw vegetables.

I would suggest that you only rinse with warm salt water as the peroxide can be irritating to the wound. Rinse 3-4 times a day.

The white stuff in the socket is either the blood clot (the clotting tissue turns white) or food debris or plaque.... it is best if you do not try to remove it. If it is the clot you should not disturb it. If it is debris, it will eventually come out when you rinse. If it is pus you would most likely have pain, swelling around that area and possibly your jaw or face would be swollen.

Allergies can be a real pain and there tends to be a genetic connection. However, that does not mean that you or family members need to suffer with them. The excess mucus indicates an irritant, sensitivity, allergy of some sort. I assume that you have had the basic allergy testing, the skin prick tests? They only test for immediate reactions. So you and your children could very well have "delayed" reactions to certain things that you are unaware of. If those things are in your daily or weekly life, you will have a chronic build up of mucus as your immune system is unable to recover from the irritant because you keep eating or using it. A delayed reaction can occur weeks after you had something that was an irritant to your immune system. So you can see how having delayed reactions to something in your daily or weekly life would keep you constantly congested.

Here is a site talks about delayed sensitivity testing. It is best to consult with a nutritionist to order this test for you as most allergist and immunologists offer the skin testing. If you call this company they will be able to help you find a nutritionist familiar with this testing.
http://www.elisaact.com/nonhc/why-eab.asp

FYI....I have no affiliation with that company other than I have personally had this testing done twice. The results were tremendously helpful to me as they turned my whole life around for the better.

It is good that you understand the importance of having an allergy proof home. However, don't be fooled by something being labeled unscented as a non allergen product. If you and your family are bothered by allergies then it may behoove you to take a closer look at everything. Just offering some sincere advice here.

We're here to help you however we can. Hope each day is better than the last for you.
Bryanna

So it's been about 11 days since the extraction and I thought I would give an update. The OR took the stitches out because food was getting stuck in them. The site still hurts but only when I eat and is sensitive to hot and cold. Still eating mostly mush because I get sore if I just chew on one side all the time. I need to see the dentist about getting a temporary to make my mouth more comfortable even if I am not allowed to chew with one in. Also it would hopefully keep my teeth from shifting. I researched and found something called "Snap Smile" which my dentist doesn't do but a practice in the area does. You can get this for just one missing tooth. It snaps on to the tooth in front and back of the missing tooth. So next week I need to get into their office.

The extraction kicked my sinus infection into high gear on that side so it's really raw in the nose and literally the air going in hurts. I have more discolored drainage. Still holding off on taking the antibiotic since my stomach hasn't fully recovered from the last one I took (before the extraction). I keep forgetting to buy the probiotic so definitely this weekend I will get something. ( It's been crazy here since even though I haven't gotten my strength back now I have to help my husband since he tore a ligament in his forearm doing yard work and might need surgery so now I am doing everything for the family). I hope when everything heals my sinus issue will go away. I lost so much weight - I really need to be able to chew to get my strength back. I am taking Bryanna's advice and making healthy food with the blender.

I looked into the delayed allergy testing and will ask my allergist about it. If he doesn't order it my insurance won't pay for it (and even if he does order it I am not sure insurance will pay for it). It doesn't say how much this testing is but I am sure it's a lot and after i pay for all the dental stuff I am going to have to be careful about money.

I have a follow up with the OS in a couple weeks. Will keep updating.

Marie