Hello,
I have posted on here many times in the past about odd symptoms involving my jaw, teeth and sinuses. After seeing 4 oral surgeons in the past year, I returned to one recently, who agrees with me that perhaps it is time to remove my titanium dental implant. The surgery is scheduled for early next week. I am praying that I will get some relief, but I know there are no guarantees.

I got the implant in 2008 after a failed root canal. Before phase two of the procedure, my tooth cracked. It had to be extracted. The implant seemed to integrate well with the bone, but I often felt funny when I would bend over, as though I could feel the screw in there. Also, I had a constant runny nose in my left nostril, same side as the implant. I returned to the oral surgeon a few times, but everything seemed ok according to him. A later cat scan of my sinuses shows that the implant is penetrating into my left maxillary sinus with a large cyst above it. This might somehow be related to all of my symptoms, but I am not sure.

2 years after the implant, I developed sudden severe neuro-sensory hearing loss in my ear near the implant. Following the hearing loss, I developed odd neuro symptoms including nystagmus, horrible tinnitus, vestibular damage with 50% loss on that side, internal vibration like feelings in my head and extremities, fatigue and anxiety with some depression, which may have been due to the dramatic change in my life as I knew it. Also, I became extremely sensitive to sound and even normal sounds became very difficult to tolerate. (this is called hyperacusis). My voice sounded like it was coming through a bad set of speakers.

I went to numerous specialists and had MRI's, cat scans, blood work. After several months, I did learn that I had Lyme disease and we were never sure, but thought that perhaps this disease was behind my hearing loss and other symptoms. I was treated with antibiotics for a year, but my symptoms did not really change or improve. Since that time, I have developed more odd sensations in my head near my ear and implant. It often feels as though it is full of fluid, but no fluid is found upon exam. I hear and feel 'sizzling sensations' in vicinity of implant and ear that have now been migrating to other parts of my skull. It is very scary.

I have intermittent jaw pain, dental pain, and the tinnitus fluctuates along with the sizzling/buzzing sensations. A theory is that the metals in the implant may be corroding and causing some type of auto-immune reaction in my body. I have a metallic taste in my mouth and often have the sensation that some type of liquid is draining into my mouth from the implant area. I also have high levels of heavy metals in my blood.

X-rays do not show decayed bone, but I did lose a tooth adjacent to the implant in 2013 due to infection, which was discovered by a fistula on roof of my mouth. This tooth had been root canaled. It was a very good oral surgeon who did the extraction and he tells me he debrided the bone and tissue thoroughly.

I thought it might be helpful to others to post about my experience in case I can help anyone else here with similar symptoms/history. Thank you for all of your education, Bryanna. Hopefully, I am making the right decision. I will write after the surgery is over.

Hi dbpei,

If I recall properly, you have had a long and progressively unhealthy journey which began with an upper root canaled tooth and a then neighboring root canaled tooth. Trying to get a proper diagnosis was very difficult and you saw several dentists along the way. It looks like you have persevered through it all and have finally found an oral surgeon who is listening to you, taking everything into consideration and willing to try and help you. I too am praying that this surgery will not only relieve your suffering but will be a strong step towards your full recovery.

I think you are wise to understand that due to the longevity and progression of this infection, you should not expect instantaneous post op healing or instantaneous absence of your physical symptoms. That area of your mouth, jaw bone and sinus has been through holy heck and removing the implant which has ultimately contributed to the chronic source of inflammation is the first step. The surgeon debriding the jaw bone and cleaning out the sinus is the second step. The third and also very critical step is taking the best care of your self because that will lessen the possibility of unfavorable post op complications.

Have you prepared a meal plan for yourself for say the next month or so? Would you like some suggestions or help with what that could be?

I am here if you think I can be of help to you.

Bryanna

Thank you for your support and wise words, Bryanna. I had planned on making some homemade chicken soup this weekend for the upcoming week. I had not been planning weeks in advance, but perhaps I should? Maybe I should also make some minestrone soup that I love and freeze some of both... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I use a netipot almost daily with a saline solution. Do you know if the oral surgeon will do anything to my sinus besides fill in the hole with the bone graft? I know he will debride and clean out the jaw bone that he has cut into, but I wonder if anything is also done to clean out the sinus cavity when you have a bone graft.

It is a bit scary to think about what is ahead, but I am praying that having this done will be a turning point for me in my recovery.

Hi dbpei,

Will you be having an IV sedation for this oral surgery? I ask because if I recall you had it for a previous one... correct?

The oral surgeon will remove the implant and yes there will be some removal of the bone also. He will debride the remaining bone clean of the cyst and other debris and then most likely go into the sinus area and clean out what he can. He really won't know the extent of the debridement until he gets in there or if he will be able to close the sinus or place a bone graft. If he cannot close the opening in the sinus he will most likely put a thin collagen membrane over the opening which establishes a protective bio film to help encourage your own healing cells to come into that site and heal it closed. Placing a bone graft in an open sinus area is usually not done. So it really all depends what he finds when he goes in. But please discuss this with him if you have any questions or uncertainties.

I know you are scared and perhaps a little IV sedation would be helpful? I really think you will feel so relieved to have this implant removed and your immune system will reward you for removing this irritant

You don't need to plan a diet menu weeks in advance. But I would start tomorrow and plan a menu for the first week or two so that you have the ingredients on hand by the surgery date or you've make certain things ahead of time and freeze them, like the soups. It is just easier to have food already prepared or within easy reach so that you can just heat up or put together without too much thought. Nutrition will play a huge role in how you feel post op and will help so much with the healing.

Soups and stews of any kind would be perfect as they are packed with a variety of nutrients and you can add all sorts of healing spices.

I have no idea what you like to eat but I will offer you just a generalized list of good post op food items...

**Water... make sure you have plenty of filtered water to drink throughout the day to keep hydrated and flush the toxins out.

**Soft foods................. eggs, roasted chicken and fish, cooked beans, sugar free yogurt, any easy to chew seedless fruit like bananas/melon/peaches/pears/ avocado/apple sauce, all skinless veggies cooked for easy chewing, soft cheese like cottage or ricotta, moist grains or cereal like cooked oatmeal/polenta/wheat berry or quinoa, mashed sweet or white potatoes, and hummus.

** If you have a blender or nutri bullet, you can blend vegetables or fruits for healthy smoothies. I would suggest that you do a google search on each of those to see what tastes appeal to you.

The more prepared you are, the less stressed you will be

Regarding the use of the neti pot... please make sure you tell the surgeon you have been doing that and ask him if he thinks you should continue with that after the oral surgery or wait a few weeks. I cannot guide you on that because I will not know the findings of the surgery, so the surgeon will know best.

I do believe this surgery will be a positive turning point towards your recovery. Please keep in mind that you may not see too much improvement at the beginning and you will have a lot of healing to do. But things will hopefully improve soon and when they do it will be very noticeable and get progressively better.

Please try not to worry and please keep in touch with us ....
Bryanna

Yes, I am getting IV sedation for this. That is probably the only way I could do it! Thank you for all of your good suggestions. I will write my questions down for the oral surgeon so that I can speak with him before I am sedated about my concerns. I really appreciate learning from you what is likely to happen. Now I can ask better questions.

dbpei,

You are welcome.
Yes writing everything down that you want to talk about is a good idea.... I do the same thing.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you're doing.
Take care,
Bryanna

I just had my #19 molar extracted and I have been debating about implant and denture. I thought titanium is a safer metal to put inside my mouth and now I really have doubt. I wonder what happened to the site that you had the titanium implant. Did you have a root canal tooth there before your implant? Thank you for any insight.

I had my titanium implant removed on Jan. 12. The oral surgery went well and I have had no complications or problems so far with the post surgery healing. I wish I could report that my symptoms have all disappeared... Initially, my tinnitus got louder but fortunately, has now calmed quite a bit But the burning, tingling and squeezing sensations in my skull and face are more pronounced, and my ears feel full of fluid and as though the pressure keeps changing. I am more sensitive to sound. However, I think there is still a lot of inflammation in there so I need to give it some time.

I am not sorry I did this. I think in the long run, I will feel good about getting that metal out of my jaw. I had the implant analyzed by Dental DNA and 3 different bacteria were found as well as candida! In addition to watching my diet (Candida loves sugar!), my Lyme doctor is treating me with an antibiotic, antifungal and nasal steroid medication through a nasal atomizer that we hope will target the pathogens that have been keeping me ill. He thinks that biofilms may have formed around titanium implant and hopefully, they won't have as good of a chance as surviving anymore!

I got a bone graft but luckily, the surgery did not create an opening in my sinus, which we feared. I don't plan on doing anything to replace the implant in the near future. Just happy to have it out!

Ono, that implant had been placed where a tooth with a failed root canal had to be extracted. The root canal was not even complete (took multiple visits if you can believe this!) when the tooth developed a crack/fracture. It was a complicated mess and was doomed, I think.

Hi dbpei,

Glad to hear that the surgery to remove the implant went well. I agree, there is going to be a lot of inflammation and irritation in that site and keep in mind it is irritating to anything that is associated with those same nerves.

I am so glad that you had the bacterias analyzed and I'm not surprised by what was found on the implant and surrounding tissue. It is typical for dental implants to build up a bio film around them as that is what the immune system does with any foreign or non vital (dead teeth) matter in the body. It is also typical for dental implants to have various bacterias like this when they have replaced root canaled teeth. For the simple reason that the bacterias that stem from dead and/or root canaled teeth are often not able to be completely eradicated when the tooth is removed because they too are protected by a bio film and they hide in the nooks and crannies of the jaw bone. This is not my opinion, this is a pathological process that occurs in the bone, any bone in the body, where there is a long term bacterial infection and/or a lack of blood circulation.

The meds are given to deal with the infectious bacteria and inflammation. However, all of those meds are compromising to your immune system. So on one hand they have a job to do, but at the same time they will slow down the healing response from the immune system. So it would not be unusual for you to experience a variety of new or old symptoms that seem exacerbated or even less than what you had before the implant was removed. Your body is going through a lot of inflammatory stress, especially with having lymes. It is so imperative to take good care of yourself. Avoid any foods that do not directly benefit your immune system.... like processed and refined foods and sugar. It is really best to stick with a fresh whole foods as much as possible.

I know this has been a long journey for you. Hang in there and keep your thoughts positive.

Check back with us on occasion.
Bryanna