Tooth root imbedded in sinus cavity with infection
 

Like other posts on this thread, I had teeth removed at 11 years of age for braces. Did not find out until I was in my 20's about the root. At that time I was told it was still live but had now been squeezed between the adjacent teeth and roots. I am now in my 50's and am recovering from the 2nd humongous sinus infection in 30 years. The whole right side of my face was swollen couldn't eat, could hardly talk. Antibiotics seem to be working. Right now it seems the pain is concentrated in my upper jaw in the bone. I am worried about erosion. The ER personel suggested I see and ENT as soon as possible. I am hoping this thread is still active and I can get some advice.

Hi maeri,

The root tip that was left in the bone had died a long time ago. Teeth cannot stay alive if they are not intact. It would be wise to see and oral surgeon and have a panorex xray done to locate the root tip and see if it has developed a cyst around it. That could be contributing to your sinus issues. If he has any concerns about removing it, then it would also be wise to see an ENT doctor to have a scan done to see the extent of the sinus involvement.

I urge you to do this sooner than later because if there is infection associated with this root tip, the health risks of not removing it can be extensive and difficult to treat.

Please keep us posted...
Bryanna




QUOTE=maeri554;833376]Like other posts on this thread, I had teeth removed at 11 years of age for braces. Did not find out until I was in my 20's about the root. At that time I was told it was still live but had now been squeezed between the adjacent teeth and roots. I am now in my 50's and am recovering from the 2nd humongous sinus infection in 30 years. The whole right side of my face was swollen couldn't eat, could hardly talk. Antibiotics seem to be working. Right now it seems the pain is concentrated in my upper jaw in the bone. I am worried about erosion. The ER personel suggested I see and ENT as soon as possible. I am hoping this thread is still active and I can get some advice.[/QUOTE]

What now?
 

Hello!
I went to my dentist for what I thought was a routine extraction of an upper left molar....but he drilled into my sinus, and left a piece of the root (about 5-6mm) in there.
He sutured me up, but they came out two days later and there was water and food going up into my sinus and out of my nose. Cool party trick, right? Not really, it was quite painful. I went in a few days later, and he sutured me up tighter, and it was even more painful. Two days later, sutures are out and everything is coming out of my nose again.
He sent me to the oral surgeon, who had to wait almost a week to do anything because my gums were so inflamed and raw. So I took antibiotics and an oral rinse and had a sinus repair four days ago. I've had loads of swelling and bruising, and I'm still on liquids and some soft foods. The pain is still there, sinus pain, jaw pain, ear pain...since everything is connected.
I have a follow up appointment on Tuesday to see how everything is healing. He had mentioned on my first consult that there may be a subsequent surgery in hospital.
I have a few questions.
1) Why would I need another surgery?
2) Is my dentist who did the initial extraction negligent?
3) How long before the pain subsides? I've missed almost 3 weeks of work due to this wonderful situation. (Christmas is a week away, I'm worried I can't eat turkey!)
4) What now?
5) I have some numbness around my nose and lips, will this go away?

Thanks for any answers you might have!

Squoozyq:D

Hi Squoozyq,

What a mess!! You poor thing!

The dentist that did the extraction should have had a phone consult or sent you to an oral surgeon as soon as he broke off that root tip because he knew he pushed that root up into the sinus. To just suture this wound closed, was definitely not the best thing to do because the surgery was incomplete and the sinus was obviously open. To make matters worse, he sutured you a second time still aware that the root tip was in there and the sinus was perforated. This is definitely not appropriate dental care.

Did the oral surgeon remove the root tip before he did the sinus repair?? If not, then that may be the surgery he is talking about doing in the hospital. It is not wise to leave a root tip in the sinuses because it can cause a bad infection among other things .... sometimes the surgery to remove it is a bit complicated.

I cannot tell you how long the pain will last.... but until that area is free of infection, you will have chronic sinus issues.

The numbness can be from a number of things. It is best to explain your symptoms in detail to the oral surgeon and see what he says.

I'm sorry you had this happen to you...... please keep us posted.

Bryanna

Dear Sandhya,
 

Hopefully Bryanna will be around to help sort out what all these doctors are telling you. No wonder you are confused. I too am 60 and have no insurance caught between pulling and root canal. You have more issues as you are getting so many opinions that are different from each other. I do indeed understand your situation. You are stuck until you get several doctors to agree on the corrrect proceedure in your case. Post to Bryanna, and she may be able to better direct you on such confusing information. I am not a good patient eithor, and have many fears. Please keep coming back and posting and this dear lady on site may be able to help with the mix of suggestions you are getting from the professionals. So sorry you have gone though so much. No fun at all! ginnie

Dear Squoozyg
 

So glad bryanna posted to you. I feel bad for all your went through. The dentist that left in the root tip did not do the proper thing for you at all!
I hope your whole situation can be resolved very soon, so you can put all this awful stuff behind you. I would be angry enough at the dentist that did this to confont him. There is no excuse for this. So sorry this happened to you. ginnie

Hi sandhya
 

I was really glad that you got the advise from bryanna. She is absolutely correct. I hope you get to a specialist soon to get this infection out of your body. ginnie

update on root in sinus removal
 

Hi all, well it's 3 weeks today since I had the tooth root removed from my sinus cavity. Healing was ok apart from very painful ulcers on roof of mouth but by day 7 I was fine. Day 8 however I started to spit out gunk but as I felt ok and was just finished course of post operative augmentin wasn't worried about infection. The next morning however when I woke up my face had swollen up again and the pain was quite bad. Luckily I had my post op visit the next day and the oral surgeon put me on a 10 day course of augmentin and flagly combined. The following day the pain was really bad and all of a sudden I had a terrible smell and taste and then lots of gunk in my mouth so I'm guessing it was an abscess that popped.The pain resolved also. I was back again today with oral surgeon (just finished course) and told him about this and also the pain in my gum that I have on and off-like a toothache. On examination he said that the gum over next tooth was quite inflamed and has advised me to see a different dentist to have this assessed and then back to him in a month. I myself am beginning to suspect that there is a problem with this other tooth and perhaps the abscess was there? What I can't understand is how despite the lorry loads of antibiotics is how I keep getting infection after infection. This is going on now since the tooth was removed in September so I am just fed up with it. The oral surgeon as I said has referred me to a dentist to assess the upper right 6 (I think) and said it is important to try and keep this tooth but if it is the source of current infection would this be possible?
Sorry for the long post, just really fed up that the issue is still not resolved fully. Sinus communication by the way appears to be repaired. Many thanks for any advice.

Pixiedust,

I think you need another oral surgeon to look at this and you should bring all of your xrays with you. If you have an infection in the tooth in front of this extraction, the oral surgeon should be able to tell you that. Just to say the gum is inflamed means ....what?? In lieu of the complications that you've had with both surgeries, this inflammation needs to be investigated.

If this tooth is infected, you will be given the options of root canal or extraction. To do the root canal means to keep an infected tooth, to extract it means to get rid of the infection.

One thing to keep in mind is.... The longer an infected tooth is present in your mouth, the more difficult it is to eradicate the infection from the bone once the tooth is removed. Oral infections that have invaded the sinus and/or jawbone can be difficult to treat and sometimes it requires long term antibiotic therapy.

I am so sorry you are having such a difficult time. Do you think you could consult with a different oral surgeon? Any chance you could post the xrays of this area from both before and after the extraction?

Bryanna

Hi Bryanna
Thank you so much for your prompt reply as always. I do not have copies of the x rays taken before and after extraction but will try to get them. I do have a disk of the CT scan taken in November showing the root in sinus cavity and communication but don't think I could post that. Will most likely end up getting more xrays done with new dentist next week so will make sure to get a copy. I thought it strange he mentioned inflammation also but nothing else-to be honest I'm not sure he knows what to think at this stage! I would say the infection has been there on and off since September so I guess it will be hard to shift. I don't think I could stand another round of Flagly though I suppose I might have to. May well consult another oral surgeon for an opinion. Will let you know what happens.
Thanks again