Webinfusion,

Okay, thank you for sharing a bit more about your health. Yes, you have to be especially careful about having chronic infection as your immune system is already dealing with so much.

May I ask.... did your oncologist or your medical physician ever ask you about your dental health or specifically if you have root canaled teeth or periodontal disease?

I agree about offering to make payments due to the high cost of dentistry and the financial stress it can cause. Most dentists will consider taking on patients who commit to a set monthly payment amount. Frequently those cases that are costly require a substantial amount of $$ down first. The reason for this is.... #1 there will be costs incurred to render that treatment to the patient and the dentist does not want to have to put those out of their own pocket as there is no guarantee that the patient will follow through with the treatment and ...#2 it is not uncommon for additional work to be needed if something unexpected happens which would change the original financial arrangement.... #3 good or bad may happen in that patients life good (a vacation or other expensive expenditure) or bad (loss of a job or other) that would prevent them from making payments on their dental work. I am speaking about this from professional experience as a financial manager in the dental office setting.

Many offices also offer something called Care Credit which is an interest free line of credit through a credit agency for treatment over $200. There is no set up fee or monthly interest to the patient as long as they pay their minimum required amount each month to the agency. The dentist bills the agency for the dental work and he is charged to use the service. So that's another option people can look into.

Bryanna

HeatherKelly,

The adjacent tooth which is root canaled has some degree of infection brewing inside of that tooth as all root canaled teeth do. So that tooth could be exacerbating the infection in the sinus. What type of accident did you have? It is possible that the rc tooth fractured but was not diagnosed? Did the dentist mention that to you?

My personal opinion which is based on my professional experience in the dental field, dental schools are not really the ideal place to have tooth extractions or other oral surgery because the procedure tends to be less thorough than it should be and there is often very little expert post operative care given. Seeing a student for post operative complications is not acceptable but it is routinely done that way.

I understand that you tried to save money and wanted to use your insurance but now you'll have to seek additional care from an oral surgeon. Also a word about health insurance coverage... if you have dental coverage and you have an accident out of state, the insurance will most likely reimburse you something towards the cost of the emergency dental treatment. So in all probability you could have sought care from a private oral surgeon, paid his fee and then submitted a claim to your insurance explaining the situation and gotten reimbursed whatever amount you would be eligible to receive if you had seen someone in your state. The same goes for most medical coverage as well.

You need to see an oral surgeon to evaluate the extraction site, the rc tooth and the sinus. I'm sorry, but until you know why this is happening and have it treated accordingly, there is nothing I can recommend for you to do. I'm sorry.

Bryanna

[QUOTE=Bryanna;1193709]Webinfusion,

May I ask.... did your oncologist or your medical physician ever ask you about your dental health or specifically if you have root canaled teeth or periodontal disease?
Bryanna[/QUOTE

Hi Bryanna, No I was never asked about my dental history. That is a major flaw in the medical world, imo. They look at us as a grouping of parts that are not interrelated.

How are you doing, Heather? I hope you are feeling better....

As for me, I saw my oral surgeon this morning and he looked at the site and carefully checked for any sort of opening that might still exist. It has healed perfectly, so talked about all of the possibilities for what could be going on, and what to do next. He was very kind and thorough. He said he could take an xray, but I decided against images there, and will go to an ear, nose, throat Dr if it persists. They will want images too, and I don't want the double exposure.

Now for what I am doing on my own. I have been using diluted clove essential oil very carefully, inside my mouth on the gums and outside on my cheek. I dilute it with fractionated coconut oil, but you can use olive oil, or regular coconut oil, too. You MUST dilute it or it will burn and it hurts! Don't ask me how I know this ;-)

You can also do the same thing with oil of oregano as was mentioned, which I do have, but have not been using for this since I smell like an Italian dinner with that one, lol! I also use frankincense, undiluted. You need to make sure you buy therapeutic grade oils for this sort of use. The oils penetrate into the tissue and work on the inside in ways that oral antibiotics can only dream about.

As of today, I have intermittent pressure and then post-nasal drip. It is still somewhat smelly, but not as bad, and not ongoing, all day long, like before. So I believe I am healing, and will take the next steps if it worsens.

Webinfusion,

I truly hope your problem is not related to your sinuses because even though all of the essential oils that you are using are therapeutic, they cannot travel up into the maxillary sinuses via oral rinsing. Also if there is something still in the socket or in the sinus like a piece of tooth or other debris that is causing an infection, the oils will not have any affect on removing that irritant.

It's important to know that the gum tissue can close over an extraction site even if the sinus is infected. So without an xray, the oral surgeon can only see a limited clinical view. The xray also would have be helpful in determining if there were any tooth remnants, bony spicules or other irritants in the closed site. Does the oral surgeon know that you have cancer?

An ENT doctor often works in collaboration with an oral surgeon if a sinus infection is thought to be related to infected teeth or extracted infected teeth. That's because it is common for there to be an irritant, as I have mentioned above, in the site or in the sinus that is tooth related.

I know you are concerned about having any radiation.... I completely understand that. However, the radiation from a single dental xray is less than what you would get if you walked outside for a few minutes. If the problem does not go away completely on it's own, then please reconsider the dental xray as a first line of diagnostic measure before seeing the ENT.

I hope all goes well.... please keep us posted!
Bryanna




QUOTE=webinfusoin;1194701]

I appreciate your comments, Bryanna, and will definitely not ignore any signs that might indicate there could be debris in there! Thank you

Hi Bryanna,

OK, I'm back with an update. Things were not getting appreciably better, so I saw an ENT on Monday. He ordered a full set of sinus xrays. This was done at the hospital. They told me they showed inflammation in both maxillary sinuses. He prescribed 3 weeks of augmentin, 2 tabs per day with breakfast and dinner (I got the sub called IC AMOX-CLAV 875-125 MB TABLETS). I started yesterday, so have had 3 so far. I'm wondering, since I have never had this before, how long do reactions take if they are going to happen?

If there is debris in there would this type of xray show it? They imaged my head from all angles (yes I'm glowing now, lol!) so it seems like anything that shouldn't be in there would have been visible.

The pressure in on the right side of my face is actually more uncomfortable today. Could that be the antibiotics starting to work?

Hi webinfusion,

Thanks for checking in with us.

Sinus xrays specifically view the 4 different pairs of sinuses and can indicate the presence of a problem but they cannot determine the specific cause of the problem. These xrays may not show the upper arch of your mouth clearly enough to see if there is a retained tooth root tip, etc.

Why the antibiotic? Inflammation does not automatically mean infection. Sinuses can be inflamed for a number of non bacterial reasons especially when the inflammation is seen on both sides rather than just one. So the antibiotics should only be taken if there is a strong suspicion of an infection or a definitive infection has been diagnosed. If infection is present, then it needs to be determined what is causing the infection or the antibiotic will not cure the infection. If there are tooth remnants or root canal filling material still present in the tissue or bone, the infection will not go away.

Oral antibiotics take 24-48 hours to start to work on an infection. As far as a negative reaction to the antibiotics.... that could occur immediately, after a few days or even after a couple of weeks of taking them.

The worsening of the sinus pressure on the right side where you had the root canaled tooth removed is not a sign that the antibiotics are working. It is more indicative of a chronic problem caused by an irritant ... may or may not be infectious, could be environmental, allergies, etc.

A periapical dental xray of that upper right area might be helpful to see if there is tooth or bony fragments or other debris not removed during the tooth extraction. It has to be taken at an angle to capture the maxillary bone above where that tooth was taken from. So if you decide to have this done, just be sure to tell the technician that you need that specific area captured on the xray. Otherwise, she may take the xray straight on and not get that area in it.

Bryanna

There is definitely infection.

Are you saying a periapical dental xray would show something that the one I had, doesn't or can't? I thought this set of xrays would show it, if there was something in there? I asked that they be shared with my oral surgeon but I don't think he has gotten them yet.

If there IS something in there, would it be the OS who would remove it or the ENT? My guess is OS since it began with the tooth.

Thanks!!!

Webinfusion,

Definitely infection? Is that what the ENT said or did he say inflammation? Or are you going by your symptoms?

A periapical dental xray is a 2 dimensional view which is not ideal for some situations. However, when taken at an angle to specifically show the entire bony socket of where the tooth use to be, it can often detect tooth remnants and root canal filling material if these were left behind after the tooth was removed. This xray can also show if the periodontal ligament was removed or not during the oral surgery and also how the bone graft is integrating with the existing jaw bone. The radiation from a single digital periapical xray is almost non detectable.

It would behoove you to follow up with the oral surgeons office to give them a heads up that the scan is being sent to them. Tell them you want the os to call you with his opinion on it. If you want the periapical xray done, then just make an appt with their office to have that xray done and discuss the findings on the ENT scan and the periapical xray.

The os would be the one to go in and retrieve whatever remnants are present so long as they are attainable within reason via the mouth.

Bryanna

The ENT said, "Sometimes people think they have a sinus infection when they really don't." I replied, "OK. What would cause the smelly mucus if not an infection in my sinus?" To which he replied, "Well, sometimes the DO have an infection. In that case I would prescribe 3 weeks of augmentin. That should knock it out, and if not we go from there."

When I spoke with his office, his nurse said that inflammation was visible in both maxillary sinuses in the xrays and that he called in the prescription. So I am going by my symptoms and his statement and actions. I will also follow up with OS to see if he sees anything the ENT missed. Thank you!