Hey TJ!
My first thought is ..... why are you removing these upper wisdom teeth? Does the oral surgeon feel they are in a unfavorable place and will eventually cause you some concern if you were to just leave them alone?
It is not unusual for wisdom teeth to be horizontal nor is it unusual for them to be in the area of the sinus. In your case, the upper left one probably has some bone attachment but is mostly embedded in gum tissue and can be removed fairly easily. Your upper right one never decended down as you grew older and it ended up being in your sinus cavity as your anatomy changed.
The surgery to remove this upper right tooth is very different than any other tooth extraction. The surgeon will make an incision inside of your mouth allowing him access to your sinus cavity. Yes, there will be a hole in the sinuses after the tooth is removed, but it will be repaired/closed with some type of collagen material and the access hole through the gum will be suture closed.
Oral surgeons see these kinds of things all of the time. I am not sure how much a military OS has seen or done, but in general civilian practice they see alot of this.
I would like to lessen your fears/concerns by saying you are in good hands. However, it is unlikely that the military OS has performed this type of surgery more than a few times, if that. It really should be done by someone who is very familiar with performing it because the sinus cavity is a very delicate area and if it gets messed up, it is very difficult to fix later on. Are you still in the military now? Would there be a way to have a civilian OS perform the surgery?
Again....... what is the reason for removing these upper wisdom teeth?
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrilege
Hi all,
I was looking around the web for some information similar to my condition and stumbled across this forum, so I figured I'd ask my questions here.
When I went in for my last dental X-Ray (shortly after joining the military) the dentist told me that my lower wisdom teeth were impacted and needed to come out (no big deal) but my upper wisdom teeth were very, very odd; in the standard forward-view x-ray, my two upper wisdom teeth were completely horizontal, and the dentist was worried that the right one may be in the sinus. He sent me to the base "Oral/Maxillofacial Surgeon", who performed a CT scan.
When the results came back, the surgeon (a very quirky, though extremely friendly, 0-6 with a less than organized desk) told me that my left wisdom tooth was merely horizontal in my gums, and thus no big deal, but that my right wisdom tooth was actually developing >inside< my sinus cavity. He said it wasn't just perforated (I had looked up some info on my iPhone while he was reading the scans) but that the tooth had actually developed inside the sinus on a little mount of jawbone. He said that, while extremely unusual for its placement, it was otherwise not an issue. He said that he would make an incision in the front of my sinus cavity (well away from the tooth) and remove it from there.
While I have supreme confidence in my superior officers and his abilities as a surgeon (crossing fingers) i was wondering if anyone has actually heard of this happening before; I asked him if a problem would occur from the hole left by the tooth between the sinus and my mouth, and he informed me that I was mistaken; apparently there is no 'hole' there because the tooth is fully inside the sinus (horrible image, I know). Any info on how common this is, or whether I should be worried, would be greatly appreciated!
~TJ
PS. For all you people who take your professional time out of your days to help us little people, I cannot express my gratitude at your benevolence. Thanks!
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07-15-2008, 04:02 PM
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