Infection in Jaw Bone. How Serious is this?
 

While doing my Root Canal the 9th of May, the specialist tells me I have an infection in my jaw bone. I am on Clindamycin 300mg x 4 a day.

I never heard of the antibiotic, but after my oral surgery on April 10th, I was put on Cipro (500mg a day) for ten days.

My root canal specialist says there is NO WAY the oral surgery caused this infection. I said ok. But I was thinking... at 62 years old (not counting when I drank Drano at 3 years old) I have never had a jaw bone infection.

Am I nuts for wondering about this coincidence????

How strong is the Clindamycin? I am allergic to Penicillin and doxycycline or something like that. I know very little about antibiotics.

HOW SERIOUS IS A JAW BONE INFECTION? I NEVER HEARD OF IT UNTIL YESTERDAY. (7 antibiotic pills later, my jaw bone and tooth still hurt bad enough it takes 30 mg of Oxycodone to break the pain).

I had a molar that was extremely painful, so the dentist decided to pull it after she had a good look at it. However, this dentist really wanted to pull all my molars. Anyway after pulling it she "scraped out" the infection, desinfected and sewn it up. It healed well and quickly.

I developed similar pain with another molar but went to a different dentist. I inquired first whether, like me, he thinks dentists are for preserving teeth first and foremost, or whether he believes in this new wave of "you don't really need any molars except the foremost two small one's" and "if your insurance has to pay for it, then I don't go for preserving if I believe chances are you will lose the tooth witin five years, ten years tops". He believed in preserving, did a root canal, and somehow sucked out the dirt and left the hole with a bit of cotton in so it could breathe for five days, after which he closed it. This was a year ago and it is fine.

Do you remember the old "funny" pic of someone with a tooth-ache and a dishcloth tied around the head and a swollen cheek? That is what I looked like from the second case I described. Definitely a jaw bone infection. And healed all right. It always heals alright after the tooth is pulled. This second dentist warned me he was not sure it was going to work, I might have to have it pulled anyway, the first one was not even willing to try.

PS: I hope it is clear to you that the root canal does not have to be the cause of the infection, most of the time it is the other way around. It is true also, though, that some dentists do not work hygienically enough. If you are sure that the jawbone infection came after the root-canal, it is possibly the case but not necessarily. Root canal = killing the nerve and removing it and cleaning out the tooth. You can see how this might cause just enough irritation in an area that is already very restless to cause an inflammation to flare up that was latent before. If you have the pockets between the teeth and gums cleaned of plaque, and this results in inflammation, or other treatments that are not as penetrative and it causes inflammation (and/or throatache) you should doubt the hygiene, IMO.

are you using
 

any drug for osteoporosis? Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva?

It has been my experience that jaw bone infections require alot of attention.
One course of Clindamycin may not be enough, or you may end up having larger doses if it doesn't.

Clindamycin is specific for bone infections, and is typically the only drug used.
It is very very hard on the GI tract and may cause diarrhea which may become severe. So it is best to eat a good organic yogurt (like Stoneyfield) daily and/or take a good probiotic with at least 4 but preferrably 6 organisms in it daily.

I would get a Vit D blood level drawn at your doctor's and see if you are very low in D.
Poor D status leads to bone issues.

Have had a series of jawbone infections after using ACTH - a steroid treatment for MS (doubt that it's used any more) - caused a bad case of thrush every time which resulted in the gums receding which in turn led to infections - lost teeth and finally resulting in bone grafts so that I can have implants - all but one molar gone - lower front teeth have a brace behind them to hold them in place and together - on penicillin every time - agree with msrd - good organic yogurt and lots of it -

I have not had any meds for osteoporosis. I made a note to get the Vitamin D checked.

I had the sore jaw bone before the Root Canal. I have been on
the antibiotic for about 42 hours and my jaw bone is tender and the tooth is tender to the touch. That is, if my tongue touches the tooth, it has a slight amount of pain. Numerically speaking, if one can do that accurately, before the root canal the pain level was about a 7-8. I used up to 75mg of oxycodone per day plus the morphine to make the pain tolerable.

Now I don't use anything but my normal dosage of morphine. I did use 30 mg of oxycodone yesterday and none so far today. I have tried 325mg of aspirin and I don't think it helped.

So I can only hope the antibiotics do their job.

It is way too soon to see
 

improvement with Clindamycin...this will be a longggg process.

You can try orajel liquid on the tooth, and an icepack on the jaw.

When I had a brutal root canal that went into my sinuses, narcotics did not
work for me at all.

I used 500mg Naproxen 3 times a day and an ice pack for 20 minute stretches several times a day. An anti-inflammatory takes down swelling and pressure off the remaining nerves. Narcotics do not.

There are OTHER nerves in your mouth besides the pulp of the tooth which was removed. Sometimes pain refers to other nerves. So this is why using a topical numbing agent is helpful. The only thing I don't like about them is that when they wear off, you get a pretty big THROB for while.

There is one toothpaste called sensodyne around here, the first one on the market years ago for sensitive teeth. My cousin who is a dentist told me after the root canal, when I still had hot/cold pain, to use this Sensodyne but without the fluoride. He said the fluoride actually counteracts the ingredient in Sensodyne that diminishes the nerve-pain in e.g.exposed bits that were not exposed before.

Sensodyne is a good toothpaste, I used it once before and my oral surgeon suggested it. It is the morphine that has messed up my memory. I usually have to read the thread again, before I post, otherwise I probably would repeat myself.

I used the ora-gel liquid and it worked for about a half hour. I will use it again in a minute.

Thanks for the suggestion.

jaw bone infection
 

Hi Dave,

Jaw bone infections are an every day, common occurance in people who have abcessed teeth, root canaled teeth or periodontal disease. There is no antibiotic or any other medicatment that will CURE the bone infection unless the source of the infection is surgically removed. The antibiotics may subside the symptoms of the infection, but as long as the source of infection is present, so is the infection.

It is common for people to think that their teeth are somehow mysteriously just sitting in gum tissue and have no direct connection to the vitality of the jaw bone. The fact is, teeth are anchored directly into the jaw bone by ligaments that allow the tooth to be slightly flexible when chewing. A comparison to this is a dental implant has no ligament so therefore it is very rigid in the jawbone and feels very solid when biting down on it. Natural teeth and dental implants intergrate intimately with the jaw bone. Teeth and the jawbone become one and the only thing that alters this natural process is a jaw bone infection.

Each tooth has branches of nerves that enter and exit the apex (end of the root) that feed off of blood vessels and nerves as a source of nutrition. ANYTIME the nerve endings are severed as is the case during every root canal procedure, or traumatized as is the case with an abcess, periodontal disease and sometimes oral surgery, the source of blood is cutoff and the tooth becomes non vital. Infection and necrotic bacteria settle inside the tooth and eventually prolifertate through the accessory canals of the tooth into the jawbone causing ischemia to occur in the jawbone.

You may remember awhile back I commented on the possible negative outcome of doing free gingival grafting on teeth that are not healthy? The trauma of that procedure, which includes the repetetive scraping of the tooth all the way down the root surface, on an unhealthy tooth can most definitely contribute to the death of that tooth which could lead up to an infection involving the jaw bone.

Clindamycin is routinely prescribed in dentistry for infections of the jawbone. It can be wicked on the intestinal tract because it kills ALL of the intestinal bacteria and can actually cause an intestinal infection called C-difficile. This intestinal infection is very hard to get rid of and can be life threatening if not dealt with properly.

It is imperative to supplement with Lactobacillus bacteria to restore what the medication is killing off. One of the best ones on the market is called Culturelle. Another essential bacteria that would be tremendously helpful is called saccharomyces boularii. When these two bacterias are used together, you will get the full benefit of a potent, nutritional boost to your intestinal tract and immune system.

Bryanna

Hi Bryanna,
My peridontal work was on the other side of my jaw. The Root Canal was tooth #31, on the other side.

The doctor doing the root canal says it would be a real long shot for the Oral Surgery to cause this problem. I can't argue because I am not an expert, plus, I believe both doctors acted properly, I don't feel like I was "abused" or the doctor was negligent.

It is just "one of those weird things".

BUT I am happy to hear it is not that unusual. I had never heard of a jaw bone infection. Sort of like, "Why me Lord?"

My wife is going grocery shopping tomorrow, I will put both those items on her list. I have been eating Yoplait yogurt (or something like that). I have lost...hmmmmm, since April 10th....
13 pounds if I counted correctly. So something good is happening out of this mess.