I had a dental emergency a couple of weeks ago and the tooth is beyond repair. The dentist did an extraction. In the process my sinus was perforated. I’ve done some research and this seems to be something that can happen without it being the dentist’s fault. He told me about it after the extraction, cleaned the area, closed it up and then gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I was feeling better and had finished my antibiotics. Today there is drainage and pressure in my sinuses. Could I have developed an infection at the extraction site?
Miranda
Dear Miranda,
I’m glad you know that a sinus perforation doesn’t necessarily mean your dentist made a mistake. Some roots of teeth are so close to your sinus cavities the only thing separating them is a thin membrane, which will be perforated during an extraction when they’re that close.
It sounds like your dentist followed correct protocol when that happened as well. You’ve got a responsible caregiver and that is something to be grateful for. I can think of three possibilities going on here.
The first is that you just needed to be on your prescribed antibiotic a little longer than you were. Some infections need a little extra oomph to help your body fight it. This may be the case with yours.
A second possibility is you need to be on a different antibiotic. You didn’t mention which antibiotic your dentist prescribed. A good one for this type of situation is clindamycin.
A third possibility is there is some bone in the sinus cavity. This will blow up into an infection and can cause another dental emergency, plus a host of other problems.
I want you to call your dentist and schedule an appointment to be seen again. He’ll likely put you on more of the antibiotic or a different one. He may do an x-ray to see if there is some bone trapped there. If he doesn’t don’t panic. Try the antibiotics. If they don’t work, then it will be time to see an ENT and have this investigated further.
You are doing a good job staying on top of this. I don’t know if you and your dentist have started talking about what you will replace the extracted tooth with, but once you have this infection settled, I’d like you to discuss getting a dental implant with him.
This blog is brought to you by Tulsa Dentist Dr. Ryan Noah.
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