Dental/Sinus Infections

[Katie633]

I recently had Sinus Surgery due to an infected sinus.  Ironically, a redness on my face would go from the corner of my eye to the sinus to the molar tooth area.  I kept complaining to the dentist about this problem, but he takes xrays and can't find anything wrong and blames it on the sinuses.  Well, I've had surgery on the sinus, which is on the same side as the teeth giving me problems.  Again, I'm having severe pain in the two molars.  I still stand behind the belief that one of these two teeth is giving me this constant sinus problem.  I've gone through a lot of surgery, the last being a Caldwell Luc surgery and I need to get to the bottom of this problem.  I need to mention that both of these two molars are root canals, but yet there's an infection coming from one of them and nobody can find it.  Who do I go to next and what can be done?

[Elizabeth43]

Hello Katie and feeling lost,  I'm learning that it's important to be specific about pain.  Sinus infection can cause pain in the teeth but it's usually all across the top teeth, not just in one or two.  My ENT doctor said that it's unlikely that sinus infection would cause pain in one tooth.  He said he wouldn't rule it out because anything's possible, but that it's unlikely.  I have a toothache in my top molar, but it's very different from the pain I had when my sinuses were infected.  So Katie that's something to ask yourself.  Did you have this kind of pain in your teeth when your sinuses were infected or is it a different kind of a pain.  Is it a toothache. Also do you have any other kind of sinus pain, like across your cheeks or over your eyes.
My ENT doctor said that infected sinuses can infect the teeth, that it works both ways.  So it would be a good idea to have your sinuses checked to see if they are infected still.

[feelinglost824]

I'm not sure what is causing your pain, but I can tell you that the roots of the teeth and therefore the nerves are right next to your sinuses.  That is why your teeth can hurt when you have a sinus infection.  How long ago was your surgery?  It may take time for everything to heal.
Get a second opinion from another dentist if you feel that your dentist isn't seeing what is wrong---or there may actually not be anything showing on the x-ray right now to alert him to something going on.

[Elizabeth43]

Hello Katie,  Your problem sounds familiar.  I had sinus surgery last year to clean out blockage and infections.  I developed pain on the roof of my mouth a few weeks ago and went back to the ENT doctor. He gave me a mouthwash and when I used it the pain went, but it came back again when I stopped using it.  A couple of days later I got a toothache in a top molar, a really bad one.  The dentist xrayed it and couldn't find anything and blamed it on my sinuses.  Fortunately I had an appointment with the ENT doctor to follow up on the mouthwash yesterday.  He checked my sinuses and said they are fine. No infection.
I'm going back to the dentist on Monday to try and get him to pull the tooth.  
You can get an infection in a root canal by the way.
It seems to me that if you have a toothache, the most likely cause is the tooth no matter what shows up on the xray.  Since I've got to start somewhere, (the pain isn't going to go away by itself) I want the tooth pulled and then if it's something else deal with that.  But I don't think I will have a problem after it's pulled.  I had the two teeth next to it out last year and I've had no problem there ever since.
Good luck and keep us posted