Antibiotics with a Sinus Perforation
Posted by writeradmin
I am a bit frustrated. I had a dental implant placed. Then, it was removed again six months later because the dentist said that the bone never filled in properly. He mentioned that the implant had perforated my sinus cavity, but that it was no problem because this happens all the time with dental implants and that it was only a few millimeters. I worried that I would need an antibiotic, but he told me there was no need. I started having some pain and popping in the nose area. I called the dentist and he told me to take some decongestant. I did that but it didn’t help. In fact, then I developed yucky drainage and a fever. I called back and this time insisted he give me an antibiotic. He relented and wrote me a prescription. That’s when I finally started getting better. Should he have given me the antibiotic to begin with? Also, he said we could try again in a year or I could just get a dental bridge. Do you have a recommendation?
Avery
Dear Avery,
I’m glad you wrote. There is an even bigger issues here that we’ll get to in a moment. First, I want to answer the question you wrote with. Not giving you an antibiotic at the beginning is not a problem. He’d want to wait until there were signs of infection. That being said, there was some sign there when you began having pain. I am glad that you had the courage to put your foot down when the fever developed. At that point, you should not have had to insist.
Now, let’s get into two huge issues I see here. First, the perforation of the sinus cavity. While it does happen sometimes, I wouldn’t say that it happens all the time, at least not with skilled dentists who do proper diagnostics. However, JUST a few millimeters is misleading. In most cases in life, a few millimeters is no big deal. In dentistry, however, a few millimeters is HUGE. He should not have made light of that.
When you have dental implants placed, it is important to have some 3-dimensional diagnostics done, such as a CT scan to avoid what happened to you, among other potential serious problems.
A second issue is the fact that your bone never integrated with the implant. This is why it had to be removed. In a way, you are fortunate that it did not integrate because if it did, your infection could have gotten into the bone and been very serious.
As for whether you should get a dental implant or a bridge, I would recommend a dental implant unless the adjacent teeth needed crowns anyway. If they do, you can knock two problems out with one procedure. If they don’t need a crown, it seems a bad idea to grind those teeth down if you don’t have to.
That being said, I would make sure you had a good explanation for why the bone didn’t integrate before you move forward.
This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.
Click here to read about teeth whitening.