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Oooo! Ruptured sinus sounds so... Explosive! I doubt that you can do that free diving. You can rupture some blood vessels and occasionally compress a nerve that supplies feeling to the lips and teeth. The symptoms are quite different. Personally, I would stay out of the water for a...

apnea, Immediately following root canal therapy, some patients experience discomfort. It may be slight to severe. The vast majority experience no pain. Typically, this pain is associated with residual inflammation of the Periodontal Ligament, the membrane which surrounds the root of the...

apnea, I don't know what is actually wrong. My first guess is that it is either a problem with your sinus or the root canal is not healing as expected. You indicate that the pain is "above" tooth #3... the upper right first molar. So the pain may not be coming directly from the tooth. It...

sbbi, You probably don't want to place graft material into and acutely abscessed site (with pus). However, it can be placed into a chronic site, especially if you are premedicated with an appropriate antibiotic. Begin 1-2 days before the procedure. Actually, you can do the same for the...

sbbi, OK, let's switch gears here. You've got a tooth that hurts. It has had root canal therapy twice now and it still hurts. All the discussion of fractures, fistulas and infection have not solved the problem. The bottom line is that root canal therapy fails to work about 5% of the time...

sbbi, Again, I'm not there so I can't see and evaluate your condition personally, Bone loss is usually a sign of an underlying infection. An infection will result from a dead nerve, a periodontal pocket, a fractured root, etc. All a fistula is, is your body allowing the infection materials a...

Hi Doomz06, In your post you indicate that your wife has TMJ Syndrome but that she "locked up" during her ocean dive. Simplistically, TMJ is a musculo-skeletal problem in which the muscles that operate the jaws and position the disc within the joint between the joint fossa and the mandibular...

Following an extraction the bone will indeed grow into the socket. The problem is that you must rely on the random healing of the surgical site. If you place a socket graft, the material inserted into the socket helps to determine where the bone grows. There is less randomness. This is good...

sbbi, Remember, I told you a root amputation is a "bail out" procedure. It helps you keep a tooth a bit longer but probably not for life. In addition, it can be useful to extend the life of, let's say an overlying crown or bridge that has already been completed. If the tooth is truly...

One question at a time. After the removal of the root there will be a socket. It will heal and remodel over about a 3 month period. You can help direct and speed up the remodeling with a socket graft. If you're not contemplating a future implant, then the graft is not absolutely needed. No...

Yes, the removal of a root alters the shape of the tooth at the gum. This will alter the appearance of the completed restoration. The good news is that the tooth in question is not very visible and most people won't know anything has been done. If it poses a cosmetic problem, then other...

Hi sbbi, I went back to the original post in 2004 to bring myself up to speed. My responses that seemed so lucid at the time are even confusing me. Part of the problem is that the actual procedure the patient underwent was unclear. At times references were made to root amputations...

Hi Kardisa, You description of "massive" cavity is troubling to me with respect to diving in a week or so. Whenever a dentist has to work deep within a tooth there is the possibility of either exposing the nerve or decay so close to the nerve that it will begin to degenerate. In either case...

Hurrah Candyice! Flots am. You said it better than me!

Hey Digger, OK, I see your point. You are indeed correct... there are lots of people diving with dental decay, impacted wisdom teeth and gum infections that haven't been detected or treated. The vast number of times these problems turn serious during a dive is miniscule. Here's mine: The...

Hi Digger54, I just couldn't let you have the last word when what you said was so incorrect that it was scary. First, forget the mouth. If you have an infection in any organ of the body don't dive. I'm not talking a pimple or a splinter here. If you have pus, pain, inflammation, fever...

Most likely OK. There is a verrrrrry remote possibility that air can be trapped around the sac that surrounds the unerupted tooth. This air can migrate into potential spaces within the body. Considering the number of people that dive with impacted wisdom teeth and have no problems, you are...

Candyice, If you have a cavity, especially if it is near the nerve then may indeed have a problem diving... or anything else for that matter. The best "bad thing" that can happen if you are diving with a cavity is a condition called a barodontalgia... sudden tooth pain on descent or, more...

Hello Candyice, I'm heading out the door in 10 minutes to go diving but I'll try to give you some information. A dental cavity in a tooth does not cause muscular pain. However, an infection in the soft tissues surrounding a tooth or at the end of a tooth may trigger something called trismus...

Granny Scuba, I didn't think much would be seen on x-rays. Your endodontist was probably looking for an additional canal or some reason that the canals were not sealed as well as expected. The soreness to bite is disconcerting. It could mean any of several things: 1) The crown was slightly...