I had a dental visit today for routine checkup and cleaning. No cavities again. Hooray.
I expressed my concern about my swollen lymph node along my jawline and my teeth moving and with a chronic infection was wondering what the dentist thought of a Cavitat ultrasound to check the jaw bone health.
A what? she said.. Never heard of it.
She did a full mouth and jaw xray and was surprised to see bone loss in my upper jaw and decreased bone density.
Anybody else had this issue? She said I am way too young for this and suggested I get a bone scan, not thinking the cause was infectious in nature.
Has anyone here had a cavitat ultrasound of the jaw?
I feel like I am decomposing.
Posted by Kayda (Member # 10565) on :
Hi,
I just had this exact thing done: a Cavitat Ultrasound of the upper left quadrant. I took the scan along with the panoramic X-ray to my regular dentist. He didn't see any bone loss on the x-ray. He didn't know what to make of the Ultrasound (I didn't use the word Cavitat. It's a buzz word with negative conotation. Just use the words bone loss.)
Anyway, be very, very careful. There is a lot of controversy about this scan. Mine cost $200. Some totally believe in it and others don't.
If you have the panoramic X-ray that shows bone loss, that is much more acceptable by mainstream. I am no expert by any means on this. You'll need to do lots of investigating.
If there is bone loss, there may be infection. The infection will require surgery. Be very careful to get someone with excellent credentials & experience.
Right now, I do not have severe tooth pain. It is only intermittent. The dr. recommended ozone injections. However, the surgeon said it cannot help dead bone (looks like oatmeal). It can help post surgery.
I know what you mean about feeling like you're decomposing! Also, there are no good studies that ozone is or isn't harmful when injected.
I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I keep asking myself, "Do I really want to open that can of worms????"
Kayda
Posted by nan (Member # 63) on :
I believe there is a connection between lyme and osteoporosis. Often it will be detected first by a dentist.
I have it at age 70, but I also know two young women in their forties with lyme who had bone density scans and were also found to have osteoporosis.
As a result I have periodically cautioned any young person with longstanding lyme to get a density scan.
Might be a good idea for you?
Good luck.
Posted by Lymeindunkirk (Member # 7118) on :
My husband had 50% bone loss. This was about four years ago, prior to being diagnosed with lyme. They asked him if he smokes, yes but not nearly as much as they thought it would take to cause bone loss of that amount. It was a mystery. Imagine that. They put him on antibiotics (how about that) for about six months. I've wondered if this was connected to lyme but hadn't, until now, come across anyone else with the issue. He was diagnosed with lyme probably two years after being treated at the dentist office.
Posted by MagicAcorn (Member # 8786) on :
I've had jaw bone loss to the tune of $36,000.00.
Posted by Kayda (Member # 10565) on :
Magic Acorn,
Yikes! What happened?
Kayda
Posted by Lymeindunkirk (Member # 7118) on :
Oh my gosh. $36,000? How are you now?
Posted by stymielymie (Member # 10044) on :
caveey ,that is not a totally correct statement about Fosamax and Biphophonates.
Fosamax prevents osteoporsis in women losing ca and phos in bone.
it works by inhibiting osteoclasts from removing old bone.this also prevents osteoblasts to make new bone. in the body the body is sterile and works ok. in the mouth, infections occur daily to multiple normal flora.
without the osteoclasts to remove this infected bone, the infection gets larger until you get osteonecrosis or bone death.
it has only been found in 3 people taken fosamax at the present time. this research is new within last 3 years, so all data not in.
it generally occurs with combo biphosphonates iv and pills after breast chemotherapy.
this incipient infection can go on for years prior to getting osteonecrosis, so the date is far from over. below is a very good article.
Just had the second of three operations to finish the complete rebuilding of my maxilla.
I can't talk very well, but at least I won't have to go without having teeth. You need a jawline even to be able to wear dentures. The jawbone also supports the skeletal structure of your face.
I can not wait until Monday to get my stitches out. I've had a mouth full of stitches since the twentieth of April.
I had a few days off and resumed my life. I need to work to pay for this. I am still being treated for lyme and related ailments also.
The last three days have been rough as I think the sleeping spirochetes have been reawakened by the surgery. Hopefully, I won't crash and will have a good go from here on out.
If you pray please pray for me also.
Posted by stymielymie (Member # 10044) on :
did +you look into major medical paying for most of the surgery???????
it does usually, if you have medical insurance.
docdave
Posted by MagicAcorn (Member # 8786) on :
It's a messy convoluted process and once implants are mentioned all insurance talks are over. Dentists today (sorry doc dave) are losing credibility. They do cosmetic procedures all the time now, plus resty lane and botox and now everything they do is cosmetic.
I just want my mouth fixed and no dentures. I have a partial plate and it has been horrible. Insurance will pay for the cheapest way which in my case was cadaver bone and dentures.
My way was harvest bone from my mandible (ouch - oh my - ouch) and get implants. I do not want a cadaver bone in my face, or a bovine bone, or seashells so I chose this treatment option. Choosing this I also chose to get minimal money back from insurance.
If my body were going to reject a cadaver bone I'd rather it not be in my face. My friend had that happen with his thigh and he eventually had his leg amputated. My body will not reject my own bone.
It hasn't been fun, but I'm hoping it will soon pay off.
Posted by Kayda (Member # 10565) on :
Hi,
Here's a report showing 2,400 people with bone loss who took fosamax. DocDave, it appears the problem is more widespread
My daughter is due for gum and bone grafts later this month. A stud was irritating the gum and who knows how much lyme was at play....But no insurance is helping us either. We would have had to have special peridontal insurance.
No one saw that loop hole out there. lmt
Posted by capegal (Member # 11778) on :
Hi magic acorn. I find your story interesting. I was suspected of having heavy metal poisoning and possible coinfections. Hair analysis showed the active level of murcury at more than 90%.
Other tests showed a cavitation with infection under an old rootcanal that left some of the dead root in place. I showed up at a dental surgion for an emergency extraction fo another abcess -differeentjaw, on 911.
since then all kinds of test were done. treatment plan was to remove teeth shown traping infection, and any infected bone. then remove all amalgum fillings and replace with pocelain-no metal used.
it took 3 hours for many of the sessions, and i had to take valium to get through the proceedures. befor i realized it i had a serrious problem with too much val.Tapering off val. recently has pu me into the currant major- relapse 5 months.
the cost of clean/removal was 18,000- and i still need crouns on the implants. It was another 10,000- for the implants so far.
maybe it will be helpfull for others to hear the extent of the problem from more of us to know better what is happening and how to help. any suggestions to help detox the mercury, and Lyme/meds would be very much appreciated!
Thanks for your story magic acorn, from unicorn.
Posted by stymielymie (Member # 10044) on :
Kayda that article is a misleading article drawing you to fosamax.
if you read very carefully it says that most of the problems are from iv biphosphonates, not oral.
this tmj pain in new though. i have been talking with the doc doing the research at un. of miami.
this all started because an very knowledgeable oral surgeon in BOca raton, would not extract my wife's tooth due to fosamax. he was the doctor that actually found the correlation of necrosis to biphosphonates and sent the info to his friend in miami.
docdave
Posted by stymielymie (Member # 10044) on :
hey squirrely, why not get a squirrel jaw bone, then you cound eat acorns!!!!!!!!!!!
still with implants major medical will pay for the bone surgery.
lmtoo: studs are the wost thing to happen to dentistry since the amalgam kids put them everywhere, even tongue. it chops up the teeth, gums and bone.
if i saw a stud in my practice it was removes permanently ,or i would not see the patient.
belly button piercing cause major infection and can kill you. the belly button is a direct source to the blood stream, since it is where the umbilical cord was attached.
docdave
Posted by chroniccosmic (Member # 7789) on :
Doc Dave,
Is there any trick to get medical insurance to pay for necessary dental work for mercury and heavy metal toxicity?
Can that be considered a medical issue? No dental insurance.
Posted by lymemomtooo (Member # 5396) on :
Thanks Doc..Wish I could have prevented it in the first place but difficult with a suicidal child. It was also done without my knowledge.
Turst me, I raised Hell-oo. She took it out in a few months but the damage had already occurred. Wish more people knew of the dangers of such piercings. lmt
Posted by stymielymie (Member # 10044) on :
no medical insurance will not pay for any dental procedures except impacted wisdom teeth.
they will pay for reconstructive surgery from cancer. they will usually get the hospital bill for maxillo facial surgery but nothing else period!!!!!!!!! we tried for years to get medicare to pay for dentures, NO.