Does anyone know if infection can travel along the nerve pathway? I often have sinus blockage/drip on th e same side as the tooth pain, regardless as to whether this is on the upper or lower jaw. Does anyone else have sinus symptoms which appear with their tooth or nerve pain?
There are a few papers in medical literature which relate case reports of facial neuropathy patients in whom the apparent cause of pain is an infection introduced by sinus surgery. Generally, however, I don't recall seeing anything to suggest that -- absent surgery -- the sinuses can become an avenue for infection which damages the nerves in a way that causes TN or ATN. Others may be more aware of this area of the literature than I am.
Regards, Red
I live in a high windy desert and have had nose bleeds and dry sinuses for ten years. When its bad, it feels like my right eye is being squeezed. I’ve had two times where my right nostril (the driest) drained like crazy - and it helped my eye pain. Went to an ENT specialist who said my sinuses were fine and I didn’t have an infection. I think everything in our face is connected somehow, somewhere. I want a new face.
I have a little leakage every day from my right nostril and usually after I eat. Could be related to my reflux, but I think it is the ATN. Cuz I also have little leaking from my eye on and off as well. Both on the same side as my ATN. Min
Thank you for replying! I wondered if the sinus congestion was a sign that the cause of pain might be infectious, rather than neuralgic in origin, as I have read that infection in or around a tooth can spread via the blood/lymph to other areas of the body. I’m also trying to think differently about what could cause sinus symptoms other than infection…!! Thank you for your help.
You are welcome. I would also like to say that I have stuffiness as a result of eating the wrong kinds of foods, that my reflux does not like. If I avoid high fat, acidic, and greasy foods…for the most part, I do not get the sinusitus symptoms. However, I still have that leak thing and I am going to ask my neuro about that soon. Peace, Min
A thought for Min and Maggie: it's usually wise to remember an old if sometimes aggravating principle of science and medical evidence. Just because A happened before B doesn't mean A caused B.
I've read a lot of case reports over 16+ years. And I haven't seen many that attributed trigeminal neuropathic pain to a sinus infection, despite the fact that TN is occasionally mistaken for sinus problems. There is also a type of headache called SUNCT which is associated with tearing and sinus drip. So by all means explore with your doctors whether they may be aware of a connection that I'm not. But you might not want to invest a lot of emotional reliance in curing your TN by curing the infection and drip, even though that's a worthwhile medical outcome too.
I wish you both wellness,
Red
Hi everyone, I have sinus issues as well, intertwined with the tooth pain and facial neuralgia. My chronic sinus infections started shortly after a difficult extraction of my left upper back molar. The tooth was broken in half as well as severely decayed so I didn't have a choice but to have the tooth extracted. The tooth broke into pieces as they were pulling it and it took a couple of hours to get it all out. It was awful. Two weeks later, I got my first ever sinus infection. It lasted four months and took two different antibiotics to chase away. Since then, I have recurrent infections. Usually the first sign of a sinus infection is that I get zaps in my upper teeth on top of the usual pain. Within a few hours of that, I start to exhibit symptoms of being stuffed up and postnasal drip. The pain is always the most severe from when the zapping starts until I start to expel mucus (yes, I am glamorous, I know), so it may be that the pressure from the mucosal thickening is compressing the nerves of the teeth, but that's just a theory.
Is it possible that the infection from my broken tooth spread to my nearby sinuses and caused the infection there? Sure. Is it possible that the two things are completely unrelated and the sinus infection would have happened irregardless? Absolutely. Will medical science ever know definitively whether the two incidents are connected? Probably not. What is undeniable, though, is that sinus infections negatively impact my level of tooth pain. On my doctor's recommendation, I started using a neti pot and that was very helpful until my ear started hurting (this was when I was having root canal done on a lower back molar, so it may have been related to that). I may give it another go down the road because it did make a big difference, though I will proceed with caution. I drink teas every day formulated to keep my sinuses clear and that seems to help as does rinsing my mouth with salt water.
If anyone else has any ideas for keeping sinus infections at bay, I would love to hear them.
Take care,
Chris
Chris, expand on the term “neti pot”, somewhat? I don’t think I’ve heard of that up to now…
Keeping the sinuses moist, especially during the winter. If they get dry it can breed infection. There is a homepathic remedy consists of baking soda, canning salt, and bottled water. Then you use a bottle used for nasal spray and this will go down the back of your throat, and drains out everywhere so use over the sink. Have to make a new batch every two weeks. It is very useful and keeps sinus cavities moist and cleaned out. Most doctor offices have the recipe. Min
A neti pot is a small teapot-like container that you use to facilitate irrigation of the nasal passages with a saline solution. I suppose that it is the equivalent of rinsing your mouth with salt water. It's a very odd sensation to have water going in one nasal passage and out the other, especially at first, but it isn't uncomfortable. It seemed to help me by gently flushing the excess mucus out and relieving the pressure that was causing my teeth to "zap".
I started to use it at the recommendation of my GP because I'd had so many sinus infections back to back. I was pretty skeptical that it would work but realized after a couple of weeks that I felt MUCH better and used it for years without incident. When the ear pain started, I called my doctor to let her know. She said the ear pain was likely related to the root canal but thought it was a good idea to discontinue using the neti pot until things settled down. I'm going to ask at my next appointment if I can start to use it again, since it was so beneficial.
If anyone is considering trying this, I would highly suggest that you do so under a doctor's supervision as I did.
I hope this helps. If you have any follow-up questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them.
Take care,
Chris
Wow! Yet another thread I can relate to. I woke up today with sinus congestion on my right and should have guessed the TN tooth/face pain would follow, as it has on previous occasions. Sinus medication won’t do anything though, right? It’s not especially dry here, nor does my nose feel dry. Not sure it’s annoying enough to motivate me to get a neti pot, though I’ve heard them praised in the past.