My Story Explained

Prior to the wisdom teeth removal I had gone to my dentist and had an x-ray taken of my teeth. My dentist told me that two of my wisdom teeth were impacted and suggested that I have all four removed. So I decided to call an oral surgeon and schedule an appointment.

My consultation appointment with my oral surgeon occurred immediately prior to the extraction, although some oral surgeons have the consultation appointment as a separate visit. During the consultation the oral surgeon showed me the x-ray of my teeth, discussed how two of my wisdom teeth were impacted, and also talked about the possibility of lingual nerve damage.

He then took proceeded to take out my wisdom teeth. For some reason my blood pressure drops very low after a little bit of anesthesia, so I remained awake during the extraction. The oral surgeon also gave me laughing gas so I was laughing a lot during the extraction, as he was drilling my teeth into pieces, quite a bizzare experience! I then was released about 30 minutes after he finished taking out the teeth.

Two days after, I noticed an extremely painful pounding coming from inside my head. I had the most severe headache of my life and it would not go away.

I went back to my oral surgeon 5 days after the teeth were pulled and told him what was going on. He said he didn't think anything he did would have caused this and told me to see my doctor. So I did and he suggested I get an MRI done on my brain.

I went and had the MRI done and it was found that my right maxillary sinus was completely filled with some fluid. The image below is the actual MRI image that was taken.

It was thought that the sinus membrane was torn during the extraction. So over the next two months I was on various antibiotics while my head was pounding without any relief. I had some CT scans done to determine if the sinus was clearing up or not. It was not, so I proceeded with sinus surgery to drain my sinus, two months following the removal of the wisdom teeth. I was hoping that with my sinus no longer filled with junk, my headache would go away.

But no! A month after I had sinus surgery my head was still pounding 24/7. Eventually I ended up seeing some neurologists to attempt to find an answer to my chronic headache problem. My neurological exam was normal, my blood work was normal, I had an MRA done that was normal, I had another MRI done of the brain and one of the cervical spine and they were normal, my CT scans of my sinus show that the sinus is clear.

Yet my head is still pounding 24/7 and no doctors I have seen know why or have an answer.

This is not common among headache patients!

It does not seem as if the chronic headache is related to the sinus infection althought it could be as a headache disorder known as new daily persistent headache (NDPH) can be triggered by an infection. It is possible I had a pre existing maxillary sinus infection when I went to have my wisdom teeth removal although I will never know for sure. A scientific assembly states...

"Know that the (relatively common) finding of mucosal thickening of the sinuses on brain or
sinus CT scan is almost never the cause of new headache."

A possible explanation that a neurosurgeon suggested to me is that my trigeminal nerve was damaged following the extraction. This is constantly sending pain signals and causing the trigeminal nucleus in my head to be hyperactive. This is also producing a sympathetic response and is causing my body and head to pound. Wikipedia states...

"It is not widely appreciated that all sensory information from the face (all touch/position information and all pain/temperature information) is sent to the trigeminal nucleus."

About Me

I never received any compensation for my injuries and continue to suffer from pain 24/7 which now has been over 7 years straight.

I have now graduated from college and received a bachelor of science degree and a master of science degree from a university in the midwest of the U.S.  In recent years I have also lived and worked on the east coast.

In my free time I enjoy spending time with friends, reading books, watching movies, playing golf, working out, swimming, biking, running, watching TV, and surfing the internet.

Because of the lack of knowledgeable information on the internet on many important health topics and inspiration by the likes of dot com moguls such as John Chow, I created this website.

My opinions and articles on this site are not influenced by any sort of financial support and if they ever were I would disclose this information.

If you feel you would benefit from speaking with me or talking to me please do not hesitate to contact me.

A slightly different about me is available on TeethRemoval.com's blog's about me page.

See the homepage for additional information about the website's owner.