The maxillary sinus is located in the infraorbital region and performs a number of very important functions. It warms the air entering the body to the optimum temperature and filters it, cleansing it from pathogenic bacteria and microbes. Often, after the completion of dental treatment procedures, filling material may remain in the maxillary sinus. This is fraught with many unpleasant and rather serious complications. If this happens, you must immediately contact a specialist to carefully remove the foreign body.
Symptoms
How to determine the presence of foreign objects within the maxillary sinus? A number of symptoms will indicate this:
- Monotonous pain in one or two maxillary sinuses. Increased pain occurs when the patient tilts his head down. At the same time, he experiences discomfort and a feeling that the bones of the face are, as it were, pushed out from the inside under pressure.
- In some cases, an inexplicable feeling of heaviness in the head may appear even after a full night's sleep. For some patients, this symptom makes it difficult to concentrate or fall asleep.
- If there is filling material or any other foreign body within the maxillary sinuses, the patient complains of problems with chewing food. They are often accompanied by palpable pains of varying intensity.
- Quite often, you can find the appearance of pus in the mucus when blowing your nose. Pus is released in large quantities, and for a while, internal tension and pain subside. Such discharge has an unpleasant and clearly recognizable putrid odor. If the inflammatory process is activated, the body temperature can rise to 37-38 degrees.
- Inflammation of the sinuses against the background of a foreign body entering them leads to general weakness and loss of strength. Excessively fast fatigability is observed even with little physical effort.
- Some patients with this diagnosis complain of partial or complete loss of appetite. A purulent discharge can lead to nausea and even vomiting.
- A runny nose appears with a steady frequency.
- The patient experiences discomfort in the upper jaw area.
- The result of getting filling material into the maxillary sinuses can be aching toothache.
It should be noted that such symptoms are not characteristic and defining. For example, they can accompany sinusitis and some other ailments associated with the oral or nasal cavity. Therefore, the first step should be to see a doctor and get diagnosed.
The causes of the disease
Why can a foreign object remain in the maxillary sinus? This happens most often when visiting the dentist's office. In the course of treatment (filling), the material enters the oral cavity. The walls of the maxillary sinus can be unnecessarily thin due to one pathology or another. The tooth root is too close to it, which can damage the mucous membrane.
In addition, filling material may remain within the sinuses during dental implant placement. This usually occurs after the build-up of overly thin sinus walls. The small thickness does not allow for the normal installation of artificial teeth, so doctors increase it using artificial materials.
There are many other reasons why foreign bodies get into the maxillary sinuses. These can be fragments of matches, toothpicks and some other objects. Often, small particles of diagnostic tools remain in the sinuses, with the help of which a visual examination of the nasal cavity was performed.
They may accidentally contain:
- fruit pits;
- small pieces of toys, constructors and so on.
Foreign objects cause an acute inflammatory process, which quite often turns into a purulent form and is accompanied by painful sensations of varying intensity.
Complications
As for the consequences of such a condition, they can be very different, but all are unpleasant. If the filling material remains within the maxillary sinus, inflammation of the maxillary mucosa begins quickly enough, which leads to sinusitis. This is a disease that most often appears due to improper treatment of teeth or their roots. If you do not find and remove a foreign body from the sinus, sinusitis can be treated for a long time and to no avail.
Due to the ingress of the filling material into the sinus, another unpleasant complication may appear in the form of a maxillary cyst. This benign formation poses a certain danger and causes discomfort due to the presence of pus. Do not forget about mycetoma - another consequence of foreign bodies entering the sinuses, a type of sinusitis.
In addition, prolonged neglect of inflammation can lead to the appearance of meningitis, as well as pathological changes in the tonsils of the palate.
In some cases, osteoperiostitis is diagnosed - inflammation of the facial cranial bones. Such a disease is treated quite difficult and for a long time, accompanied by acute painful sensations. One of the dangers of osteoperiostitis is the destruction of a part of the facial bone and the need to install an artificial one.
A few words about diagnostics
Professional examination in this case plays one of the leading roles in the process of detecting filling material in the maxillary sinuses. How does it go?
At the reception, the patient complains of pain syndrome, which occurs due to the inflammatory process. An experienced doctor can make a preliminary diagnosis at the stage of interviewing the client.- An anamnesis of the disease is formed (collection of primary information), the fact of visiting the dental office is noted separately.
- At this stage, the doctor visually examines the maxillary sinuses using a special nasal speculum. The methods of endoscopic and rhinoscopic diagnostics are used.
- The presence / absence of a foreign body in the sinuses is most accurately determined by computed tomography. In addition, with its help, you can reliably establish the amount of pus and the condition of the mucous membrane.
At the reception, the patient complains of pain syndrome, which occurs due to the inflammatory process. An experienced doctor can make a preliminary diagnosis at the stage of interviewing the client.Another highly accurate diagnostic method is X-ray examination of the maxillary sinuses. The pictures clearly show all the seals and other defects in the sinuses, including purulent formations in the lower part of the sinus.
You cannot do without consulting a surgeon. He will explain how to safely remove a foreign body using surgery.
Treatment
Therapy is usually complex. Surgery is complemented by the use of antibacterial drugs and the prevention of sinusitis. The filling material can be removed in two ways. The first is cutting the gums and removing a foreign body through a hole in the damaged wall of the maxillary sinus. The second is curettage of the sinus mucosa. This method is used with the active decomposition of the dental nerve, when a purulent accumulation forms over the tooth.
After surgery, the doctor must prescribe antibiotic therapy. Laboratory tests can identify and determine the type of pathogenic bacteria that have caused inflammation of the mucous membrane. To eliminate foci of infections, a course of antibiotics is prescribed. It can be supplemented by the use of anti-inflammatory drugs.
Prevention consists in taking immunomodulatory drugs and vitamin complexes.
If you find one of the symptoms described above for the presence of a foreign body in the maxillary sinus, do not postpone a visit to the doctor. In this case, one cannot hesitate, otherwise extremely negative consequences cannot be avoided. Contact the ENT, he will help identify foreign bodies in the maxillary sinuses and make the best rehabilitation course for you.
