T's Story of Sargenti Paste

In 1983 I went to a dentist for the first time and was told that I needed a root canal. The procedure was done and the immediate symptoms went away. Within a few months my health began to deteriorate in rather vague ways until I finally was diagnosed with MS. I went on disability in 1984. In the years that followed I had regular visits with the same dentist and experienced a rocky road as far as my overall health was concerned.

Seven years ago I began experiencing symptoms of sinus-like infections. CBCs and other blood work were normal. I was treated with antihistamines and occasional antibiotics. (I always responded to the antibiotics). More often than not however I was not given antibiotics because I never developed fever nor did my blood levels ever change. In one seven month period, thinking that I was having symptoms of MS, the doctor placed me on repeated courses of prednisone.

Finally, in February of 97, I was referred to an ENT specialist. On the initial appointment this doctor told me she felt that my problem was dental and sent me back for a review by my dentist. Their review came up negative and I went back to the ENT. By this time I had been on antibiotics for months. I was sent to an infectious disease specialist who ran a battery of tests. The only abnormal results was an elevation in one of the IMGs. Gradually I began feeling better on the antibiotics and my strength slowly returned. Until September of 1997. At that time I went back to the dentist for my six month cleaning. Everything was said to be good except for a small amount of bleeding around an upper molar on the right side. It was noted and was going to be re-examined in March of 98. Within three days of the dental appointment I began getting sick again. Again it felt like I was getting the flu with associated sinus involvement. I developed a cough and treated the problem symptomatically for about two weeks. I was slowly deteriorating when on a friday evening the second molar on the top right fractured at the gum line without any pain at all. On the following Monday I went to the dentist and the tooth was extracted. At that time I insisted that the relationship to the cleaning, illness, and tooth fracture was more than coincidental. (I was put on penicillin at this time.) I asked the dentist to again look at my case and to write an update for the benefit of my ENT. The report read in part that there was an old root canal with a partially under filled root next to the tooth that fractured. The dentist wrote that she was aware of the focal theory of infection and would treat the tooth with extraction once the infection resolved. A week later I was back with a dry socket. It was packed. A week after that I returned for treatment of the old root canal. At that time the dentist offered me the chose of trying to save the tooth. She proposed sending me to an endodontist. I agreed. The appointment was made and before I left her office she told me to be sure and tell the endo that the root canal was done using the "sargenti technique". I went to the endo having done some research on Sargenti and was not surprised when he said that the paste had to be removed. However I felt that there was too close a link between him and my dentist and told him that I needed to get another opinion. The next person I saw was a dentist close to my hometown. His comment to me after xrays and exam was that if I got infections following cleanings I should consider skipping cleanings. At that point I had done more research and had contacted a lawyer. He sent me to his dentist and at that appointment more xrays were taken. The dentist came in to the exam room with the xrays and said that the sargenti tooth "looked" alright but that I had an abscess on the tooth behind it that had eroded through the sinus bone and was draing into my sinuses. He sent me directly to another endo. Within weeks I had another root canal on the infected tooth. It failed and I was sent to an oral surgeon. The tooth was extracted and a fistula was surgically closed. I have been on antibiotics almost constantly since September 1997. I have been told that the MS diagnosis was probably incorrect. I am awaiting treatment on the sargenti tooth which my endo won't touch until the oral surgeon can be around (April). My family doctor won't start a detox program until the sargenti is removed. And I now have a diagnosis of fibromyalgia with another sinus fistula probable around the sargenti tooth.

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