Question: First I am a 58 year old female, 5'4", and weigh approximately 195 lbs. This has been a very long ordeal for me beginning on March 17, 2014. It was then I had crowns put on my top four teeth due to cracks and stress fractures and also clinching and grinding from TMJ which had damaged the teeth...temps put on, permanents put on....all smooth sailing... No pain at all...then....I was admitted into hospital on XXXXXXX 20, 2014 for major surgery due to ruptured appendix...possibly and probably due to intubation during surgery my crowns came off my two front teeth, the first the night of surgery which had crumbled to pieces & the second in one piece the next day. Had to get two new crowns at the cost of over $2000 because I had maxed out my dental coverage getting first ones done. They did fine at first & then I started having headaches and could not put any pressure on the left front tooth. Dentist adjusted my bite and said if that didn't help we were probably also looking at root damage which would require root canal in one & possibly both teeth. The next night the crown came off again. Went to dentist next morning & he put it back on & all seemed well once again until a couple of days later the headaches came back with excruciating pain and my nose on that side was so swollen & sensitive I couldn't bear to touch it and of course the tooth pain was unbearable...seemed as if all my lower teeth were aching too. My dentist started me on antibiotics the afternoon before surgery the next day....generic keflex 500 mg three times a day plus hydrocodone for pain and did the root canal the following morning.....another approx $650. This procedure was done this past Wednesday, Sept 17. Wanting to believe surely this was all taken care of now I found out soon there were more problems to be had. Had a lot more pain & swelling in nose & face due to infection getting into sinuses. Continued taking antibiotics as prescribed but my biggest problem has been with constant back to back hot flushes and then cold chills....went to my family doctor today and my blood count was really high due to infection, bp was 150/90, oddly no temp and had cold clammy skin while breaking out in hot sweats. Still swollen in gums and nose and slightly in rest of face. Dr ordered an antibiotic shot and a steroid shot. Knew this was gonna fix the problem :) and seemed to for a few hours but for the last 2-3 hours I have started these back to back hot/cold cycles again. Maybe it is gonna just take more time :) A question I have is I have taken a low dose hormone...prempro...for hot flashes in the past but only short term....could I possibly take it short term again to help with these hot flushes I am having until they hopefully stop. Thank you for listening to my long story Doctor. I am very interested in what you have to say.

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Dr. Shesh:

Thank you so much for your quick response. I have hoped all this time that this will be cleared up in the time frame you mentioned but wasn't sure if the hot/cold episodes might need to be dealt with sooner. Had no idea this could be connected to a root canal. So as you explained possibly the infection is in the blood causing this problem. Is that a more serious thing....infection in the blood? Sounds serious to me :) And mainly I saw a doctor today because the hot/cold episodes were making me absolutely miserable. I asked for the steroid shot for the inflammation in my nasal passage and also swelling on that side of face. Dr was going to give me a stronger antibiotic but decided on the shot today as I was begging for relief. I think it helped somewhat but I do understand I have to let it run its course. Guess I shouldn't have read all the root canals gone bad online last night :) Another concern I have is with the hospital while prepping me for surgery. I understand now why I had to sign a waiver that I would not hold the hospital liable if there was any damage to crowns or dental work. As if the hospital & surgeon bills were not enough I now also have close to $3000 in additional dental cost. I hear this is a common thing when having surgery but it seems to me something should be done to prevent this from happening so often. So the waiver I guess.

Thank you again Dr. XXXXXXX I understand I have one more question. Is that correct?

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