Jaw Osteomyelitis: Symptoms and Treatment Methods

Osteomyelitis is an infectious disease located in the bone tissues of a person. The disease can amaze and completely destroy any bones, but most often chooses precisely the jawbones.

Osteomyelitis of the jaw most threatens the elderly and children under one year, as well as those who are in the group risk (has chronic illnesses, weakened immunity, bad habits, poor nutrition, suffers dystrophy).

The disease develops quite quickly, and in its early stages it is difficult to diagnose because of symptoms similar to ARI or influenza. An exact diagnosis can only be made by a doctor after a series of biochemical analyzes.

Classification of the jaw osteomyelitis

Based on the causes of penetration into the structure of tissues, isolateosteomyelitis of three types of jaws:

1. Odontogenic- because of the time of not cured caries infection gets to the root of the tooth, and then penetrates into the bone tissue (usually the upper jaw).
2. Hematogenous- Purulent bacteria enter the bone tissue through the blood in the chronic form of tonsillitis, scarlet fever, diphtheria, angina, pneumonia, furunculosis, etc. diseases.
3. Traumatic- the infection enters the tissues during the treatment of fractures, gunshot wounds, endoprosthetics, tooth filling.

Symptomatology of the disease

Depending on the severity of the inflammatory processes, the osteomyelitis of the jaw is divided intoseveral stages, the symptoms of which are different:

1. Acute stage- characterized by the presence of the patient's problems with sleep, weakness, attacks of headache, malaise, unpleasant sensations when chewing food, teeth mobility, increased temperature, enlarged lymph nodes, asymmetric contour of the face, reddening of the mucosa, bad breath, loss of sensitivity of the perioral region, grayish skin face.
2. Subacute stage- occurs if the disease is not treated at an acute stage, and is characterized by the formation of necrotic areas skin, fistulas on the bone tissue, outflow of pus and imaginary improvement in the patient's condition, increased mobility teeth.
3. Chronic stage- is considered the most dangerous, because the patient has almost no symptoms and it seems that it began recovery; while fistulas with pus begin to appear, the jaw is deformed, it may occur pathological fracture.

General methods of treatment

Osteomyelitis of the jaw presupposes, in the first place, treatment directed atelimination of the primary focus of infection and pus. If the disease is odontogenic, then it is the removal of the damaged tooth. If in the hematogenous -elimination of infection.

In the presence of mobile teeth, they are performed by splinting (joining with the nearby ones), dissecting the periosteum to clean it from pus and rinse the affected area. For the treatment of osteomyelitis in the chronic form, the damaged areas of the skin are removed, the bone cavity is cleaned and for filling it is filled with special osteoplastic biomaterials.

Also, specialists through the appointment of antibiotics to the patient conduct large-scale antibiotic therapy, often combining it with stimulating and restorative. Physioprocedures are performed.

How to treat osteomyelitis of the upper jaw

If an infection occurs in the area of ​​the maxillary sinuses of the patient, the X-ray pattern shows that the jaw structure is smeared and has a small enlightenment (at the very beginning of the disease) or that the bone structure has disappeared, and a portion of necrotic bone tissue has formed (in the later stages disease).

In addition, the patient must take antibiotics, rinse the infected cavity with antiseptic agents. Sometimes a specialist prescribes detoxification therapy to cleanse the body of harmful substances.

How is osteomyelitis of the lower jaw treated?

The lower jaw most often suffers from this disease. Usually her treatmentbegins with treatment of the oral cavity with antiseptic solutionsto protect against re-infection.

After that, theanti-inflammatory therapy, which includes:

• elimination of adverse factors affecting metabolic processes in the inflamed area;
• complete elimination of harmful substances from the body;
• stimulation of natural recovery processes.

The patient is also assignedphysiotherapy. They help stop the inflammatory processes, accelerate the healing of wounds and the growth of connective tissues to hide the defect.

A timely and well-designed treatment plan will help to fully cope with the disease and prevent the occurrence of serious complications. The time of recovery and the speed of recovery of damaged tissues directly depend not only on compliance with all prescriptions of the doctor, but also on the patient's health condition, his immunity.

Possible complications

If the appearance of the first symptoms of osteomyelitis in time does not seek medical attention or start treatment only in the late stages, the disease can lead to serious complications.It can be education:

• phlegmon;
• sepsis;
• fracture / deformation of the jaw;
• phlebitis of facial veins;
• meningitis;
• sinuses of the medulla;
• an abscess of the brain;
• acute pulmonary insufficiency.

Preventive measures

Unexpectedly, only osteomyelitis in the hematogenous form can arise, therefore it is more difficult to protect your organism from it. But the traumatic and odontogenic form of the disease is prevented quite easily.

It is enough to follow several simple recommendations:

• as often as possible, wash your hands and watch for cleanliness of the oral cavity;
• timely cure diseases of the respiratory tract caused by infection, and try to prevent the worsening of existing chronic diseases;
• If there is a feeling of discomfort in the oral cavity, be sure to consult a dentist;
• Avoid situations in which you can injure the face area (especially the jaw);
• if it is necessary to treat caries or prosthetics, do not postpone the visit to a specialist;
• try to abandon bad habits;
• keep your weight in the norm, but do not get carried away by diets.

First of all, you need to enter the body:

• calcium (large amounts of almonds, sunflower seeds and sesame oil, spinach, dried apricots, cottage cheese, turnips and hard cheeses);
• vitamin B (high concentration in by-products, mackerel, herring, sardine, beef, eggs, chicken meat, oysters, shrimp, brewer's yeast, nuts, seeds, baked potatoes, peas, citrus fruits and soy);
• magnesium (can be found in walnuts, leafy vegetables, whole grains and fermented milk products);
• zinc (found in most seafood, celery, parsnip, pumpkin, legumes);
• folic acid (a lot of it in bananas, beans, beets, cabbage and lentils).