My wife had been experiencing swelling and pain in the right jaw bone area since late June 2010. We saw her dentist initially who took and X-ray which showed nothing abnormal. He prescribed 500 mg daily dose of Penicillin.

We have seen our ENT several times since than. When the pain and swelling did not go away after the penicillin, he said that it was a salivary gland infection and prescribed 4000 mg daily dose of Augmentin. The pain and swelling got initially better than the right face swelled up really bad.

The ENT scheduled surgery to remove the salivary gland. On surgery day, September 8, the ENT changes is mind and sent us for a CT scan that same day because there was swelling and pain in the area of the right jawbone.


The next day the ENT calls my wife and says that the CT showed "Diffuse Cellulitis" and for her to keep taking the Augmentin which she did. There was no improvement so he prescribed a new antibiotic, Avelox, 400 mg daily dose.

There was a mild improvement but then the right face swelled up again plus there was continuous pain. She no longer has any feeling in the area below her bottom lip.

On October 4th, we saw and infection disease doctor who requested an MRI and felt that there was an infection inside the right jaw bone.

Yesterday we saw the infection disease doctor who read the MRI result: "OSTEOMYELITIS of the right side of the mandible without evidence of cortical destruction or adjacent abscess. There is abnormal enhancement in the adjacent mucosa."

His recommendation was to treat with IV antibiotics and surgery.

We immediately went to go see the ENT who is in the same building. He read the MRI report and his conclusion was that the infection is on the outside of the jaw bone and not inside because the CT scan would have shown an infection within the bone. The ENT seemed OK with the IV antibiotics and referred us back to the original dentist we saw in June.

After seeing the ENT, my wife had a PICC line placed. After the PICC line we were able to see the dentist who took additional x-rays which because of the radiation treatments are not very clear and "cotton" like. The dentist feels that the pain and swelling may be caused by a tooth which has a large filling near the area where the pain is.

This morning a nurse came to our house and gave the first IV antibiotic infusion. The antibiotic is UNASYN (AMP/SUL) with a treatment regimen of one 133 ml dose every six hours for 6 weeks.

Any help or assistance would be appreciate it. Has anyone had OSTEOMYELITIS and what was the treatment given and the outcome? Thank you.
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