Mark,
With me, it all started with some painless bone loss under my back molar on the left side. Eventually the root became exposed and despite trying to save it with religious application of a Water Pik, the molar and the one next to it had to come out followed by 30 hyperbaric oxygen treatments. About six months after that, I noticed numbness and a lump on my mandible which kept getting bigger over the next several months and is now about walnut-sized. My next step is to head to Miami for a consultation with Dr. Marx for a hemi-mandibulectomy.
As far as specialists, The exposed root was noticed by my regular dentist who then referred me to an oral surgeon, who, in turn, referred me to the mandible reconstruction specialist in Miami.
Anything sound familiar?