Williamsburg Sun

People who experience facial discomfort and sinus pressure may be exhibiting one of the warning symptoms of chronic sinusitis, according to the Merck Manual.

A study from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) found that patients with chronic rhinosinusitis have a higher burden of facial pain than control participants across several pain measures.

“I felt pressure on my face all the time," Lauren Zuk, a patient who recieved treatment at the Richmond Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers, told the Williamsburg Sun. "I had horrible headaches; I could sleep 11 hours and still not feel refreshed.”

Dr. John Ditto | zocdoc.com

Sinusitis is often caused by a viral infection that produces swelling of the tissue inside the nose. This swelling restricts the entrances to the sinuses, causing fluid to build up in the sinuses, according to the Merck Manual.

"The reason why the teeth hurt is because the nerve that innervates the face with sensation is the fifth cranial nerve," Dr. John Ditto of Richmond Breathe Free & Allergy Centers told the Williamsburg Sun. "It's the nerve that you feel when you touch your forehead, your cheeks and your jaw. When you go to the dental office, they inject one of those branches to numb your teeth, either the upper or lower, then they also innervate the sinuses. And so when the sinuses are blocked, like the maxilla, or the cheek sinuses, and you get that pressure in your teeth, that is because that pressure is causing irritation to the nerves."

Ditto stated that a minimally invasive surgery called balloon sinuplasty could help address these issues.

"Balloon sinuplasty... it came out in 2005," Ditto said. "It is a fantastic new technique because, what studies have shown is that it's as effective as traditional functional endoscopic sinus surgery. So I can perform a procedure for a patient and improve their recurrent sinusitis by using a minimally invasive technique, instead of taking them to the operating room under general anesthesia and performing a sinus bone and membrane destruction procedure, where you're removing things. Here, I’m just opening things up, just allowing them to breathe."

According to the NCBI study, the discomfort and pressure associated with sinus infection also increase the risk of stroke by 34%.

Additional sinusitis symptoms include yellow or green nasal discharge, facial pressure and discomfort, stuffy nose, foul breath, coughing up mucus -- particularly at night -- and sometimes fever and chills.