Covid patients losing jaws to mucormycosis infection

SURAT: Toothache post Covid-19 recovery may better be checked at once. For dentists warn that it can be mucormycosis (MM), which even they have been witnessing for the first time.
After MM starts with sinusitis, the fungus severely damages eyes and the surrounding organs. But recent cases have shown how damaging it can be for the jaws too.

Due to the fast and severe spread of the infection, ENT surgeons in the city had to remove half of the jaw and teeth of a patient who recently recovered from Covid infection.
If MM infection starts spreading in the lower part of the face, the patient will suffer toothache which will lead to tooth mobility in just one day, dentists said.
“In the last three days three patients, who have recovered from Covid19 infection a month ago, came with mobile teeth. Their CT scan did not reveal any damage to the maxilla, but the biopsy revealed that it is MM,” said Dr Risshi Bhatt, maxillofacial surgeon.
“After consulting a senior ENT surgeon the surgery was conducted and half of the upper jaw had to be removed to save the life of the patient,” Dr Bhatt added.
Dr Venus Tilavat Patel, an ENT surgeon, who has treated several cases of loss of vision due to MM, said that such serious problems in the jaw is something new even for ENT surgeons. “Last year, MM cases had been reported but we are witnessing its severity upto this extent for the first time now,” the doc said.
At the state-run New Civil Hospital (NCH), doctors are coming across various cases of MM with teeth mobility.
“We are treating two patients of MM with tooth mobility and it indicates the severity of the infection. It can create a hole in the upper palate of the mouth if ignored,” said Dr Gunvant Parmar, professor and HoD of dentistry, Government Medical College (GMC).