diff --git a/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/integration.py b/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/integration.py
index 3f71e86f02..595fdfcb6e 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/integration.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/integration.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
 try:
     from opentelemetry import trace
     from opentelemetry.propagate import set_global_textmap
-    from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
+    from opentelemetry.trace import Span as AbstractSpan
+    from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider, Span, ReadableSpan
 except ImportError:
     raise DidNotEnable("opentelemetry not installed")
 
@@ -27,6 +28,11 @@
 except ImportError:
     DjangoInstrumentor = None
 
+from sentry_sdk._types import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from typing import Union, Any
+
 
 CONFIGURABLE_INSTRUMENTATIONS = {
     DjangoInstrumentor: {"is_sql_commentor_enabled": True},
@@ -45,11 +51,40 @@ def setup_once():
         )
 
         _setup_sentry_tracing()
+        _patch_readable_span()
         # _setup_instrumentors()
 
         logger.debug("[OTel] Finished setting up OpenTelemetry integration")
 
 
+def _patch_readable_span():
+    # type: () -> None
+    """
+    We need to pass through sentry specific metadata/objects from Span to ReadableSpan
+    to work with them consistently in the SpanProcessor.
+    """
+
+    @property
+    def sentry_meta(self):
+        # type: (Union[AbstractSpan, Span, ReadableSpan]) -> dict[str, Any]
+        if not getattr(self, "_sentry_meta", None):
+            self._sentry_meta = {}
+        return self._sentry_meta
+
+    AbstractSpan.sentry_meta = sentry_meta
+    ReadableSpan.sentry_meta = sentry_meta
+
+    old_readable_span = Span._readable_span
+
+    def sentry_patched_readable_span(self):
+        # type: (Span) -> ReadableSpan
+        readable_span = old_readable_span(self)
+        readable_span._sentry_meta = self._sentry_meta
+        return readable_span
+
+    Span._readable_span = sentry_patched_readable_span
+
+
 def _setup_sentry_tracing():
     # type: () -> None
     import opentelemetry.context
diff --git a/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/potel_span_processor.py b/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/potel_span_processor.py
index ed31608516..a254aada05 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/potel_span_processor.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/integrations/opentelemetry/potel_span_processor.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
     format_span_id,
     get_current_span,
     INVALID_SPAN,
-    Span as TraceApiSpan,
+    Span as AbstractSpan,
 )
 from opentelemetry.context import Context
 from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import Span, ReadableSpan, SpanProcessor
@@ -78,19 +78,19 @@ def force_flush(self, timeout_millis=30000):
         return True
 
     def _add_root_span(self, span, parent_span):
-        # type: (Span, TraceApiSpan) -> None
+        # type: (Span, AbstractSpan) -> None
         """
         This is required to make POTelSpan.root_span work
         since we can't traverse back to the root purely with otel efficiently.
         """
         if parent_span != INVALID_SPAN and not parent_span.get_span_context().is_remote:
             # child span points to parent's root or parent
-            span._sentry_root_otel_span = getattr(
-                parent_span, "_sentry_root_otel_span", parent_span
+            span.sentry_meta["root_span"] = parent_span.sentry_meta.get(
+                "root_span", parent_span
             )
         else:
             # root span points to itself
-            span._sentry_root_otel_span = span
+            span.sentry_meta["root_span"] = span
 
     def _flush_root_span(self, span):
         # type: (ReadableSpan) -> None
diff --git a/sentry_sdk/tracing.py b/sentry_sdk/tracing.py
index d4033b52ef..bdfa846257 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/tracing.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/tracing.py
@@ -1327,8 +1327,7 @@ def containing_transaction(self):
     def root_span(self):
         # type: () -> Optional[POTelSpan]
         root_otel_span = cast(
-            "Optional[OtelSpan]",
-            getattr(self._otel_span, "_sentry_root_otel_span", None),
+            "Optional[OtelSpan]", self._otel_span.sentry_meta.get("root_span", None)
         )
         return POTelSpan(otel_span=root_otel_span) if root_otel_span else None