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Would anyone like to talk to me about NOT having toothache?
oh beware - that sounds like what I had niggling on and off for about a fortnight then wham bam full blown toothache ear ache, pain under the eye too (follows the nerve) which turned out to be an abcess under the tooth. Puss had nowhere to go so it headed down the nerve aparently, still on antibiotics
get it checked out before it turns into pain like no other
X rays won't necessarily show anything, infection has to be present for quite some time before it affects the bone to the extent it can be seen on an x ray. There are other tests that we can do though so best to call your dentist ASAP. Probably half the patients I see in my Sunday emergency clinic are about to go on holiday/have people over for the week/have an important function to go to.
Best to sort it on your terms rather than worry & wait for it to get worse.
As a dentist I can very confidently tell you that not all causes of dental pain, including so called "abcesses" show up on xrays. In order for these particular problems to appear on xrays there needs to be either tooth decay or changes in the bone supporting the tooth. It is perfectly possible to see neither (for example if a filling was placed recently) and yet have raging tooth ache (incidentally, not all dental pain is the result of an abcess exactly). This is because the pain is often caused by inflammation of soft tissue either inside the tooth ("pulpitis") or at the tip of the root ("apical periodontitis"). Until this inflammation has affected the bone (which may take some time) nothing will show on the xray. The opposite is also possible, for the dentist to see changes in the bone or tooth decay on an xray without the patient experiencing any pain. A true abcess results in swelling and can take a long time to develop. katymac I really hope you're feeling better!
I have had toothache for 8 days now, went to the dentist after day 4 and he x-rayed said there was some infection and it could be crowned or come out. I just wanted it gone, so opted for extraction. He gave me antibiotics for 5 days then announced there were no appts until the 21st July!! So still in pain!
