Can’t sleep because of pain from root canal work on Thursday

[GottaGetUp]

I spoke to NHS 111 at about 6.30pm and she said I had taken too much paracetamol in the last 24hrs so I can’t take any more til at least 3.30am. I took some naproxen at about 7pm but that has worn off now too.

Someone called me back at about 9.30pm about a dental appt but they said they didn’t have anything til Mon, so I said I’d call my Dentist on Monday instead.

I feel like shit because I didn’t sleep well last night either and have eaten only porridge and soup today.

Feeling a bit sorry for myself ☹️

There’s nothing ‘wrong’. OP has had a chronic infection caused by a failing RCT. The bodies immune system was able to cope, hence OP not being aware, however, the tooth was a ticking time bomb of infection so couldn’t be left. The process of redoing the root canal has introduced air into the root canal which has resulted in a Phoenix abscess.

In a lot of pain right now. The only option the dental advice line gave for today would be to go to A&E. We have a fairly local minor injuries unit - could I go there for antibiotics?

Feels pretty ‘wrong’ to me!

You could try clove oil. My DH was in floods of tears recently with severe pain after a root canal - we tried clove oil as a last resort (neither of us expected it to work) from our local Boots, and within seconds he felt better. We’d never be without it in the house now.

Nothing has gone wrong.
The problem with leaky crowns is you get chronic infection in the root canal system which has a route of drainage.

If you left that you've still got all that infection, its just not causing symtpks because nost of the symptoms with absesses are cuased by the pressure and you risk severe swelling. It would always have caused pain at some point.

Especially if mid treatment you basically create a seal over the canal system which wasn't there previously. You then get pressure and pain, it can be caused by a number of things. Infection still present which the body needa time to deal with, air as above, accessory canals that were infected previously but again had a route of drainage.

It's rare but it happens. Dental procedures like any medical procedure have a risk of post operative pain.

I doubt if there is any infection antibiotics would act by tomorrow, you can try but I think the quickest option to get your out of pain is the dentists tomorrow.

I’m not saying the dentist did anything wrong. I understand what has happened. But a massive flare up of an infection that makes it feel like my jaw is about to explode isn’t exactly a perfect state of affairs is it? That’s what me and a PP mean by there being something ‘wrong’.

@GottaGetUp defo try and get antibiotics the only thing that helped me was ibrupofen I can't spell it sorry! And paracetamol every four hours , clove oil and amoxicillin antibiotics, the dentist left it for so long in between trying to repair it I had it pulled in the end but the pain was just horrible and evil feeling

Apparently it has to be a dentist to give me antibiotics, doctors won’t prescribe for dental issues.

Lovely DH is at a bit of a loss because the standard poorly person treatment is lots of tea and comfort food and I can’t face any of that.

Hope it’s straightforward getting an appointment at the dentist tomorrow and I don’t have to cry down the phone at anyone else.

Update: going out of my fucking mind with the pain and want to smash my own face in.

Hope yours is improved OP

Oh no do you have a plan for getting it sorted?

I have had a more comfortable evening but it’s ramping up now. Unlike last night though I have been able to take some co-codamol just now so hoping that will knock me out to get some sleep. DH has moved to the sofa so I can be all queenly and propped up with pillows in bed, and also watch Netflix if/when I wake up and can’t take more drugs.

Hope you manage to get some sleep

Absolutely @GottaGetUp

Emailed a desperate email to the dentist and will be ringing them first thing and begging - BEGGING - for an appointment

Good luck. I've already left two begging messages. Hoping someone will be listening to them before they open the phones at 9am.

Incidentally, I'm now getting denture fixative adverts coming up. Do you think they're telling me something?

Haha, 2:15 is zero hour. Wish me luck. I’ve already told DH he’s in charge of all three as of then. Will buy him a whisky next time we’re out or something

Is the appt to get it pulled? I’ve got an appt at 12, but I don’t know what they’re going to say. I kinda want them to say that the only option is to take it out and then do it there and then. I don’t want to have to make a choice between more root canal stuff/antibiotics and see if it settles down/taking it out. Because at the moment I just want what will get rid of the pain the quickest, but I don’t want to regret taking the tooth out if there are then further complications.

Yup: extraction. Are you better now?

Nope, got a course of antibiotics. Frustrating because surely a doctor could have prescribed frickin’ amoxicillin, and also apparently in my notes at the dentist (I didn’t get to see my normal one) it said that I might need antibiotics, so given it was a Thursday they might have given me a prescription to get if required over the weekend.

They said it might take a couple of days for the AB to kick in ☹️

How did it go PHSG?

Absolute shitshow. Bottled the extraction halfway through; tooth temporarily filled, have been referred to hospital for extraction under sedation.

My finest hour in the dentists chair to date.

I had an extraction 3 years ago. They called me in “to discuss how they would do it” (my root was crooked so they expected complications) - except it was all a ruse so I wouldn’t get nervous, and they had planned to do it there and then all along (genius!).
It was the most straightforward thing ever. Didn’t hurt at all. It was out before my adrenaline / fear kicked in. The anaesthetic injection was the most uncomfortable part of it all!
It was a welcome relief from repeated root canals and abscesses around that tooth, which kept breaking and making my life hell.
I cried so much at the idea of having it taken out (I quite like my teeth and take good care of them!) but seriously you can’t tell (it’s in the back) and it has never given me any problems since.

Fun fact: it was a molar, had a filling, and then a tiny bone in an IKEA meatball broke it in two. Literally split down the middle when I chewed it. Dentists tried to rebuilt it and fix it but sometimes it’s better to just get it out!

How quickly will you get the hospital appointment?

The antibiotics haven’t kicked in at all yet. In fact there’s now a pretty big lump in my gum I’m fairly sure is new. I’m so fed up with it. The painkillers are getting less effective.

And I’ve got work tomorrow. I only started a couple of weeks ago.

Also, my ear on that side kinda hurts now too.