Broken tooth

[Coughcough101]

Hi all. İ was waiting for a root canal on a tooth. Obviously with coronovirus everyone's appointments have been cancelled. Unfortunately yesterday my tooth broke. İ had been waiting months to sort the tooth out as had to have other treatment on other teeth first. Unfortunately this one just waited too long. İt broke in half vertically above the gum line (just) it doesn't hurt. But I'm sure he said it was dead anyway.

Anyway i called the dentist hoping they are doing limited emergency appointments but they aren't. She said I don't know what you want me to say just take paracetamol. We can't do anything for at least 3 weeks maybe longer. İf it gets infected call back and we will prescribe antibiotics over the phone.

Well luckily it doesn't hurt at the moment but I'm sure it will eventually and no i can't find paracetamol anywhere.

Do I need to worry about this? I'm petrified of losing my teeth as it is. And i know people are seriously ill and we are in the middle of a pandemic but I'm terrified of the pain setting in and dealing with it for however long with no pain relief.

Not sure what I'm asking but should i be doing something? DH said don't use temporary filling as it might pull on what's open inside...?

Bumpety bump

It won’t necessarily cause pain at this point. I’ve lived with two broken molars for years and now my treatment under sedation has been cancelled - when they’ve caused a lot of pain it’s because I’ve had infections and antibiotics have sorted it. Stock up on now on orajel, paramol or co-codamol and ibuprofen in case an infection does start. Keep very clean and use an antiseptic mouthwash and hopefully you’ll be fine until you can get it sorted

Thank you sink girl. İ have had loads of tooth problems recently and just haven't got the money to resolve them. Could have gone on NHS but they just wanted to extract them all. (7 teeth) pregnancies destroyed my teeth and all the vomiting etc. İ now can't afford any treatment due to no work and now the bloody thing has broken. No way can i afford a crown now. So looks like i will have to have a gap when i eventually get to the dentist

Which tooth is it - molar or nearer the front? DH had a damaged molar removed recently and you really can’t see it. I’m more concerned that I’ll be missing a molar on each side and will struggle to eat. May have to pay for bridges or something.

Definitely don’t panic about pain - just be sure to keep it clean and hopefully you’ll be alright until they start doing treatment again. If you do start getting pain get some antibiotics ASAP.

Dentist here.
It’s a nightmare- total mess.
The Chief Dental Officer issued a directive this week.
No face to face appointments at all.
Phone triage- then AAA. Advice, analgesia, antibiotics
If people need seeing so swellings, severe uncontrollable pain, trauma, bleeding (post extraction- so not many of those as we are closed) then refer to local urgent dental care clinics. These clinics will have the proper PPE (FFP3 masks etc). Downside- these clinics don’t exist yet.
We can’t go against CDO directive though, don’t think indemnity would support us.
The risk is the aerosol and viral load. Almost all dental procedures aerosolise the virus and result in high viral load. Healthy ENT doctors, anaesthetists and dentists have died due to becoming very ill with high viral loads. Also the next patient who walks in gets a lungful of aerosol as well despite all surfaces being cleaned. It’s in the air.

I had an appointment pre Corona because I had a broken tooth AND a crown and post fall out. Should have had them both done yesterday, appointment cancelled. Really disappointed as I fear for my poor teeth.

Ok thank you everyone. İt's my first pre molar. So not immediately obvious. I'm not worried about what it looks like but I suffer with sinus infections so if this gets infected it won't just be my tooth. My dentist said once that toot and the two behind have had root canals hopefully i won't get any more sinus infections. İ feel like death when i get one and have been on antibiotics 3 times already since January. İt's just so expensive and the timing is awful. Ok i will just do extra cleaning. Although it bleeds inside the tooth when i brush.... Any advice? Thank you

Also another question... Sorry.

İf i have it removed will my other teeth move over time and if they do will it mean a gap between my two front teeth? İ had braces for years so am a bit devastated that only 10 years later I'm losing my teeth. I'm still young. Only just turned 28

My expectation is that there will be very little to no dentistry done for 3-6 months and then as things normalise we will be back. I won’t be working without a fitted FFP3 mask.
Patients will probably have to have teeth out that we would have saved pre Corona.
Once there’s a vaccine it will be easier.