Anyone up? Toothache/abscess agony!

[nubofcheese]

I am in so much pain I think I could pass out, I lost a small part of a filling on Monday evening, been in pain ever since.

Tonight has been the worst, my face on that side is double the size, I have just woken up in unbelievable agony, I have taken Cocodamol and ibuprofen.

I don't have a dentist. There is a number you can ring in my area for dental emergencies (from 8am) but it says pain is not an emergency(hence, I haven't phoned yet) however swelling is so I will phone as soon as the lines open.

I haven't seen a dentist for 5 years, the last time I did was a horrible experience but I am trying not to think about it. I am embarrassed at the state of my teeth.

Is there anything I can do now to ease the pain even a little?

Hope your feeling better @nubofcheese

*you’re!

@MissMissive so much better, thank you for asking.

Swelling and pain have pretty much gone, I have slept a lot, which isn't like me, all day yesterday and all night, I think that helped massively!

TMI- I am uncomfortable and constipated, I think from the painkillers and lack of food, but other than that I feel so much better, thank you again for asking.

@MrsMorton I hope you don't mind me tagging you to ask this question, now that I am thinking clearly I am certain I need this tooth out, I can't afford private. I appreciate how dishonest this question is but I am desperate.

When I phoned the emergency number I went through all of the questions and my symptoms and they booked me into the local dentist, when I got to the dentist they didn't have any of this info so I think the triaged details aren't passed on, I don't think.

Could I call the emergency number and say I have swelled up again, just so I get an appointment, then explain to the dentist I see that I need it extracting? Is this something that a dentist can do at an emergency appointment or is it a silly idea?

It's not ideal to extract teeth at emergency appointments and people getting triaged off lies always used to wind me up!

Did you pay the NHS rate of £25 or so? What else is going on with the tooth? Does that practice have an NHS contract? I can't see your OP but is the tooth broken or decayed?

@MrsMorton thank you for replying, I paid £23.70 for the appointment, she said one of my upper teeth is infected and needs to be removed asap but couldn't do it with all of the swelling, she advised me to call the emergency number after the antibiotics and ask for an extraction, but did say it's unlikely they'll see that as an emergency so I 'probably will not' get an appointment.

They have an NHS contract but are not taking new patients, she said they rarely offer emergency appointments so I won't be likely to be seen back there.

The tooth that is infected has a filling that has partially come out, I had it filled about 5 years ago, the dentist made a mistake I think? After he did it he said it should have been a root canal and looking at the tooth it looks to be about 70% filling. He also gave me another filling at the time and after a week the whole tooth fell out, this dental practice is now closed but I had an awful experience here which has put me off dentists.

Definitely give it a go! You might get lucky. I would
probably not tell them it's more swollen than it is but absolutely say it's infected and you were told it needs to come out ASAP. The swelling will take a while to
go down so you could almost certainly say it's still swollen.

good luck. It's a travesty there's not better emergency provision

Thank you @MrsMorton your advice has been really helpful, I agree about the emergency care but I must say that the way it was handled for me on Thursday was outstanding, getting an appointment for lunch time on the same day 5 minutes away was so much better than I was expecting, I had antibiotics within 5 hours of me calling the emergency number! I am so grateful for that! I have sent a thank you email to the practice where I was seen this morning because the dentist and assistant were amazing.