To turn up at hospital with toothache? I can't cope with the pain anymore

[VaticanAssassin]

I am booked in for an operation to remove 2 back teeth, which has to be done under GA because they need to cut into my gum and remove in pieces because they cracked while eating a while ago.
But the operation date is not til February and i can't cope with the pain anymore, physically and mentally losing my mind with it- I'm taking Tramadol, 30/500 Co-codamol, Ibuprofen, Aspirin and Naproxen and still having stabbing pains in my face, jaw and ear, throbbing in my gum, and blinding pain.
I haven't eaten in 5 days because I can't put any pressure in my mouth at all, so just having warm cup-a-soup, and warm water.

Taken a full course of antibiotics, but still in fucking agony and feel totally useless and depressed, I'm going to ruin my kids Xmas because I can't do anything but cry with pain. The thought I l'll have to stay like this for 2 months makes me want to die, I've never known pain like it. Total blinding pain that leaves me screaming and cold sweat down my back, my 3 births were nothing compared to it.
Do hospitals have dentists on call that can put you under and operate? Please help if you can, I feel like I'm cracking up with pain

OP, I am so sorry
if you're not allowed any more pain relief I'm wondering if you can get something like diazepam which might help with any pain in jaw muscles? I'm particularly wondering if it might help with non-stop stabbing?

I know you want them to be removed but do go to A&E in case they can help. I don't suppose you have any money for a private op? I hate the way even emergency services shut down at Xmas.

for you. I hope you will let us know how you are.

If you're in the North West can you get yourself to Manchester Dental Hospital?
My DD and her DH are both senior dentists and cover shifts at various hosptials providing emergency dental care for A&E. I think it must vary across the country whether or not your nearest hospital does. A&E should certainly be able to give you stronger pain killers but you need to get them out ASAP. Many years ago my DH went to A&E on boxing day with dreadful toothache and they found him an emergency dentist who took his tooth out on boxing day.

Go to a&e, op. It is an emergency in my opinion. You need treatment, not just drugs, they may have someone on call who could help. You have my sympathy, I've just had a horrendous dental experience, it's unbearable

seriously if nobody is taking you seriously i would rock up to your dentists/A & E and would refuse to move till something was sorted,even if they involved the police

YANBU.

Phone your dentist and they should have an out of hours service.
NHS 111 has this advice
Out-of-hours dental care

If you have a problem outside normal practice hours or you're in pain, you can first try helping yourself by taking painkillers. If you feel the problem can wait until normal practice hours, you can call NHS 111 for self care advice.
Emergency dental care

If your problem is more urgent, you can access out-of-hours dental services in your area by calling:
your dentist, who should have an answerphone message with details of how to access treatment out of hours

NHS 111
Go to the accident and emergency (A&E) department of your local hospital if you:
are in severe pain that is not helped by painkillers
are bleeding a lot and it won't stop
trauma of the face, mouth or teeth after a recent accident or injury

Go to a and e. I recently had an abscess under 3 teeth. The first lot of abs didn't touch it so you may need stronger ones to get you through to February. If you can't get to a and e tonight or they just give pain relief then go back to your dentist tomorrow and ask for further xrays to see if their is still an infection present. If so you need kick ass abs and more pain relief.

A few years ago my dp was in hospital and the bloke in the ned at the side of him had been admitted because of a dental abscess. He was on iv abs and a morphine driver.

I do wish people would stop saying go to an A&E department (unless of course they have dental cover) and demand something is done. Like what? A&E docs do a lightening quick course in dentistry? They can't do dentistry any more they they can deliver a calf!

I would ring them though to see if they have any advice on the best place to go late at night. Also call emergency dentist, 111 and OOh GP too for emergency pain relief.

Believe me sitting in an A&E waiting room would do nothing more than act as a distraction for the pain as the drunks put in a good show this near to Christmas.

If you are feverish and feel flulike then it may be a dental abscess and you are getting septic (getting a bit far fetched I know) in which case a feverish illness may prompt them to do bloods and if your white cell count is raised they would consider you proper sick and treat you!

Op, you need to stress how much pain you are in and get them to prioritise you. What's the point of emergency treatment where you are turned away in extreme pain. Being in constant discomfort is really draining and it's hard to stay positive.

Boomingmarvellous to get pain relief maybe?

From the NHS website, I quote
^Go to the accident and emergency (A&E) department of your local hospital if you:
are in severe pain that is not helped by painkillers
are bleeding a lot and it won't stop
trauma of the face, mouth or teeth after a recent accident or injury^

I would try first to find the nearest emergency dental service first, but A&E in this case is not completely unreasonable!

BoomingMarvellous there is nothing wrong with saying to go to A&E when the NHS website says this:

"Go to the accident and emergency (A&E) department of your local hospital if you:
are in severe pain that is not helped by painkillers"

I recently had toothache which reduced me to tears one weekend. It was horrendous. The dentist took out the tooth there and then in an emergency appointment.

Obviously not in the same league as you but I understand how in desperation you would go to A&E, just for the pain relief.

Take the advice of the dentists on this thread and get it sorted. I don't see how you can wait till Feb.

There is also an emergency dental hospital in Birmingham not sure how far that is from you.

OP must be terrible for you. I would go to hospital asap. You cant go on like this. Especially over xmas.

OP this must be just truly awful I hope you've gone to A&E and at least got some decent pain relief for the time being

Cal NHS 24 they will get you in to see an emergency dentist. I had to go last year as I had issues with my wisdom teeth. He had just done extractors for the lady in front of me.

They are just emergency cover and just do what they can there and then. I later got both impacted wisdoms out under sedation,not GA.

You have my utter sympathy bad dental pain is worse than childbirth, call 111 and see if there's an emergency dentist appointment available. A&e are very unlikely to be able to help unless the dental hospital is also on site.

Central Manchester NHS trust also has s dental hospital if that is closer than the Liverpool one.
www.cmft.nhs.uk/dental

Op I have so much sympathy for you! I've been there and I'd have literally thrown myself in front of a bus.

I was so close to turning up at A&E because no pain relief touched the pain I was in.
It's all well and good people saying call out of hours dentist but around here they're only open till 8 on two nights a week.
Are title close enough to go to Liverpool dental hospital?

MRI had an emergency dentist about 10 years ago, I'm guessing it'll still be there.

God love you OP- I had to have an emergency dental appointment the other week because I'd cracked a tooth on toffee. Antibacs sorted it out short term but it was agony before. And that had a root canal on it, gone only knows what it would've been like if the nerve had been intact.

I fucked it again on a tortilla crisp on Friday. Managed to get an emergency appointment to get it out that afternoon. Still suffering a bit and panicking about dry socket (thanks MN for informing me of that).

The pain is so fresh in my mind if I was in the NW I'd be offering to collect you and bring you to the nearest hospital with that department!

I had wisdom teeth out under GA, so it does happen. Can you go private?

I can understand why people say go to A&E, but I think you'd be better off with OOG GP for this.

A&E might be able to address your pain, unlikely to be able to manage your tooth problem directly. I would have thought if you are near a dental hospital this might be a better bet for the latter. If there is no dental hospital nearby, and unless you live near a hospital which has on-call dentist (max tac unlikely to do anything for this OOH) then I don't think your first port of call should be A&E. The reason I say this is that you can only really ask for help with pain relief in these circumstances and that could be done via the OOH GP rather than A&E.

However, can I say I am quite concerned by the cocktail of analgesics you are taking- you are taking multiple drugs from the same class (ibuprofen and naproxen for example) which is generally not recommended. In fact, co-codamol and tramadol isn't ideal either. It would have been preferable to move up to a morphine based opiate + paracetamol + NSAID (+/- neuropathic pain medications such as gabapentin) rather than double up on drugs from the same class. Taking high dose naproxen, ibuprofen + aspirin sounds like a very bad idea on many fronts (risk of stomach irritation/ulceration/bleeding, negative effect on kidneys in some circumstances and so on). Please get this reviewed soon, I would be concerned if I was your Dr.

op that sounds like hell.

Read the advice on here and act on it now. We're coming up to Christmas, services will wind down and you can't carry on like this. You poor thing.