To be pissed off re: no dental treatment?

[FabulousUsername]

I am awake with an excruciating toothache. Had a filling done 2 weeks + 2 days ago and something is wrong, the nerve must be disturbed somehow and it started hurting a bit on Monday and has got progressively worse. Spoke to dentist Tuesday who said not to worry and just to be careful about it, spoke to him yesterday in tears of agony and he's prescribed antibiotics which I was very grateful to get late afternoon. Obviously (I think) I need a root canal. I didn't discuss this at length with the dentist but he did tell me that no one was allowed to do dental drilling for the duration so several months perhaps and my only option woukd be to have the tooth extracted at the emergency clinic. Hopefully the antibiotics will stabilise the situation but aibu to be pissed off that I am resigned to being in pain for the while of this lockdown?

I'm not thinking straight right now but am feeling very sorry for myself!

So many services have shut. I have a newborn and there’s no health visitor service (a blessing in disguise to many on here) and no cancer screening in Scotland. I wonder how they calculated which services to close based on which would lead to more deaths. It’s awful. I hope you get through this with your antibiotics.

That’s shit OP, surely though if you need emergency treatment that will be available? I thought only routine treatments had been ceased for safety issues

Oh no that sounds awful hopefully it will sort with antibiotics. I had dental surgery a few days before they started cancelling things I don't know what would have happened to my jaw had it been cancelled .

People haven't quite understood - as I didn't until I needed help and friends had the same problem- that there's basically no healthcare system now, it's been suspended, UNLESS you're needing life saving treatment. Or have C19.

Everybody who has problem that normally would be relatively quickly and easily dealt with, has to wait until their health deteriorates significantly until they can be helped. By that time it's likely that more money needs to be spent on returning them to health, and some of them never will.

We are self isolating to avoid overwhelming the NHS, which is sensible, however, there's going to be a massive wave of new patients after GP surgeries reopen fully as well as all those who need to see them for ongoing conditions that began before lockdown. The same with the dentist - all the regular checkups will be backlogged and all the people needing routine dental work will have piled up.

@sneeuw it's frightening when you think about it. We are saving people who have Covid 19 but how many are going to die from their delayed cancer treatments and all the other things cancelled.

Maybe your GP would prescribe you something for nerve pain short term? There are some wonderful antidepressants that work like a charm on nerve pain in low doses.

You can’t just accept sitting it out for an unknown period. Dental pain is the worst.

My dentist is available for emergency surgeries, but having a telephone consultation before hand. Only routine and non emergency are cancelled

sneeuw there are going to be long queues for hairdressers and barbers too !

This is just ridiculous. This virus is going to be around for a long time. Obviously where it is possible to do so without inflicting too much suffering social distancing measures should be put in place. However it’s beyond absurd to expect people to go without medical treatment.

Aw op I had half a root treatment, now the temporary filling has come out. I’m trying to keep packing it with a kit from the pharmacy but it’s coming back out within the day. Really worried I’ve got a huge hole in my tooth but there’s no pain at least.

I’d def try the gp for something stronger.

it's frightening when you think about it. We are saving people who have Covid 19 but how many are going to die from their delayed cancer treatments and all the other things cancelled.

Exactly. And many of them are going to be in younger average age categories than covid 19 deaths, with dependents. So that means a ripple down effect of all of this that won't be counted. It will also mean more long term demand on the NHS, which was struggling to cope with existing demand before the virus arrived. It's pretty scary for the long term.

there are going to be long queues for hairdressers and barbers too !
Yes! Hadn't thought about that! But people who have a shaggy hairstyle may only die iof embarrassment! 😉

I really, really feel for you, my partner is also going through the same thing; made even worse by the fact he doesn’t currently have a regular dentist (we’ve been trying to get him in one for about a year). It was a bad enough situation in some areas trying to find a dentist that will take on new patients, now it’s going to be so much worse for NHS dental patients. We’re going to have to get him in a private dentist when this is all over but a lot of people can’t afford that. Even throwing money at it won’t work at the moment though and I feel powerless when he is in pain.

I hope you manage to control it in the meantime with antibiotics and it doesn’t get any worse.

OP, can you call another dentist and double check what you have been told? I hope the antibiotics work for now. Usually the tooth "dies" inside, the pain will go, and then you need a root canal. It may be painless once the infection has died down and you await your root canal (if this is what is needed). I also had a filling treatment trigger off a similar situation once.

Have you tried Orajel? It worked for me when I broke a tooth over Christmas and couldn't get a dentist appointment. It basically numbed to entire area - gum and tooth, and it was bliss.

My husband is in exactly the same situation. The dental receptionist was clearly very keen to give minimal advice over the telephone. (I think she thought she could catch it over the phone)
Dental care has gone back to the middle ages. Hopefully it's temporary.

Catch Covid-19 over the phone. Most unsympathetic HCP I have ever come across. Why she is in that job god only knows.

OP. Please hang in there. Your pain will reduce after taking antibiotics for approx 48 hours. If you are able to take codeine just until the pain eases that may really help. Could your GP prescribe some for you. You have my sympathy.

Op, go to the chemist and get some oil of cloves and dab it on you sore tooth. We were advised to do this by a nursing sister.

I know it sounds like an old wives tail but it is really good in an emergency and worked wonders on my daughter when we were away on holiday and she was in agony with her wisdom tooth.

When we got back home her crisis was over and there was no need to bother her dentist.

This thread explains why most dentists are not doing any work. It’s because drilling creates aerosols sprays from the saliva, and dentists don’t have any PPE to protect themselves from potential infection in the spray.

They're not doing drilling procedures, much like we are no longer doing laparoscopy in hospital. It is not purely to free up staff it is because these procedures are aerosol generating so, should the patient be an asymptomatic carrier of Coronavirus, the staff involved would be exposed to a high viral load. This is too dangerous for staff, especially given the low levels of PPE available.
This pandemic is going to have far reaching consequences in all areas of healthcare.
I really feel for you OP. Tooth pain is horrible.

Op no advice really; I needed root canal back in 2017 after being in absolute agony for one night on holiday in ireland after having a filling done on a tooth. It was awful and I never want to go through that again. I ended up with an abscess and there was a serious wait for root canal from an endodontist so I got a general dentist to do it - but it failed which is always a risk with root canal, particularly with a complicated molar with lots of twisty roots!

Dental pain seems to be the one agony people are expected to endure with little or no relief. It’s terrible. Sending a hand-hold. X

bit shit OP - hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon.
If you don't fancy oil of cloves recommended by PP, go for some neat whisky.
Or try both.

I had a bad infection in Feb, it came on over night, antibiotics worked a little and then pain came back, had to have root canal surgery. Before the surgery I was going through paracetamol like crazy, when that ceased to work I kid you not I resorted to slapping voltoral cream over my jaw area as the pain was that horrendous. I could not sleep and wanted to rip my teeth out. I was a mess. Due to the current circumstances I do not see you getting this sorted any time soon and have wondered many times how people in your position will cope with dentists out of action only because what I went through is still etched on my mind. Looks like you will have to have the tooth out in worst case scenario. Totally understand the pain your are going through.

Dental treatment with drills makes aerosols of the your saliva and therefore your germs, it’s really hazardous for dentist. dental nurse anc possibly next person on the chair

Dentists don’t have PPE, and most aren’t priority for getting it.

The most you’ll get out of your local dentist is assessment of urgent issues and advice or referral to the nearest dental facility (probably hospital) with PPE.

Very strict criteria for referral right now - essentially the service is overwhelmed and it’s going to take time to get more PPE facilities up and running, but dentistry just isn’t front of the queue for getting it