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!

[sadwithkiddies]

@AngeloMysterioso if you need paracetamol and cannot buy it phone your GP for a script. They can get it no probs if you explain your pain!
As you are bf they may be able to prescribe something stronger as appropriate. Don't be in pain!!!!

[Fallsballs]

I broke half a tooth off (+filling) yesterday and there is literally nothing my dentist can do. He explained they are not allowed to do anything - nothing except advise to buy a DIY kit from the chemist and take meds. If you were bleeding or in absolute agony then a&e or emergency dental unit in a hospital...which no one wants to go into obvs. Our emergency dental unit is in the COVID-19 hospital.
So I’m fucked. Half a tooth, mad pain and I can’t eat or drink.

Dentist did say ‘hubs’ were being sorted for dentistry but they might only be for emergencies and that is a flexible term nowadays.
Ye gods !!

[purplepingu]

I had my wisdom tooth removal op for April 2nd cancelled. Been waiting for around 5 months. I'm not in any pain but I'm dreading if it starts to play up. I'm just not eating at that side, just in case.

[justasking111]

My friend has appointment re emergency dentist because he has been in awful pain all week. He said the NHS have been so helpful.

[AngeloMysterioso]

I’m on the referral list to have a wisdom tooth removed that has been causing me pain since January - heaven knows when it’ll be taken out now and in the meantime as I’m breastfeeding the only thing I can take for the pain is paracetamol, which is so easy to get hold of at the moment...

[QuestionableMouse]

I find cold water to be very helpful for an infected tooth. Hold it in your mouth over the tooth and it should help. You probably want to spit most of it out so you're not constantly peeing though.

[madcatladyforever]

Me too, I feel your pain. I have broken my tooth in half and the exposed nerve is agony, I will be twiggy after this as I can't eat.
The annoying thing is I stopped taking zapain/cocodamol for my back because I was getting properly addicted to it so I can't get any now from my GP so I have no strong painkillers in the house.
Try ibuprofen with codeine if you can get it, it's over the counter and really really good.
I also have no front tooth and I'm working full time so I can only smile with my mouth shut, I'm so self conscious about it.
I had the implant put in, had a mould done and was going to go back for the temporary crown when all this kicked off and my implant dentist said he'll be shut for the duration.
So here I am looking like a rough old dog with no front tooth

[FabulousUsername]

Thanks for the information, dish. I'm going to call my GP and discuss the situation with them. If it gets worse I need an action plan. I want to do the right thing.. totally on my own here. I'm grateful for all the input.

[FabulousUsername]

Thanks all, in some ways I'm glad there are others in this position (although sorry for your pain ) as I thought I'd done something wrong.. having the filling done 2 weeks pre total lockdown , who knew?

Please note: I don't blame the dentist one bit, he's been great. Just ranting at the situation, it could be much worse. But I'd consider a root canal to be included as emergency treatment.. lack of PPE will be the reason I may be missing a tooth when we hopefully come out the other side.. if I have to get an emergency extraction. In the meantime, antibiotics and only lukewarm soup for the next 10 weeks.

[Peppafrig]

@dishranaway it is attached but you gain access to it by phoning 111 and they give you an appointment day or night as long as dentists are closed. You can’t just rock up to A&E and get seen you can only do it through 111 so maybe I haven’t worded it properly.

[DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon]

@Peppafrig if the A&E has an emergency dentist attached then fair enough. You normally cant just turn up at A&e though, and they still won't be doing extractions right now.

I had to turn a child away the other day with toothache who had been advised to go to a&e. Felt absolutely awful but nothing I can do, and this poor child had been at risk in the waiting room with pain.

Even if I was willing and had appropriate PPE, I can't remove a tooth without a dental nurse and A&E is not an appropriate environment for extractions. I did actually see if I could bend the rules for this little girl.

They are supposed to be setting up dental hubs for emergency treatment, but I don't know when and how this is getting on. I know plans in my area were supposedly for today but we will see. There's not even enough PPE in our hospital for those that need it so I don't know.

[Ticklemelmo]

It's awful, I've got a 'huge cavity' at the back of my mouth and an infection causing me agony some nights(although have a constant ache), I was told late Feb it would need pulling but dentist couldn't be sure how to do it without an x-ray, I was 38 weeks pregnant then so had to wait until baby had come because they couldn't do the x-ray whilst pregnant. I came out of hospital with baby a few days before lockdown so didn't get chance to sort it out.

Basically been told tough, and there's no other options available. I even asked about ringing 111 for advice and was told I can't so don't even know if there's an emergency dental option in my area for if the pain comes back. I'm also entitled to free dental treatment so I hope this is all fixed before that runs out.

[Katinski]

And dentists were told on the 25th what they can/can't do, they're operating within their proscribed guidelines. Sorry.

[Motorina]

@cologne4711 Clearly people can wait for routine check-ups or hygiene visits but if you have toothache they should be treating people.

There are dentists who agreed with you, and carried on treating patients in pain.

Some of them are now in ITU because of it.

Don't blame the dentists. Blame the system that has so far not got them the PPE necessary to treat patients without putting their own lives at risk.

[TeenyQueen]

My DH is a dentist so I feel quite strongly about this. Dentistry is an extremely high risk area in the current situation because the dentist is literally in the patient's mouth, exposed to the patient's saliva, possible coughs and sneezes. OP is the pain persists your only option may be an extraction, unfortunately. Dentists haven't chosen this, they have been told not to do any procedures involving a drill due to risk of exposure.

[prettygreenteacup]

OP I had a dental emergency last week. I got an abscess that turned into a huge infection. Initially was given antibiotics without being seen and then 2 days later called the dentist again in agony, was triaged on the phone and seen right away. My dentist was wearing a full on mask etc. They're only seeing emergencies. I ended up having the tooth extracted because the dentist didn't even want to try a root canal at the risk of having more problems down the line.
Keep trying to be seen. Dental pain is the worst.

[cologne4711]

This is ridiculous. I was talking to a friend in Germany about this and she said people aren't going to the dentist because they are scared of being infected, not dentists cancelling treatment because they are scared of being infected.

Clearly people can wait for routine check-ups or hygiene visits but if you have toothache they should be treating people.

If you have an infection it is urgent - it can lead to sepsis and then you will be in hospital taking up resources (at best).

[Peppafrig]

@DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon our local a&e has a emergency dentist that in normal times you can visit out of hours if you have a dental emergency.

[DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon]

A&E won't extract your tooth. A&E has no emergency dental service and there is no provision for extractions in a&e.

Similar to dentists, hospitals aren't doing extractions either now (although you would never have been able to turn up with toothache and get an extraction).

We have very limited PPE, and we are trying to save it for patients who absolutely need it. If we start using it for toothache then there's none left for when patients come in with massive facial swellings, or worse for when a patient needs intubating.

Unfortunately dentistry creates an aerosol of blood and saliva. That puts the dentist at a massive risk, there has been an ENT consultant die and dentistry is very similar distance to ent and overall more sustained aerosol exposure.

Tooth ache is horrible. And it's really shit that people are having to suffer, but no dentists want to leave you with toothache.

[Spinbaby]

Op I had this exact problem. Had half a root canal done at Xmas and decided to get the rest done in May so I could be sedated (have had a few recent traumatic dental experiences) as I’m pregnant, and the temporary packing worked a dream, I had no pain at all.
Of course a couple of nights before there was a ban on drills, something happened to the tooth and it went from being totally painless and benign to a screaming volcano of pain. Got an emergency app at the dentist only to be told there was nothing they could do. They gave me antibiotics which took the full 5 days to work, there is still some sensitivity on that side but I can at least get to sleep and eat soft things on that side. So hang in there, the antibiotics might still work.
I was obviously limited in my pain relief because of pregnancy but definitely get the orajel on there and take anti inflammatory type medication like nurofen or diclofenic while the antibiotics kick in.

[TheVanguardSix]

I really feel for you, OP.
DH is a GP and at this point, he's very concerned about patient backlog. This will be an enormous problem, another big wave of unresolved crises. It's shit.
DS has a rotting, black molar which was due to be extracted. Cancelled. And he's in pain.
If you've got anything unrelated to COVID, you're up shit's creek.
We all know why it's this way. We all understand.
But still, it's a bit shit.

[sadwithkiddies]

My root canal was cancelled at the dental hospital a week before lockdown. I was gutted.
2 years of dental treatment/pain....it was my last tooth that needs treating.
The hospital said they simply cannot use the drills/suction machines.

[slipperywhensparticus]

Salt water rinses help too

[Santaclauswhosthat]

This is rubbish though. Half the people we're all clapping every Thursday aren't performing any medical treatments right now and indeed aren't actually seeing patients at all. We don't actually have a health service ATM.

[Motorina]

The difficulty is using a dental drill generates an aerosol of virus and saliva, so exposes the dental team to a very high dose of covid19. Because of where the dentist has to sit, their head is engulfed in that virus cloud. It's becoming clear that a higher initial dose and infection correlates with more severe disease, and there are a number of dentists (along with ENT drs and anaesthetists, who are also at very high risk) in ITU already.

You could be treated with appropriate PPE, although it is likely that that treatment would be an extraction not root canal, to reduce the amount of aerosol generated. But the PPE hasn't been distributed to dentists yet.

You are not being unreasonable in being pissed off at being left in pain. That's awful. You are being unreasonable in expecting the dental team to risk their lives to treat it.

Don't blame the dentist here - blame the government for failing to get the right PPE to the right people at the right time to allow emergency care to continue.