To SMASH my own tooth out my own mouth

[PottedPlant234]

Not literally obviously! Very dramatic title but it’s metaphorically exactly how I feel right now. Sorry for the long post but I’m so desperate for help or advice here

I’ve got toothache and it’s getting worse and ruining my life. We initially thought it was a sinus infection but I’m certain it’s the tooth now. 2 courses of antibiotics haven’t helped it at all, and the pain is getting worse and I can feel it affecting a bigger area of my face now. I know which tooth the pain is originally coming from when the dentist tapped it to check. I’m taking painkillers everyday to cope with it but it’s getting beyond that now and I can still feel it over the painkillers.

The pain started off just above my tooth in my cheek as a dull ache but would come in waves of extreme pain and throbbing. Then the pain eases off after 10-60 minutes and goes back to the dull ache again. Then later on, another episode of extreme pain starts again.

When it’s a dull ache I can just about put up with it and get on with my life, but the waves of extreme pain are agonising. Nothing helps and I end up lying down sobbing holding onto my face. They’re happening a lot more often now, and it’s not just the tooth that’s sore now- it’s my entire upper jaw, lower jaw, cheek area and ear. It feels like my face on that side is throbbing and the pain has been enough to make me sick. My jaw hurts as if I’ve been punched and it sometimes feels tingly, as if it’s itchy inside it. My ear throbs and feels exactly like when I had an ear infection. It also aches on the hard bit of my head (sorry don’t know the exact word) directly behind my ear lobe. The tooth itself is more painful now too and I can feel it throbbing in my mouth. The other side of my face is fine.

I’ve got a root canal booked but it’s months away (nobody’s fault, dentists are just extremely busy right now) but the thought of waiting weeks nevermind months with this pain makes me feel so scared. I don’t know why I’m posting, I just don’t know what to do😭 I can’t afford private unfortunately. I was thinking of enquiring about getting the tooth extracted but I really wanted to avoid that if i could at my age. Anyone else been in this situation, did you wait for the RCT or just have it removed?

@endofagain

If you can pay you will get seen somewhere. If you can't, I wonder if you are anywhere near a dental hospital.

What happens if she can't pay? She has to suffer for a month. So scary. Can you use a cc and pay?

Get it out. My mum looked after her teeth all her life but was convinced by her dentist that she didnt need an extraction. She ended up in hospital very ill with an infection and over the next three years lost all of her teeth.
Phone and keep phoning until they agree to remove it. I hate dentists.

I found definitely get an emergency appointment and get it sorted. See what the dentist says but if it's extraction go for it. It will instantly feel better.

My current dentist told me that antibiotics don't clear all of the infection and this needs to be done by the dentist after an extraction. I've had a lot of dental problems during the last few years with so much pain. I've had 3 back teeth extracted, all infected and am now getting implants. One night the pain was so bad, I actually held a cold can to my face through the night. Not practical, I know, but it did soothe the pain. I also took nurofen plus/rapid for toothache, as recommended by a dentist. Don't have a root canal. I've had 2 and they don't last, in my experience. It's OK to have the tooth removed, it just feels extreme, when really it's not.

Tell the dentist now how bad it is right now.
You need to see an emergency dentist.
Anti-biotics will only suppress the infection & unless the root cause (!) is resolved the infection will flare up & take hold.
You cannot go on necking painkillers like sweeties, that level of pain relief is only acceptable for a few days.

This level of infection & pain must be dealt with before it becomes more serious.

Huge sympathy.

I agree with PPs that an extraction may be the best path.
A swifter resolution to the immediate pain & infection, & also removal of any diseased tissue.

Sending unMNetty hugs

It is barbaric that people are left to stew in misery with severe dental pain.

I think unless you've experienced it, you simply don't know how hellacious it is.

From what you describe, I'd be worried about the infection spreading through the bone in your jaw/ face and mastoiditis? You need urgent care at an emergency dentist.

It also aches on the hard bit of my head (sorry don’t know the exact word) directly behind my ear lobe.

You need to tell them this in particular when you ring to try to get an emergency appointment.

Mastoiditis is a serious infection, you might need IV antibiotics.

Pain relief right now?

Whatever you are taking, make sure you take the dose by the clock rather than when it hurts unbearably, this will manage the overall level of pain better.

Others have mentioned alternating paracetamol & ibuprofen for effective relief. I cannot take NSAIDS so I use Co-codamol with great care. I suggest that you pop into your local pharmacist for a quick chat as they can advise on effective pain relief & may know who is the duty emergency local dentist.

Also get from pharmacist a small bottle of clove oil, super cheap & simple, & apply a drop - I used a cotton bud - onto the tooth. It numbs quickly & has anti-bacterial qualities. I also got a gum numbing gel which helped a bit.

I found a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel held against my throbbing cheek very helpful. Make sure you have the towel there to stop burning your cheek. The heat does relieve the pain & provides some comfort.

I kept this routine up for a week until I could see my dentist. Antibiotics helped as soon as they kicked in after 18hours. But as you know, the infection & pain comes back really quickly.

The X-rays showed that the only reliable treatment was extraction. Once that once done, the pain went & within a few days I felt so much better as my body was no longer fighting the infection.

You must see someone as an emergency as the infection needs to be treated.

Again, huge sympathies.

Thanks so much everyone for all the support and good wishes

It’s the weirdest thing, one minute I’ve got a bearable dull ache across my tooth and face, then out of nowhere it goes into an episode of extreme pain across my ear, jaw, cheek and tooth itself. These episodes used to come every few days, but now it’s 6+ times a day and is hurting a bigger area of my jaw and face and is lasting a lot longer (up to an hour or so)

Apart from these symptoms I feel ok, I don’t have a temperature or fever (it was 95.5 in both ears so definitely not a fever!) and there isn’t any obvious swelling thankfully.

I’ve tried paracetamol, cocodamol, ibuprofen, anadin (not at the same time obviously!) and whilst it took the edge off the pain, it didn’t make a massive difference. I had X-rays taken at the start of all this and the dentist said it was a root infection and I needed a RCT but when I went for a review after taking the antibiotics, a different dentist said the x ray didn’t show any obvious infection in the tooth. I guess it was just a different interpretation of the x rays. All the dentists at my surgery are lovely and I’m booked in to see a dentist at the start of next week thankfully, I just need to somehow get through this weekend with painkillers and ice packs!

Try together it out - I was in agony with my very back tooth. Dentist offered to do the old root canal thing etc and I just begged him to take it out - it's not worth all the hassle trying to get follow up treatment.

OMG I feel for you OP - toothache is so miserable and painful.

The neurone liquid tabs worked best for me though I took more than recommended.

Have you read around trigeminal neuralgia? I thought I had “rotten roots” until a fab new grad floated that idea. Approximately 30 x-rays later, nothing wrong with my teeth - but an MRI revealed a brain like Swiss cheese and fucked nerves. OTC meds don’t touch the sides.

Like I say, bugger all wrong with my teeth, but when it’s bad I can’t even use a toddler toothbrush (electric out of the question) and I can’t see the hygienist because it’s agony.

Teeth suck!! I had emergency root canal stage 1 in Dec. Stage 2 due end of Feb but my pain got worse. 4 lots of antibiotics along with seeing 4 different dentists and arguing for a referral from my main one.. I’m having surgery Monday as it’s down to a wisdom tooth impacted that’s breaking through under my tongue!!!!!

Great! Keep on at the dentist. I was in and out at least 6 times before they started to take me seriously.

Sorry to hear OP. Toothache is the absolute worst.
I’ve been in agony before now with tooth abscesses/gum infections/impacted wisdom teeth..
I suggest:
Regular warm salt washes
Clove oil rubbed on the tooth
Anbesol
Paramol pain killers (ask OTC)
A hot water bottle

As others have said , root canals rarely resolve it and make the tooth really weak. I’ve had a few and ended up having the tooth removed a few years down the line anyway, so a lot of ££ wasted.
Go private and pay the £100-£200 to have it removed ASAP

Every root canal I’ve had has seen the filling come out and the rest of the tooth break down within a year. At which point they pull out what’s left of it. Luckily it’s always been at the back.

I'm wondering if you have Trigeminal Neuralgia? Have a read about it and see if it fits your symptoms.
I feel for you, pain is exhausting.

Sounds like you have toothache and Trigeminal Neuralgia.

Oh, yes I forgot.

Lukewarm salt rinses. Half teaspoon salt dissolved in a cup (250 ml ish) of lukewarm water. When it really hurt, my dentist suggested a bit warmer than lukewarm, but NOWHERE near hot.

After the extraction, the advice was to use lukewarm salt rinse.I have a milk thermometer so I used cold water salt solution (1/2 tsp to 250ml) topped up with a little boiled water to just over 40 degree F.

Thank you all I’ll try the salt rinse right now, painkillers aren’t really helping the pain anymore.

Its an upper tooth and originally it was just my upper jaw that hurt, but now its really hurting in my lower jaw too as well as the area where the joint of the lower and upper jaw meet. That’s the most painful part. It also feels like an ear infection and my entire side of my face and cheek throbs with the pain. The dull ache is always there but the extreme pain comes in waves but they’re happening so frequently now that I’m worried the waves are just going to become constant pain.

But there isn’t any swelling and I checked my temperature again and it wasn’t high and I definitely don’t have a fever (95.3) so is this a good sign that the infection isn’t spreading?

Thanks again for all the good wishes, I’ll update as much as I can

Sorry me again

Just had one of the worst attacks of pain so far. It was a dull ache and then suddenly became much more intense and painful across my cheek and jaw and ear. I spent 20 minutes screaming with how agony it was (embarrassing I know!) and then it gradually eased off and went back to a dull ache.

The infected tooth itself isn’t particularly sore to eat on but is definitely more painful than the other teeth and was excruciating when the dentist tapped it

I’ve got a countdown on my phone with the hours, minutes and seconds until my appointment next week and I’m so excited to get this tooth out or treated, just anything to stop the pain

I had root canal 25 years ago and the tooth is still going strong. It’s not true to say they don’t last. Just wanted to put that out there as something to consider but you do whatever feels right for you.

What antibiotics did they prescribe op? I’ve been in your hell more times than I want to think about. I’m now under going extensive treatment for years of issues. I’ve suffered many painful health issues over the years (some landing me in hospital) but none have been as awful as tooth problems. They’ll say they can’t do any treatment until they’ve stopped the infection, which makes sense as they don’t want to realise it into your bloodstream. I was only given one type of antibiotic and it did naff all, when I was put on the correct ones my life changed completely and actually meant for some of my issues I didn’t need any further treatment.

@Goooglebox

I'd ring and say you're feeling suicidal with the pain.

Don’t do this. That’s terrible advice, you should never have the word ‘suicidal’ in your medical records as it will affect things like getting life insurance in the future.

Huge sympathies and I'm very glad to hear you've got an appointment soon.

Just to say root canal can be effective. I've had about 4 and in all cases kept the teeth for years after (sometimes with a crown later on). I did have one extracted which was crumbling already, then a few years later I lost a very old crown - however this left me only one molar on the upper right. Dentist advised that I could lose that sole tooth with so much pressure on it and now I am having a very expensive implant. So I wouldn't be too quick to get it taken out especially if you're young! Emergency root canal should sort the pain out.

Huge sympathies OP, I've got an infected wisdom and the face ache is hideous. I've had 2 lots of ABs, the really strong ones, and an extraction is booked but not till March so I've got to deal with it until then 🙈. By the end of the day my whole face is in pain from trying to cope with the pain and work, my neck is stiff from clenching my jaw. It's a back bottom wisdom for me.