To pull my own tooth out?!

[DrierThanANunsNasty]

Had the absolute worst toothache for over a week. Went to the emergency dentist last week and they gave me some antibiotics for a few days. Tried booking in with my dentist and then any dentist for a follow up and nobody had any appointments (I pay for my treatment so not the lack of NHS places). I’ve been told I need a full head x-ray for this same tooth which I’ve been waiting nearly a year for and now things have got so bad I’m desperate.

I’ve tried every single home remedy in the book and nothing is touching it. Painkillers aren’t either. Was on hold to the emergency dentist for nearly 2 hours again this evening and got cut off.

This is the most unbearable pain, I don’t actually know what to do. I even called 111 in tears - I know, probably not the best and prepared to get flamed for that - but they just said keep trying the emergency dentist so I’ve been on hold to them again for nearly another hour.

I know IBU to just pull it out, but I’ve never felt pain like this before. What are my options? I feel exhausted and have work at 5am

Fantastic! So pleased.

Oh OP, am so glad to read that. Thanks for the update! Have been wondering how you got on.

Glad you got it sorted OP - dental pain is the worst .

It's awful that so many people live in areas where there is such a shortage of dentists. Every time I read one of these threads I am so grateful to live where I do.

Why is everyone pulling their teeth out instead of repairing them? What the actual %£#@? Good dentist is able to perform miracles! Everyone in this post talks about tooth extraction! This should be your last resort! It is obvious that bloody dentists don't want to put the time and the effort into treatment when they can extract and then try to flog you off expensive implants! Recently I visited an NHS dentist instead of my usual private one simply because I am on maternity and therfore exempt. Guess what, she said there is nothing to fix, didn't want to hear about issues I was mentioning, didn't want to see x-ray done by other dentist claiming that it isn't up to date (it was 2 months old!). Basically, told me to come back in 6 months time for another check up - I will no longer have my exemption certificate by then!!! What's more interesting, I have a treatment plan with my private dentist who highlighted few problems that need fixing. All of them visible on the actual x-ray... I was hoping i can get it done on NHS but dentist didn't want to treat me for free basically 🤯. No wonder most of the people in UK are missing teeth from quite an early age

Some teeth can be fixed, some can’t. Don’t see the need for all the frothing and exclamation marks.

My experience has been that there is a reluctance to extract. And I’m well aware from my own recent complicated dental history (see my post above) that extraction is often not the answer.

I’m also well aware from experience that extraction is sometimes the only thing to be done and that delaying it can cause further problems.

• Lola3034 Why is everyone pulling their teeth out instead of repairing them? What the actual %£#@? Good dentist is able to perform miracles! Everyone in this post talks about tooth extraction! This should be your last resort! It is obvious that bloody dentists don't want to put the time and the effort into treatment when they can extract and then try to flog you off expensive implants

Dentist here. This is wrong. Generally extractions are the very last resort. We would rather do conservative work on teeth than extractions. If you want to talk business, then extractions are very poorly paid in comparison to fillings, crowns, root canal etc..

And the majority of general dental practitioners do not do implants, have vested interest in them and need to refer to a specialist for that anyway.

I am not trying to offend anyone with my comment. It just seems like extraction is an easy way out for many dentists. I've been living in London for 17 years now and unless you go private, usually the recommendation is to pull teeth out. I say is from experience unfortunately. I allowed the dentist to pull 3 of my teeth out when I was only 22. I have implants now... Another dentist tried to remove another tooth roughly 10 years ago but this time I refused and went private for a second opinion. You wouldn't be able to tell now that this tooth had any work done to it now! Obviously I had to spend quite a bit of money that I didn't have but still cheaper than implants. It took a few visits to get it treated including antibiotics. Recent experience with a simple check up didn't change my opinion about NHS dental care... This forum is full of stories of people having to pull teeth out which is extremely sad!

@Lola3034 I.agree. when I got my treatment plan before covid I saw a few dentists and they all said on nhs they will pull them but if you go private we can do root canals and crowns. Covid ruined that and they where pulled. And implants put in.

Although one dentist said I.needed 7 teeth removed and implants! I got a second opinion and it was 3 teeth that needed treatment...

Thanks for this thread Op, and I'm glad you've got things sorted now.

I'm in a similar position and have a cross-country drive to make this morning to the emergency dental appointment I managed to find yesterday.

The pain has been unbelievable, and it was sods bloody law that meant it came on over the bank holiday weekend for me. I tried all the home remedies too (the cloves were a revelation - no wonder clove hard boiled sweets used to be very popular back in the day!) but had to wait for the pharmacy to open in order to get my hands on the really good stuff - codeine.

I couldn't get an emergency dental appointment at first, they told me that if there was no facial swelling they couldn't see me. But the lovely lady on the phone took pity on me the second time I rang and booked me an appointment for the following day (today) and boy, have I got facial swelling now! DH is calling me Dan, as in Desperate Dan 🤣