In absolute agony

[Blessedbethefknfruit]

Just need someone to talk to whilst I wait for help.
I've gone on 111 online and it said I should have a nurse call in 20 minutes but that was at 4:15am and I'm under no illusion it's likely to be any time soon.

Basically I broke a tooth at the beginning of the pandemic, whilst dentists were closed. It hurt mildly for a day or two and then stopped and I'll be honest and say once the dentists reopened I didn't give it another though, terrible I know.
I've recently had a baby and as I'm off work for a while decided I needed to use the time to get things sorted, including my tooth.

The dentist thought he'd be able to fill the tooth rather than remove it which I was very grateful for as I really didn't want to have an extraction if I could help it.
Halfway through my appointment there's a powercut, so the filling never happened and just temp filling was put in until I could get a new appointment (two weeks later) in that time the tooth became infected, very painful, dentist prescribed antibiotics. Pain went, and I was back at the dentist on Tuesday just gone.
After another xray, the dentist advised I still have some infection and will need more antibiotics before he can do the work.

Since Friday late afternoon I've had the most horrendous tooth pain, which shoots up into my head. I can't sleep or eat its so painful, hurts even to just swallow saliva.
I've been taking two (over the counter) Co codamol and nurafen together every 3.5 hours since Friday night and it's just not helping, my face has become so swollen and I noticed last night the tooth is turning blue 😭
In the last half hour the swelling in my cheek/jaw is changing from spongey to hard

I'm assuming I'm going to have to have the tooth pulled now, I'm at the point of not caring about that but I'm just desperate for stronger painkillers and antibiotics now but can't want until Monday for the Gp.
I'm really hoping I get this call back and they can prescribe me some tablets to help the pain and swelling.
I'll ring the dentist on Monday as well but I don't think they can pull it whilst there is still infection there, and honestly I cant bare any more pain.

I so regret leaving the tooth for so long 😭

I’m so sorry OP, I know how you feel (hence the username). In the very short term, I found that with pain like this, an app called Balance was absolutely life changing. You can get a free trial to start with usually if you Google it and that will cover you for the next few days/weeks until it’s fully sorted. I’m not really a meditation/hypnosis “type” but when I had severe, long-lasting pain that painkillers didn’t touch the sides on, I found this app was the only thing that kept me sane. You can also (when pharmacies open) buy a tooth gel that numbs the pain but I’ve completely forgotten what it’s called - something like oragel.

I'm really sorry to hear about your toothache. From experience, it really can leave you in tears especially when you can't get help at this time of night.
Yes, you will need pain management, which either a pharmacist or 111 can help with. For me personally, it was alternating between 2 different ones at regular intervals to ensure I wasn't taking too much or that I was left without some kind of relief.
I also found toothache gels I got from the pharmacist to be of great help. Just to provide some kind of relief until I got my appointment.
If no help from 111, I would pop to my local pharmacist as soon as they are open...oh dear...good luck

Unless you can't have aspirin try that it's usually more affective in toothache than co-cadamol. Opiates don't work at all for many people.
Have you tried googling NHS emergency dentists near me ?
Try gargling with some warm salt water I know it won't be easy, if you have any cloves knocking about make a drink of those.
Also get something out of the freezer, peas work best and make a cold compress for the area (put it inside something else)

Try and drink plenty of fluids, honey if you have some.
Poor you sounds horrid.

@ChristineCagney11 she’s already taking ibuprofen so wouldn’t advise aspirin as well at analgesia dose. Opiates/opioids work for a lot of people but there’s a specific issue with how codeine is processed in some people that means they don’t get any analgesia.

I think you need to be seen quite urgently actually. People dismiss toothache but what you're describing with the hardness of the swelling and such sounds serious. Do you have a temperature?

All I have from experience is that the pain from a needed root canal is horrendous and won't be touched with painkillers. If the tooth is turning blue, I wonder if it has died and can no longer be saved? In any case, with the face swelling and pain, I would be getting seen urgently.

Thank you for the kind messages and advice.
I've gone to A&E on the advice of 111.
I was worried about coming as I know how busy the NHS are but everyone here has been lovely and understanding and I've been given some morphine whilst they check my bloods and see what else they can do to help me.
Thankfully it isn't busy right now where I am so I have been triaged and seen a Dr already in just an hour, I've actually never been seen in A&E this fast before, even many years ago.

Phew. I'm really glad to hear that you've gone in! Can't be too careful with infections.

Get well soon!

I second the above, sounds like a pretty serious infection and you needed help quickly. I'm glad you won't have to wait too long - thank the lord for morphine OP.

I've rung 111 for dental pain before, they will only see you to pull the tooth, the emergency dentist won't try to save it.
If you want to save the tooth you'll need to get the infection treated and then book in at a dentist.

I'm so glad you've gone in.

Sounds like an abscess to me. Horrific.

So glad you went in this sounds horrible.

OP how are you today?

Hiya,
My face is still very swollen, bigger today then its ever been but the pain is much more manageable with Codeine and ibruprofen.
I've been icing it too which doesnt seem to be making it go down but it feels good against the hot skin 😅
The antibiotics are much stronger than the last ones I had so hopefully they'll start fighting the infection soon.
The main thing is I was able to sleep last night which makes a massive difference.
I'm back at the dentist on Thursday so I'm praying the infection will have gone by then.
It was a ham and cheese panini that broke my tooth to begin with, safe to say I'll never be eating one of those again! 😂
Thank you for asking.