Dentist

[Flute56]

I have recently been experiencing a slightly throbbing back molar. It comes and goes and so I was thinking it was an infection so I rang my dental surgery to get it looked at.

My own dentist is not available as my own dentist has stopped working full time so they put me in to see someone else. I went to see this other one today. She was very young and I tried to explain what the problem was and what i thught was wrong and she did a lot of tests by tapping and cold water swab etc. Nothing was painful. I said it is an intermitant throbbing and do you think it is infected. I said I would like an xray of the tooth to see what is going on. When she looked at the xray she did not comfirm anything. She did not say it was infected and did not say what was causing the throbbing. She just said um let me go and speak to a colleague. She came back and still seemed very vague. She did see my jaw bone was a slightly lighter shade round that area and she wants me to see a doctor at the hospital about it but said its probably nothing to be concerned about. I asked for some antibiotics which she gave me as a precaution but a friend of mine said you are not supposed to just hand out antibiotics willy nilly like that and to be honest I asked for the antibiotics. I do not think I would have been given them if it was left up to her.

She wants to see me for a review on this in two weeks time but to be honest she was so vague, it did not really fill me with confidence that she was a good dentist. She only qualified last year. I did look on google and it said intermitant throbbing is either the start of a filling or gum issues but she did not deny or confirm anything to me so I am none the wiser. I would not go to her as a regular dentist. I prefer my own

You didn't like her manner but I can't see how her conduct was amiss?

If anything she was being overly cautious by referring you to the hospital about your jaw.

I think she’s been very prudent by referring you in case it’s a tmj issue etc

I am not referring to my jaw. I am referring to my tooth pain. I did not get a clear diagnosis. I am happy to be referred to the hospital

Throbbing can indicate a tooth is dying… the start of an abscess. X rays will
only show changes in the bone around the tip if the tooth. These changes don’t happen immediately. A further x Ray in 2 weeks may show changes.
The treatment for an abscess is either root canal of extraction, both are irreversible so
its wise not to start any treatment unless you’re absolutely sure this is what you’re dealing with.

YABU. A two second search on google makes you more qualified than someone who has trained for 5 years? Sometimes it’s not possible to give a diagnosis especially as the throbbing is only intermittent

Fair enough. I will take the antibiotics and go back in two weeks. I hate tooth infections. I have a friend who has never had a tooth infection and she is in her 50s and she has not had a filling for 6 years and she goes for a check up every 6 months and to the hygenist every 3 months. Some people have all the luck. She cleans her teeth thoroughly and flosses every single night and has been flossing for years. She is paranoid about plaque. I once phoned her and she phoned me back an hour later and she said I could not answer the phone as I was flossing my teeth. She said she spends 15 minutes flossing

First things first it sounds like your friend spends a lot of time and effort in caring about her teeth so don't see how she's got "all the luck" in never having a tooth infection. Regardless it's a bit irrelevant to your OP.

Sometimes you can't get a diagnosis. Sometimes the dr/dentist just doesn't know and needs somebody elses opinion (which is probably what she went and got when she left the room) and even then sometimes it's impossible to know or be certain without further investigation. So you have two options, either treat presumably or refer for further tests/more specialist opinion. It sounds like your dentist did both. Your friend is right, antibiotics shouldn't be prescribed "willy nilly" but in this case your dentist isn't sure what's happening and decided to be safe rather than sorry (imaging how angry you'd be if she said no to the antibiotics and you ended up with an abscessed tooth in a few days time). It sounds like your dentist might not be 100% certain what's happening but is doing everything to try and get to the bottom of it and keep you comfortable in the meantime.

It sounds about right for this type of thing. It was throbbing, but not painful to touch when you were there. It just seems weird she would tell you go to hospital about your jaw, without fully explaining why, like is she referring you to the dental hospital? You can't really present at regular A&E for maxilliofacial issues as they don't have dentists there.
Could you ask to see the senior dentist/ dental surgeon at the practice rather than her?
But definitely take the antibiotics as if it's infected they can't really work on it anyway.
Also get some Corsodyl gel and rub that on regularly, and you can dip the tp brush in it when cleaning as well. If you don't have tp brushes get them, as the back teeth can be so hard to reach with regular floss.

i fully understand what you are saying about the hospital. I did ask her if she could refer me to a dental hospital and she said no and told me where they refer people from their catchment area and it is a general hospital. General hospitals do have a dental department because I know someone who has her teeth done at guys in London and these departments have dentists but i am not sure about the jaw thing. I dont understand why I have been told its nothing to be overly concerned about and yet I am going to be sent to a maxifaial specialist

If I did not have this toothache, then I would not have gone to the dentist amd not had an xray and not have had a clue about this part of my jaw that is a lighter shade than the rest. I would have just gone about my day to day life. I did have an xray by mo own regular dentist last time I hadd a check up about three months ago and nothing was said about this but maybe it was not as it is now, or if it was, my own dentist did not think it was worth mentioning.

AS for the throbbing, I started the antibiotics last night and then today is the second day and my tooth is still throbbing. Whenever I bend down to pick something up off the floor it throbs and as soon as I sit down or stand up it immediately stops so I assume as I bend down blood rushes into my head and kicks it off and then as I stand upright the blood goes down my body and the throbbing stops. It does not seem to happen when I am laying down in bed. I have had a really bad toothache wehre they told me to sleep propped up with two pillows and not lie down but I dont need to do that for this.

I could quite easily think that the tooth is better because it does not hurt to eat or chew or sit down or walk..... but only as I bend down do I get the symptoms so thats how I know it is far from ok.

How long do antibiotics take to start working? about 20 years ago I had an abcess and the particular dentist I saw drained the tooth. I dont think they do that much these days.

Is it the top teeth that are throbbing?

She only qualified last year

So she's qualified. And recently will mean up to date knowledge.

Unless you happen to be a dentist get over yourself

Right - how is that "all the luck" she's clearly obsessed with her oral hygiene

@Flute56 Take the full course of the pills, it usually is a week or so. It is probably clearing up but won't be fully better yet. Please try not to worry, worst case scenario you need to have root canal or have it removed. Neither are the end of the world and if it's a problem tooth it will be a relief to stop the issue.

As for the hospital, maybe Guys have dentists but most I think don't. Plus presenting at A&E for the vague reason that a dentist said a shadow on jaw x-ray could have you waiting for 15+ hours without a satisfactory outcome.

I'd still say ask for a more senior dentist for when you go back after the tablets.

no its the lower back one

I very much doubt I will need the tooth out. I am happy to have root canal but not with a dentist I dont know. If I do need root canal then I will have my own regular dentist do it because I have had other dentists try to perform root canal in the past and it has been quite painful. One of my previous dentists tried root canal and it was so painful, she had to stop and she said I cannot do this you need to see a specialist. The same tooth was done by my current dentist and I felt no paian and he said the trick is to numb your gum/tooth in the correct spot so that you dont feel anything and if they dont inject in the right position, it can be painful. Obviioiusly the previous person did not inject properly so that it why I would never trust anyone except my current dentist to perform root canal. He actually had to perform root canal on a back molar and said back molars are quite complicated to do for root canal and he wasnt sure if he could do it due to the awkward position and he said he would have a go and if not then he would have to send me to an enderdontist. He tried to do it and was actually successful, so this is why I would not trust another dentist with doding any root canal on me. Even this young dentist who I saw as an emergency a couple of days ago. She may be fresh out of training but and have all the up to date knowledge but since I have had a coupe of good pain free root canals done by my own dentist, I would rather go back to him.

As I say, I thinnk we are clutching at straws about removal or root canal. First things first, take the full course of thee tablets, go back to see this female dentist and see what she says. She did say that on the xray it looked like my teeth are widely spaced apart whatever that menas because I have no gaps between my teeth. She said that is just how my teeth are. I have never had any dentist comment on that before.

As for the hospital thingy, I asked her if she could send me to a dental hospital and she said no. I will ask again about this when I go for my review in two weeks time. As the matter is not urgent, it may take a few months for the referral to come through and in the meantime, I have an appointment with my regular dentist in April so I might run it through him. After all, before I started with him, i had a dentist who told me I needed 3 teeth out. I did not believe her and never went back to her and when I started with my current dentist he told me I did not need 3 teeth out and that dentist was wrong to suggest it. Four years later I still have the same 3 teeth that she wanted to remove lol

@Flute56 what happened to the tooth