My sore teeth :/

[gabity]

Since January I have been in so much pain at the top left hand side of my mouth. My gums feel inflamed and tender, it is constantly sore but agony when eating, esp sweet or cold things.

Went to dentist in Feb, she said that I have weakened enamel and gum disease due to the amount of sickness I had when pregnant. (was hospitalised on a drip for a while as could keep nothing down for pretty much all Of the seven months I was pregnant). She gave me some fillings a good clean and told me to floss and use a medicated mouthwash. Made no difference.

Went back last week, she said the same thing and there was nothing more she could do unless I wanted a referral to a specialist which I can't afford. :( She gave my teeth another clean which left me in tears it was so painful. When she saw how much pain I was in she prescribed a week of antibiotics but I can't go on like this. Am keeping neurofen in business but it is really getting me down.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

I'm not a dentist (hopefully one will be along soon) but I have experienced gum disease in the past. Poor you, I know how distressing it is.

My first thoughts:

Can your dentist refer you on to an NHS specialist in periodontology ( I think that's the word). They do exist, and treatment will be cheaper (possibly free if you are still 1 year post part partum and in UK). Failing that is there a dental hospital near you? There's one in Bristol and at St Thomas's in London. This will be free but there is often a long wait for treatment.

But - the really really important thing is that this gets treated. I know you said you can't afford private, but there are some good price plans out there that can help spread the cost. I couldn't afford treatment when I was first diagnosed and it's the biggest regret I have.

It sounds as though you need a good deep clean under a local to clean your teeth and gums, and enable healing. The amount of pain you're in sounds like it could possibly be an gum abscess?

Anyway, the good news is gum disease can be treated and managed. If your gums are inflamed and bleeding, you need to brush really well (electric toothbrushes are best) concentrating well on the sore/inflamed areas. I use tepe brushes to clean between my teeth. Really brush and work at the sore areas - sounds mad but it works! Then use a good Mouthwash - corsydyl (sp) is good but don't use for ages as can cause staining on the tooth enamel which enables more bacteria to breed. (hope this is correct dentists!)

Avoid tea and coffee (more staining) and don't ever ever smoke!

Doing some cardio is supposed to be useful too as it gets the blood pumping well around the gums (as well as rest of body!)

So, do all you can at home, but most importantly go back to your dentist ASAP and ask to be referred on!

Good luck

Where do you live?

I live near manchester and my ds had dreadful terrible dental probs (orthodontic) we managed to get referred to the dental teaching hospital in Manchester and the most lovely people have given my son his fantastic smile .

Whilst we were there I did meet several people who werent local and had come by train.

Check out if you are near to a teaching hospital and ask for a referral.

Am in Scotland, but live halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow so will have a google of dental schools in both.

Yes, have cortysol mouthwash and really am trying to brush well, but it's so damn sore, lots of blood etc, but it does feel better afterwards after initial pain subsides. Don't have an electric toothbrush but will invest I think.

Next appointment with dentist isn't till September, it does't help that i'm terrified of the dentist (with no good reason, never had a problem until now). DD is 17 months so no free treatment unfortunately. It was £90 for what dentist did in Feb and £40 last week so I didn't even ask how much it would be for a referral. But as you say in the long run you can't really put a price on having teeth and being pain free! Feel that dentist didn't really explain things well enough to me and was quite happy to see me in pain for another few months. :( that said I was in tears by the end and just wanted out!!

Don't smoke, don't like red wine, tea or coffee so all good there! Not sure about the exercise though!!

Thanks for advice and listening to me :(

Happy to help

Can you bring the appt forward? It does sound like you've been fobbed off a bit. Do some reading about gum disease and dental pain as well so you're armed!

Or perhaps ask to see another dentist?

Yy to getting an electric toothbrush. Boots usually have good offers on the Phillips ones. I have the Sonicare one and it's fab.

Bumping in the hope of a dentist or any other advice.

Neurofen not touching pain today, am so grumpy because of it.

Bought an electric toothbrush, first clean was very painful, and involved lots of blood but will persevere.

Not sure what to say to dentist, she has told me what to do, and knows the pain i'm in. Feels like i'm telling her she isn't doing her job properly?!

I'm not a dentist but just thought I'd share.

I had a lot of dental pain a couple of years ago, not one particular tooth but the whole of the left lower side. After lots of dental visits (dentist was useless) which got me nowhere I was sent to a maxillofacial surgeon who decided it was a TMJ (temporomandibular joint) problem causing the muscles around the jaw to clench which in turn caused cramping and pain. He gave me painkillers and a muscle relaxant, also recommended using a warm wheatbag on the side of my face. He said this often happens in response to an initial pain like twingey tooth or gums.

It was a very gradual process, I was in pain for about 4 months but it did gradually fade away. May be worth gently feeling around the sides of your jaw near ears to see if your jaw is aggravating it.

Incidentally I was told not to use Corsodyl for long as the alcohol can irritate the gum tissue and it can discolour teeth, was told to use warm salt water instead.

Good luck with it.

Hi, I'm a dentist. Hope you're ok. It's impossible to say without seeing you what the casue is, although as viper said, TMJ problems can be a nightmare, they don't bleed and won't respond to brushing so it doesn't sound like that.

Corsodly is only good as a short term (3-5days max) solution as it stains, again big up to the viper as salt water is just as good and costs next to nothing. Personally I hate mouthwash, lots of patients think it's an alternative to brushing (to the point that years of smelling mouthwash over bad breath means I cannot stand the smell of even just mouthwash) and many mouthwashes have pHs that are too acidic or they contain alcohol etc etc.

Do you have big fillings in the area? Is the pain from the gum right next to your tooth or is it up in the fold next to your cheek or is it just from your tooth? What makes it better or worse?

I don't know much about the system in Scotland, in England we hardly have any gum specialists (only in dental hospitals as a general rule and you can only see one if you reside in their geographical area otherwise they will get no funding for seeing you sadly).

You really need to make an appointment, if there is no real reason for you to not go then you know it makes sense to go!!!

When not eating pain is a dull constant ache. Eating, esp sweet things make it eye wateringly painful. If I press on the gum it helps, sitting with the heel of my hand pushed hard against my cheek. It is quite hard to describe exactly where pain coming from but gum next to teeth rather than cheek fold I think.

Two filling on that side both done in Feb after pain started, was hoping they would cure it!

I know it makes sense to go to dentist again, really I do. Maybe time for a change of dentist as I feel like i have wasted money and time that could have been better spent actually treating the problem?! Not sure how easy it is to find a NHS dentist taking new patients. Keep putting off doing anything that involves dentists in the hope it will get better by itself...maybe not!

Thanks for advice :)

Pain with sweet makes it sound like a hole in the tooth, sometimes this causes irritation to the gums as well. Get thee to a dentist! Does NHS direct cover Scotland? They have details of dentists taking patients.