3-week wait to have wisdom teeth extracted but am desperate with the pain. Can't have any decent pain relief as I'm BF - is it nuts to consider going private?

[bean612]

It's horribly impacted and the tooth next to it is all decayed/has an abcess (two dentists couldn't agree which) down to the nerve. I have an appt for an extraction but not until the end of the month, and I can't bear the pain for that long. I have 4-week-old DS plus a 4YO DD who is still adjusting (not especially well) to no longer being an only child. 10 days ago we all had the Norovirus, and I am still recovering from DS's birth when I had a PPH. And naturally am not getting any sleep either.

Has anyone had teeth out privately in the London area, and do you have any recommendations about where to go? I'm guessing it's horrifically expensive but I'm starting to feel like it's the only option. TIA.

Poor you! What pain relief have you been given so far?

God you poor thing, can't help with dentist advice but I know how bad you must feel. Had a tooth access few years ago and was literally whacking my head on wall until I got proper painkillers.
Always go privately as not much option otherwise here, would guesstimate about £500 for tooth extraction if that helps but otherwise just have my sympathy

Have you tried diclofenac? Also codeine is fine if not in huge doses every day.

I was given diclofenac after my c-section, it's fine for bfing.

Poor you! I had a wisdom tooth extracted immediately at the Emergency Dental Clinic at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. I'd just started work down here and wasn't signed up with a dentist, and couldn't get an appointment with my old dentist for several days. I just couldn't stand it any longer and rang the emergency service in desperation - they saw me later that day, did the extraction then and there (with a local anesthetic, obviously) and charged me a grand total of £15. Might be worth seeing if the hospital nearest you has an emergency dental service? I can't see how you can be expected to wait three weeks in hideous pain under any circumstances, especially not with a newborn. Good luck.

Not a private experience but I can recommend ringing the out of hours medical service (here its Seldoc), I had similar problems and they managed to get me into an emergency dental appointment at the hospital within a couple of hours. They couldn't actually do the extraction but they were able to 'pack' the tooth to ease the pain and gave some good advice on pain killers (I was bf at the time).

Hope that helps

pain relief and breastfeeding - worth a read

Thank you all. I wonder if I could get codeine/diclofenac prescribed by my GP? Easier to get an appt there than at the dentist. The only thing is I know codeine can make you horribly constipated, which I'd really like to avoid as the iron tablets I took after DS's birth a few weeks ago had the same effect, resulting in an experience I don't ever want to repeat (I will spare you the details ).

Kveta I can only read the first page of the link for some reason, but that's useful - thank you.

I have an appt with my mum's dentist this pm who promises he will 'do whatever is necessary to get rid of the pain'. So no guarantee of extraction, but it's definitely better than nothing!

You can get diclofenac OTC as Voltarol...