Are any dentists about who can help, please?
I had an x-ray during a checkup a couple of weeks ago which shows dark shadowing round my upper front tooth and the one immediately to the left. The front one has been sore on and off for a couple of months, but an x-ray in February was completely clear, and it was put down to grinding my teeth. Neither tooth has any decay or previously been filled, and both are responsive to cold-testing. Initially my dentist planned to root treat both, but on reviewing the x-rays with a colleague has instead referred me to hospital. I saw her today to have my night guard adjusted and she told me she has put the referral through as urgent because of the unusual presentation, and that it could be infection, a neuralgia, or a tumour.
Obviously I am terrified and google is not helping! The wait time for urgent referrals is 14 weeks, non-urgent close to a year - the NHS guidelines for suspected cancer seem to be two weeks, so I am totally confused. I have a buzzy nerve thing going on round the tooth if I touch the gum/palate at the back of it with my tongue, plus pain, and 14 weeks seems like a long way off...
I can’t afford to pay for a private referral as I just spent £2,000 on two molar root canals with a specialist after knackering those teeth with clenching and grinding.