Being left with tooth pain for a week

[DashboardConfessional]

I had a filling in April which the dentist said was a big one and may fail. It did. He left, so I went back to see my old dentist at the same practice.

She replaced on Tuesday with a different (white) filling but from the moment the injection wore off I've been in awful pain. Yesterday I went back and she gave me a week of penicillin.

I'm taking solpadeine and ibuprofen, but it wears off after an hour. It is agony! I phoned this morning but the receptionist just said your dentist only does Fridays and wouldn't book me in with anyone else so reiterated that I have to wait in this level of pain for another week to see if the penicillin works for reversible pulpitis. She also said "I only have a short appointment so she might not be able to do a root canal on Friday". What is the point then??

Is this normal? Should I be pushing for another dentist even if I pay privately, or calling 111? It hurts so much. I was up most of the night.

You have my sympathies. This was me a couple of weeks ago. I found Paramol worked much better than the Solpadine. Orajel eased the pain temporarily too.
my private dentist was closed on the Friday and Monday, 111 couldn’t help and the emergency dental helpline would only offer an appointment if I had obvious facial swelling. I’d try for another private dentist, explaining the extreme pain you’re in. Good luck!

Dental Nurse here and that receptionist talks absolute 💩. If you're in pain you must be seen, especially if it is keeping you up at night. As soon as someone calls our practice and says it's keeping them up at night they're seen the same day.

In your case if you saw a different dentist at our place because the antibiotics aren't working we'd quickly open the tooth to relieve the pressure off the nerve. I think that's what's needed here.

Phone back and demand an appointment. Making you wait until Friday is insane.

Pulpitis is agony, it’s inhumane to leave you struggling.

I’m a dentist who only works one day. I would expect my colleagues to see you. In return I see their patients if they are in pain. Entirely normal.
I’d be tempted to go down in person at 9am. Say you are happy to sit and wait. All day if necessary. Take a book.

Thanks all. I sent a very shitty message at 6.30 on the callback system and was seen at 10.40 for an extraction by my dentist who supposedly only works Fridays (turns out what that means is she only does NHS on Fridays). Turns out the root was curved and when the tooth got inflamed it was affecting my sinus!

Dental pain is the worst OP, you have my sympathies!