Any Dentists around to advise??

[soupforbrains]

Background:
i had a tooth extraction about 6 weeks ago, the dentist wasn’t able to get out the root bit so it got left and I have a referral for dental surgery for it to be removed. it has not been especially sensitive or caused me any pain while waiting for the surgery

now: on Saturday evening I had sudden and excruciating toothache in said tooth root. Nerve type pain shooting from the root through the jaw and cheek. No swelling though except a tiny bit in the gum immediately around the root. I took paracetamol & ibuprofen which barely took the edge off and called the out of hours dentist for an emergency appointment. They were only able to give me an appointment for Monday lunch time and advised getting Co-codamol and anbesol from the pharmacy to help in the meantime. these helped a bit.

yesterday I attended the dental appointment (12:40). They confirmed that the root had an infection and gave me antibiotics and said to continue to take the pain relief as needed. I got home and started the antibiotics right away.

since starting the antibiotics I noticed last night that the area was a bit swollen but assumed it was probably just from the dentist poking it. But this morning that whole side of my face is swollen jawline to top of cheekbone.

is this a normal part of the antibiotics fighting the infection? Or is it something I should be worried about?

im confident it’s not an allergic reaction I’ve taken amoxicillin before without issue.

i HAVE put a call into the dentist to check but I’m waiting for a callback and in the meantime staring at my deformed face and trying not to overthink myself into a panic.

No that sounds like the infection is spreading. It may mean you need longer for the antibiotics to work or a change of antibiotics. But it needs checking. If your dentist don't come back soon then call 111.

Ok thank you. I’ll give the dentist to mid afternoon to call but then I’ll call 111.

im just baffled because for 2 days the pain was excruciating but no swelling at all really then suddenly once I start the antibiotics the pain begins to reduce but I’m all of a sudden like aunt marge in Harry Potter!

it has been less than 24hrs since starting the antibiotics so they may well need more time but I’m glad I’m not causing a fuss unnecessarily.

Dentist called. They said give the antibiotics another 24hrs. if the swelling has not started to reduce at that point, then call back again and they'll see me that afternoon.

Ah good you did the right thing. Keep an eye. You can always call 111 if it gets worse in the night etc

an update in case you were interested! The day after my last post the facial swelling hadn't gone down. In fact is was worse affecting my lips and the entire right side of my face. So as instructed i called the Dentist who told me to come in.

Dentist had a look, and immediately referred me to the nearest hospital with a Maxillo-Facial unit. Which unfortunately was a fair trek away (next county over and i drove past 3 other hospitals on the way).

Dentist had given me a letter of reference and called ahead. Hospital knew i was coming in A&E and sent me to the SDEC there they hooked me up to some morphine which was much appreciated as the pain was agonising. The MaxFacs team came and had a look, sent me for xrays and had another look. Hooked me up to 3 IV drips of Antibiotics and concluded that although the un-removed root was probably the entry point i now had an infection in my jaw which was travelling sub-mandibular so a bit awkward to access. they did think they could reach part of it to drain though.

So i had a minor procedure to drain what they could by cutting through the soft tissue in my mouth along the outside of my lower right jaw. which hurt quite a lot but did relieve some pressure.

Then they decided they needed to keep me in because the swelling was restricting jaw movement more than they like.

The following day they continued IV antibiotics and took more xrays. Then concluded that they needed to go in and remove the root and see if that would give them access to the 'primary' infection area.

Surgical team had some difficulty removing the root, so i was taken back to my room and prepped for general anaesthetic and they had a second go. they got it out but couldn't access the infection to had to drill away parts of my jawbone. (I've been assured these will grow back and heal).

They managed to get everything they could see out and then i was kept in for another 24hrs of IV antibiotics and then sent home with more.

The stitches in my mouth have just come out and so now it's just waiting for the divots in my jaw and gumline to heal up and all is back to normal!