Dental Nightmare - Help

[Briansgirls]

I started with dental pain on Wednesday , bottom left at the back , no wisdom tooth so the one before that , in the mirror it looked normal but the throbbing in my jaw and pain around the tooth wws awful. Saw
My dentist (NHS) on thrsdwy lunctime x-rayed and found nothing at all sent me home told to take paracetamol and ibuprofen come back if it gets worse.

Thursday night was agony the pain ramped up despite paracetamol and ibuprofen 2 hourly schedule , I called 111 three times over night all they could do was refer me to a dentist and someone would call me back.

Friday morning my dentist called to say sorry no appointment despite me telling them how much pain I was in ,.no sleep , can hardly bear to eat or drink.
I called around 8 NHS dentists but no one would see me , called back to 111 same story no appointments.

Looked again and my teeth and noticed a black line on the problem tooth like a cracked line..
Last resort walked into a private dentist go seen straight away , had X rays , yes the backolar was cracked.

Discussed there cracks are difficult to deal with as they don't know how far down they go etc , he suggested filling it and hopefully they would do the trick rather than loose the tooth , I agreed , 3 injections given although I didn't feel 100 percent numb , had the filling done , the whole time I felt pain especially the UV light curing bit, he said my level of pain was unusual.
Paid up £357 went home.

Got through another night and Saturday morning the pain was rammed up again ,.called 111 said they'd refer me and got me an appointment with my own dentist for 10.30 this morning.
Barely slept again ,.no food. ,tiny sips of water , pain so bad at 6am this morning called 111 again same story already referred wait for the appointment take painkillers etc.

Went to the appointment early and begged to be seen ,.saw the dentist at 9.30 agreed it needs extracting , I texted me three times but I could still feel immense pain ,.told me he can't extracte as the anesthetic hasn't worked , referred me to a specialist but closed today and hopefully someone will call tomorrow.

Gave me a prescription for dihydrocodeine and an antibiotic , my face looks huge.
Picked up the prescription and I'm back home now ,.took dihydrocodeine 60 mins ago no improvement and the anesthetic is wearing off now , he said if the swelling gets worse or I can't swallow of breather properly to go to hospital.

I'm at a total loss , the pain is 10/10 from my ear right down my jaw , if I got to a and E I know there isn't dentists there so I'm unsure what they would do anyway.
I'm scared and not coping with the pain.

Sorry for the essay Im just trying to distract myself and wondered if anyone else has been in a similar boat , it's the pain would just subside a little I could try and cope , I don't even have an appointment right now I'm just waiting on the specialist dentist which is part of my own practice to call me tomorrow hopefully

I’m so sorry you’re going through this, it sounds absolutely unbearable. Given the 10/10 pain, significant facial swelling and difficulty eating or drinking, I really wouldn’t wait until tomorrow for the specialist to call. Please go to A&E now, particularly as the pain isn’t improving with medication. They can assess the swelling, treat complications and arrange urgent specialist advice if needed. If you develop difficulty breathing or swallowing, call 999.

What a rotten shame for you, get yourself to A&E now.

Dental infections can be absolutely horrific. I agree with getting seen at a&e asap because it sounds like you might need IV antibiotics and pain relief.

Dihydrocodeine doesn't work for everyone and you probably need something else.

You might find a well wrapped ice pack on your cheek soothing while you wait to be seen, and keep swilling your mouth with cool salty water too if you can.

I dont know why they didn't give you antibiotics as soon as you said it hurt. So what if there's nothing on x-ray. It's a 3d mouth so the x-rays don't pick up every infection.
You poor thing. I'd say you need (more) antibiotics.

It sounds like you have an abscess under the tooth. Likely caused by the crack.

They won't be able to numb it in order to extract until the infection is gone. I had the same issue a couple of years ago.

The antibiotics helped but putting cotton wool balls soaked in salt water directly on the gum helped bring the abscess to the surface and drain. As soon as it burst the pain went away immediately.

After that I finished up the antibiotics and had the tooth extracted - no issues with numbing by then. It's going to be a rough few days but you need to get the abscess under control before they can do anything to the tooth.

If the swelling stops you from being able to eat or breathe properly head to a&e and they can lance it but that's usually not recommended unless necessary.

Thank you everyone for replying.
I went to A&E and got seen pretty rapidly ,.I've had IV morphine and paracetamol.

Plan is still for the specialist dental practice to contact me tomorrow ,.I'll be calling them at 9am then hopefully they will have me in and extract it ,.if the anesthetic doesn't work again they can give me a letter and I can go straight to the maxifacial dept and they will have to deal with it.

I'm so grateful for the pain relief and they've given oral morphine to bring home plus more antibiotics.

Back in my own bed and managed to have a bit of soup whilst the pain relief is working .

Thanks everyone

Glad you are feeling better OP, it sounds like you had an awful few days. I can't believe you were charged £357 for a filling that didn't even work. Its just terrible that it's so hard to get an appointment 😯 I think everyone should have to pay a small fee to see doctors and dentists to improve the service for all.

Sounds terrible op. Hope you get treated tomorow

Will your AE see people for dental things? Mine won't. I feel very strongly about this after what happened to someone I know, who was in agony and denied treatment (not going to give details for obvious reasons), but I do feel very upset by this.
So might be worth confirming where your hospital is, as if your AE will do it, and that's near enough for OP, that is fine, but they don't all.

We do!!!! Through our national insurance - the problem is there's simply far too many people for the actual number of doctors, dentists & nurses in this country.

Im not an expert but I think that level of pain is usually caused by either an infection or nerve issue. If there is an infection beneath the tooth, in the gum, then I would think it will need to clear up before they can remove the tooth. Antibiotics hopefully will get it under control but they do take time to work. I had a dental issue recently - tooth looked normal on the outside but apparently inside was rotten and infected. I’d nearly finished the course of antibiotics and was convinced they hadn’t worked before i started to feel any relief. Got the fucker extracted in the end anyway.

You have my sympathies, dental pain is truly horrific. I hope you get sorted soon.

Well I've survived another night.

Called through to my NHS dentist which couldn't extract yesterday as he had referred me to another branch where they have a specialist, the specialist only works Thursday and Friday and mist likely can't fit me in this week !!

I explained I'd been on a morphine drip and I've got a small amount of morphine to bring home but not enough for a week or more !!

Maxiofacial have called they can see me Wednesday morning but can only act if I have a letter from the specialist dentist to say they can't do the job !

I'm in limbo again , at least I can advocate for myself better this morning because the pain is manageable the moment

How are you doing now?.I'm really hoping you're sorted and feeling better x

@Exhaustedand thank you for checking in on me , well the NHS specialist dentist didn't call me back ,couldn't get through , went back to the private dentist and asked if he would write me a letter for maxiofacial , he took another look and said he was confident he could extract it and rather than pay the extraction cost (£350) he would just charge me £95 as I'd already paid out so much two days before.

I was worried about the injections numbing me enough but it was a.perfeft job ,.numbed and extracted within 25 mins and it was a whopper !! Double root and a sizeable crack all the way down.

My face is still swollen and I'm a bit sore but after a few days salt water rinsing and eating soft foods I'll be a new woman !!

Very pleased you got sorted but what a shambles UK dentistry is. I can’t believe you’ve had to go through all of that pain and suffering. And for people who simply don’t have the cash for private dental care what’s the answer then? Just suffer until you are physically unable to cope any longer? Not to mention the fact that dental abscesses can actually be fatal if they get very severe.

Salt water rinses, plenty of rest and you’ll be better soon. Bet you’re so glad to see the fucker gone!

Just caught up with this thread and so very pleased for you op it's sorted.

What a horrible nightmare

I'm really glad to hear that 🥳🥳🥳🥳