Toothache - need root canal but not till after birth, what can I do for pain till then?!

[spackcat]

I need root canal treatment on a molar but that can't be done until after the birth as I need general anethestic. It was fine as long as there was a temp' filling in it but now it plays up whenever it feels like it. The pain is a dull ache all over my cheek and into my ear that becomes so intense sometimes it's unbareable - paracetamol doesn't touch it when it's this bad. I don't really know what to do about it, my baby is not due till late January and my appointment's not till May! Do I have to keep popping pills until then?! Anyone else in the same boat? And any ideas as to what I can do. Thanks

How's things now spackcat?

Pain coming and going, just about getting by with paracetamol at the moment. Phoned dentist and managed to get an appointment for tomorrow lunchtime so hopefully something will be done - I will make a big fuss about the pain and tell them I want something done for it NOW!

Will ask about GA aswell - I didn't realise this was so unusual, perhaps there was some misunderstanding with what she said (as has accent n' all), but I did ask her twice!

Not read it all, why do you have to have a general anaesthetic? If you are in that much pain it sounds like it might need lancing do you have a gumboil or any swelling?

While you are in the pain you are in you won't get in numb enough for an extraction anyway.

Go to your dentist and see if you can get any relief from drainage. Its just like having pus around your fingernail it is horribly tender until you get some drainage.

The extreme pain you are in is the nerve dying so what will happen at some point is that very sharp pain will stop but you will still be left with all the tenderness.

Please do not have a general anaesthetic, only for life saving operations and this doesn't count as one. You are always taking a risk by having a GA.

I'm a dental nurse, qualified in 1987 or it could have been 1988, still must dig out the certificate and check.

I had the same - I used clove oil. Can you not bear to have it done 'normally'? I did in the end after DS was born (so all that for nothing!)

Sorry but no dentist does GA in anything other than a hospital or specialist clinic. It would be illegal to do so. A private dentist doesn't use more anaesthetic than an nhs one, the right amount for the job is administered. A GA for rct is bizarre and really not necessaary, sedation is a possibility but it is usually done under local unless treating a very nervous patient. An extraction would sort the problem because the nerve is inside the tooth and would be removed with the tooth as it is extracted. At this stage of pregnancy a local anaesthetic and the start of root canal treatnment and the placing of a sedative temporary dressing would be totally appropraite (of cours that is based on not actually seeing the patient so don't take it as gospel).

I think I may have had a plug thing put in aswell, but that might have been between dentist visits as it took 2 visits to get it done!

I didn't ask for one-I believe this is what she told me would be necessary, I'm not a dentist so I didn't question it!

My dentist though has refered me straight to a specialist clinic for a GA for 2 fillings, do we have the same dentist?? She did my root canal but it took 4 injectios to numb me and in the end I don't think she could be bothered - the filling stuff is like a mound on my tooth, like chewing gum stuck there.

Like I said perhaps there was confusion due to language barrier - still seems odd to wait till after birth though,as seen as everyone else has been treated during pregnancy. This was definate because that is when I was given an appointment for.(6 months after!) Like I said I was fine when I last saw her - as long as there was a filling in place, but not so now.

Did she give any indication as to why you needed it done under ga? TBH you may find that the ga is refused anyway as with financial cutbacks GA criteria is being tightened as the hospitals need to stretch their budget.

I lost a tooth and needed root canal treatment - (which I put off for years silly me terrible phobia) so it wold flare up with an infection every 4-6 months and be unbearably painful and I would need antibiotics.
It flared up again when I was 12 weeks pregnant on a weekend and I will never forget that Saturday when I had to wait 2 hrs for an emergency dentist appointment and paracetamol was quite frankly useless!!!!
It was at that moment that I decided that I couldn't ever deal with that pain again and be pregnant so I booked myself an appointment to have it out (16 weeks pregnant at the time). I was told by both dentists that 2nd trimester was the best time and that they could take it out easily under local anaesthetic.
It took about 40 minutes and I didn't feel a thing and after it came out paracetamlo over the next couple of days was sufficient for that pain.
Baby was fine and not affected by it.
Good luck hope you get it sorted soon

Ah ladyofwaffle - perhaps I am not hearing things after all! Was begining to feel a bit silly about the whole GA thing!

Thanks scoggins! I really hope they can do the same for me! need to cook tea now ds is nearly chewing off his arm!

i don't think it's a sound decision to have GA for anything except where there really is no other alternative.

it carries risks even in the best of situations and i'm suprised at how often it's used here for even minor procedures, especially because it's not very cost-effective.

i'd be wary of any dentist who said it was necessary for root canal treatment or even extraction.

i had a decayed wisdom tooth that had grown in straight and bone spurs shaved off my jaw by an oral surgeon under local.

if you're nervous, you just need a prescription for a tranq or two to take before you go.

Hi all, it is an infection which is causing the pain - had it cleaned up and different filling and other stuff put in. Now I have to wait until tomorrow for doctor to tell me if I can have antibiotics or not - and so the saga continues!.(Think the dentist is just being really over cautious with all this - all do things a bit different I s'pose) I forgot to ask about the GA but I think she must of meant sedation of some kind, which I originally thought was the same thing (duh!) but I don't think it is. Hopefully I will be able to keep infection(and pain) at bay now until next appointment.

whenever i go to the dentist and have work done i hae to have iv as im allergic to locals....hate it cos i have had to wait 4 months whilst i was pregnant b4 i could have the work done .

dd has to have a GA for some fillings and some extractions. I'm not happy. But they say cos she is 3 and has CP they can't do it any other way.

My doctor has said I can take antibiotics for infection, now have to phone dentist to let them know - feel like a flipping ping pong ball! even doctor couldn't understand why the dentist wouldn't give me the prescription provided I am not allergic to penacillin!

I have just gone through the same thing. I had root canal in a lower molar before pregnancy and a gold cap on the tooth. When it started to give me problems the dentist was about to xray me! when she remembered that an early xray for her mother had left her deformed and deaf on 1 side of her face! my confidence dying. she said i would have to have the tooth out instead which i stupidly agreed to. she pulled out a non infected root, cutting away the bone in the gum as it was impacted. ouch! i am in agony ten days later. i had a week of co-codamol from the emergency docs and am now on paracentamol which doesn't touch the pain. i have an upper tooth with a white filling which is sensitive to hot and cold and she wants to take that out but i'm gonna resist. she's not foreign by the way but i have a lot of work done in India and i'm gonna go there after the pregnancy to get an implant for the missing tooth. They would never have done this to me and it costs about £300 you get a holiday into the bargain! over there that's a lot of money and you really get top dentistry and good painkillers!

sounds like they don't know their ar*e from their elbow these dentists! Never seem to get a straight answer from mine - I had to ask what can be done to prevent the pain recurring for her to even mention antibiotics, she never told me it was infected until the second time I went to see her in agony! Now I am taking a course of antibiotics and touch wood it's been fine so far, but what if the infection keeps coming back? Do I just keep on getting the pain recurring, going to get it 'patched up' and taking another lot of antibiotics until May? I know nothing major can be done now at this late stage (32 weeks) because of the various risks involved but to wait until May is a bit much really. I can't really eat on that side because it will errode away the useless temporary filling she keeps stuffing in it, this one is slightly better to the last one she put in but it has still already worn down a bit and it's only been a week. I can't take anything other than paracetamol now at this stage either, so I really hope it doesn't come back before lo is born.

In may last year I went for a routine check up and needed a filling, I choose a pretty white one. Very foolish. One friday evening last december I noted very very slight twinge in the same tooth. Got progressively worse over the weekend, woke me on saturday night and on Monday morning I went to the emergency dentist as I was away from home. It was excruciating. The pain was like a contraction, started very softly and got worse and worse until total agony and then died off again. I took ibuprofen and co-codamol all weekend and it was rubbish. he said I needed either an extraction or root canal work, The dentist gave me lots of local (which didn't work) and patched it up as best he could given how much pain I was in. White knuckles and as he said, legs doing river dance. He cleaned it as much as possible and put a temporary dressing on. It was so painful because the nerve was dying and it was so inflamed. He told me to see my own dentist in a month by which time it would of finished dying and she could do it properly. There was no pain in that month but when I went back it was sore, she didn't give me any local as it was assumed it'd be dead and therefore shouldn't hurt. Turns out it wasn't quite dead! It wasn't as painful as the 1st time though as it wasn't inflamed. This is January. In may I am about 10 weeks pregnant and notice the side on the same tooth has worn down and is all sharp. I needed a crown, As it now had a mercury filling there, she refused to do it and filed down the sharp edge and put a temporary crown in which felt like a lump of chewing gum, told me to come back when I've delivered. I am now 40 weeks and so it will be January 2008 when I get my crown and tooth is finally sorted. I wish I had had a mercury filling in May 2006 as it is more hardy and this same tooth has been nothing but trouble. At least I won't be paying for the crown this time. The first visit to the dentist was the worst experience of my life. I'm wondering if labour will be better or worse

i am back in pain as well! i am worrie dthat i have been taking co codamol too long, about 2 weeks? my mum is driving me crazy worrying. i have a bone infection the dentist says, maybe because there is no tooth but i have pain all along my jaw. i have been put on amoxycillin again, am i harming my baby, i'm 20 weeks?

Don't worry too much ginger, amoxycillin should be fine, I am on a 500mg dose 3 times a day for a week and I am 32 weeks - doctor said it was fine. As for the co-codamol (thats paracetamol and codine right?) should be ok at the moment and I am sure no harm done,(although would avoid taking it for too long again - few days max) but I know you can't take it for the full length of your pregnancy, I think it is up to the third trimester - I know I can't take it now. Hope this helps and you feel better soon x