blardy dentist and x-ray info, they should know this, right??

[swottybetty]

i am 20 wks and have a horribly infected abcess. thought it was under a tooth right at back at mouth which i wouldnt have minded having whipped out cause isnt in great shape anyway.

SO - got to dentist for first time is god knows how many years (hurrah for free dentistry when preg) and aside from it being the every bit as horrible experience as expected turns out the abcess is under a far healthier looking tooth which is nearer front. so low i have to have a root canal. not looking forward to recovering afterwards with only paracetomol.

anyways, i'm way off topic. after saying i would need a root canal dentist said, ok, we'll get you x-rayed. and i said "oh, am i allowed?" dental nurse then said i couldn't cause of pregnancy and dentist tutted and said "oh well, dentist will just have to rely on guesswork then."

i've since done me research and apparently its fine to have dental xray when preg. also, its v important for root canal work. am a bit at the dentist tbh. she's the emergency one and wont be doing the treatment.

treatment due week on monday. should i ring up surgery and see if its worth me going in for an xray beforehand? or will they just be able to do it before treatment? also, i read that i should wear a lead apron to protect my tummy. i dont want to be telling people how to do their jobs, but given they didn't know their stuff in first instance, i'm now worried they may give me an xray without one. or be in a sitauation where they do the root canal work without xray cause they didnt have the apron.

this is the first dentist i could get seen by on NHS. tempted to try somewhere else. only thing is that the blaardy woman who saw me would not be the one doing the work, so poss unrepresntative of surgery as a whole....??? 'elp!

I was told as long as you wear the apron, you'll be fine to have an X-ray (I was also told that the risk without an apron is still on minuscule). I'd ring back and check they know what's what and try to go in and have the X-ray beforehand. I've got to have three fillings next week (I'll also be 20 weeks - are you on the June thread?) - they give you special anaesthetic and it's all safe for preg.

You don't want to be worrying about all that on top of pregnancy, the root canal and the pain you're in. Poor you x

I was told by my dentist (private one) that PG women cant get x-rayed. Seems like he was telling the truth, because being private one, he would have jumped at the possibility to get few extra ££. And he knew I could go on NHS to fox that tooth. So I think you can't have x ray whilst pregnant.

im a radiographer, they should give you a lead apron to wear whilst having the xray, it is fine to have one whilst pregnant,if they dont even offer you one they are incompetant and should not be practising. The xray beam is aiming at your mouth not your tummy so dont worry.

i had to have a root canal after i had just had ds2 and the young dentist insisted which tooth it was, xrayed it, did the root canal and when i was still getting severe toothache weeks on, i went back and he decided to rootcananl the tooth next to it as well. at this i decided to go to a different dentist who they re-xrayed and thinks he may have done root canal to the wrong tooth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he wont do the tooth that is still playing me up as the roots are curved and need to go to a private specialist to have them done. i cant afford this at the moment so am putting it off and having to live with it for a while.

anywaym the moral of the story is that yes you can have an xray and if your not happy with your dentist, you can try to swap, speak to the practice manager and voice your concerns.

ty everyone. nhs direct and the dental association websites both said ok, so am not worried about info. tho v useful to hear it from a radiographer (worley, i have had differing opinions on which tooth it is too. emergency dentist said it was one, this one said another ... i cannot believe they did the wrong one for you)

sazzles i blardy hope anti-b's ok! i am on some beginning with "a" at quite a high dose. crippling pain now gone (so not taking paracetomol thank goodness) but still have to push horrible thoughts out of my head whenever i think about harm they could be doing. been told its fine but taht doesnt stop you worrying does it?

i needmorechoc, yes i am on the thread but its so big i fess i rarely get a chance to ctach up!

i've been getting pain from my root filled tooth and was given anti biotics yesterday at 24 weeks - my dentist told me he wanted to hold off on re doing the root canal until after i give birth because the anaesthetic isn't good for the baby. Do you think you could hold out with the antibiotics and have it done afterwards? I know how awful mine was first time round and really don't fancy it without taking mega pain relief. In answer to your question though, dental x rays are fine as long as you wear a lead apron

Is it amoxycillin you're taking? If so then it's considered very safe to take in pregnancy. I've just had a week's course for a sinus infection.

My dentist sayd you can have an x-ray. Its v mild, pointed only at your head and presents a teeny tiny risk, especially if its only one exposure.

What I would say is with the local anathestic (sp?) you can do root canal without it and if you tell the dentist this, they do tend to be ultra gentle. Neither of my parents have locals when having tooth ops and my mum's had some major root work done, so it is possible.

You can be x-rayed during pregnancy if absolutely necessary.

Dental xrays are very localised, and you would need to have a heck of a lot of them before they even start to have any effect. However, yes you should wear a lead apron for safety & peace of mind.

The dental nurse, imo shouldn't have spoken out like that in front of you, if she was concerned she should have had a quiet word out of your ear shot. She was very unprofessional!

Yes, they can do an x-ray before they treat you & tbh they shouldn't really attempt a RCT without one...It is the only way to really pinpoint the tooth it is under & the extent of it. You will probably need a few through out the course of the treatment. I doubt you will need an extra appointment/visit just for that. They are developed in no time at all & are instant if it is a digital system.

IME they may open the tooth leaving it open to drain & not complete the whole RCT until baby is born, due to the frequency of xrays needed.

There are many type of local that can be used & a few that are absolutely safe during pregnancy.

sandcastles r u a dentist? feel like fixing me? mainly i just feel a bit annoyed that they didnt seem to know their stuff. but like i said it was a woman whose job it was to see all the emergency peiple rather than treat them, so maybe the actual dentist will be better. this woman was awful - i dont think she felt like she had any real responsibilty to me IYNWIM

I had amoxycillan for a tooth abcess a couple of months ago and was told it was perfectly safe during pregnancy. It did eventually clear up the infection (after about 5 days).

I was in a similar position to you as I had not yet seen my proper dentist in my new area to register properly so had to go to an emergency clinic to get the antibiotics.

Just a word of warning (which you may already know) - new dentists won't treat you for anything until you have been for a 'check-up' appointment to get you officially on their books.

After getting my antiobiotics from the emergency dentist (v. friendly and competent btw) I had to wait a week for an appointment with my local dentist. This would not be an appointment for treatment, but simply for a much shorter check-up (although I did hope that the dentist might start treatment straight away). They won't let you book any treatment appointments until you've had one of these - even if you know there is a problem.

By this point the antibiotics had stopped the worst of the pain. At this appointment the dentist was very unfriendly and refused to even discuss the abcess until he'd checked my teeth over. He then said that because I had already had a root canal in the same tooth he would not undertake further treatment, or even do an x-ray to see what was happening, unless the abcess came back a further time!

If it did come back, he said it would require cutting into the gum and they don't like to take out root canals once in place. I left feeling very upset and confused as I thought the appointmentwould be the start of lengthy treatment to solve the problem! The emergency dentist had indicated they would have to re-do the root canal.

So I am now awaiting a check-up with a different local dentist to try and get a second opinion. Fortunately the abcess hasn't come back and I won't have any problems for a while (now at 32 1/2 weeks).

The moral of the story is to never put off registering with a dentist when you move!! I will never make the same mistake again...

Deaconwood - my dentist says he is happy to do another root canal on the same tooth for me as my first obviously failed. Sounds like the dentist was being lazy tbh What are you meant to do then, have it pulled? I am really worried about mine - if it fails again as it's a front one

Mine is also one of my front teeth, so I hope it won't ever come to that! I had the original root canal done about 12 years ago.

I didn't trust the new dentists' opinion at all, hopefully the next one I see will be more positive about the treatment! The one I saw was so dismissive (he wouldn't even explain the alternative treatments to me properly) and I felt useless and weepy as the whole thing had been such an ordeal already. Next time I'm taking my OH with me so he can more questions!

I just hope things don't kick off again in the next few months!!

swottybetty, I am a dental nurse. Or was pre dd [5].

The person you saw should have been a fully qualified dentist, otherwise she shouldn't have seen you.

Maybe she was a VT [vocational trainee]. VT's are dentists that have just left uni. They are fully qualified but have to work their first year under supervision of a qualified dentist/s with so many years experience [am sure it is at least 10].

That would account for the 'scattiness'. Still no excuse tho.