Infected tooth

by greendawn 16 Replies latest jw friends

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  greendawn

  Last night I experienced an ever increasing sensitivity and pain in a tooth and eventually even touching it with my tongue felt painful. The gum next to it was also beginning to feel numb and swollen so I realised it must be some sort of infection in the root of the tooth.

  It was vital to act fast because this kind of infection can spread fast and cause great pain and perhaps a loss of the tooth so first thing in the morning I went to the dentist, he decided it was a root infection and told me to try antibiotics and if they don't work he would do a root treatment.

  The antibiotic (Noprilam) worked really well just the first pill cleared most of the pain after about two hours. Ten hours later the pain is almost completely gone I can chew even hard solid food. I hope by the time I use up all 16 pills the infection will be gone.

  Did anyone have a similar painful experience?
• 

  misanthropic

  I don't know if it's just because maybe we do things differently in the US, but here if you have an infected root you need to have the root canal procedure to clean out the decay and then have it filled with something so that the decay doesn't spread. Did you see a doctor or a dentist? Antibiotics usually help for awhile but won't take care of the problem. I've had a root canal on one of my teeth in the back, then I had to have a crown placed on it but the doctor did the procediure wrong so I had to have both things redone less than a year later. Talk about a hit in the pocketbook.
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  Finally-Free

  I used to have the bad habbit of waiting too long, so I had very painful infections a few times. I lost 2 teeth that way, and had one upper front tooth fixed. They had to do surgery on the bone above that tooth. Now I go for regular checkups and cleanings. I don't want to experience that pain again.

  W
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  Xena

  I got one on a Sunday. Fortunately I finally found a dentist who would see me. My jaw was so swollen it looked like I had mumps. That has got to be one of the most painful things imaginable. You get any pain meds??? I was drugged up for 3 days while antibiotics went to work on the infection, couldn't go into work. Stupid tooth ended up costing a freakin arm and leg.
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  free2think

  A few years ago i developed really bad tooth ache while I was chewing some food. By the end of the day I was in agony and my dentist had taken the day off lol. Anyway I went there first thing in the morning after a restless night and she told me I had an infection in my wisdom teeth. It was so painful. She gave me antibiotics and almost immediately the pain lessen, it took a few days to go completely but that was the first time I have ever had toothache.. She said if it kept happening she'd have to take them out but fortunately it never got that bad again. Phew.
• 

  poppers

  When I was in high school I was on the basketball team (this was 1967). During a Friday game I took an elbow to the chin, shook it off and continued to play. The next Tuesday we had another game, this one out of town. When the game ended I boarded the bus and suddenly my chin had swollen to the size of a golf ball and I was in incredible pain. I couldn't touch the area or even make contact with my tongue on my lower teeth. I had no choice but to sit there and take the pain until I got home , but unfortunately the bus broke down and I had to sit in agony until it was fixed - no cell phones existed then to make an emergency call, and I didn't report it to the coach because he was critical of players complaining about aches and pains. We finally got home 2 1/2 hours later than we should have but I still had to wait until morning to see a doctor. No doctor would do anything for me, and they told me to see a dentist. I went to 3 dentists before one would take me on as a patient. It turned out that the blow to the chin had cracked the root of a tooth, which then got infected. Novacaine had absolutely no effect on me and I had to endure a root canal without benefit of an anesthetic - talk about agony. Since then I've had a couple of root canals and they have been a cake walk compared to that first time.
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  PEC

  Once when chewing on a jawbreaker, I felt something strange, I had cracked a tooth. Two days later I was in terrible pain and went to the dentist, it cost me $1300 and this was with dental insurance. The root canal alone would have been $1150 without insurance. I have to pay $450 for the root canal and $850 for the crown, et c .. I upgraded my dental insurance after that and haven't have any more problems with my teeth. I don't chew on Jaw Breakers, Ice, etc. anymore.

  Philip
• 

  greendawn

  Misanthropic, it was a dentist who advised me to try curing the problem with antibiotics because it was still in its early stages though he said it may not work or if it does the infection may recur in the near future. In fact 12 hours after taking the first antibiotic pill and four after the second the pain and sensitivity have completely gone (I am not using pain killers) and there is by now only a slight sense of swelling and numbness.

  Finally Free it's obviously not a good thing to leave infected teeth untreated exactly becaus ethe infection can spread to the jaw bone which is major trouble.

  Xena, did that big swelling come up suddenly? Fortunately in my case the antibiotics quickly killed the infection and the pain.

  Free2think I also hope to get over the infection with just antibiotics.

  Poppers what a nightmare scenario with the bus breaking down just as you were in great pain.

  PEC what are jawbreakers, the word sounds so sinister? Whatever they are they cost you a great deal of pain and money.
• 

  ninja

  hey Greeny ...I was at the dentist for a root canal last week....I had to drink guinness the week before I went to keep the pain away....however...don't know what my excuse is now!!!!
• 

  Crooked Lumpy Vessel

  I had a similar problem where I had an infection under a crown. I made an appointment but the pain was so severe that at 8:00 a.m. the next morning I was on the doorstep of my dentist office waiting for him. I was taking some pain killers leftover from a previous back injury but the infection pain was increasing and eventually the pain medication was too weak to handle it.

  They sent me over to a peridontist because apparently the root canal that I had 7 years prior had a unidentified 4th root which was housing the infection. He was wonderful because not only did he fix the root problem but he also managed both the pain and the infection.

  I found that some doctors and dentist are afraid of drug seekers and hesitate to prescribe medicine for the pain. My dentist would not prescribe me any pain killers whereas the peridontist did.

  I hate my dentist because it was obvious I was in pain as I was crying and drooling. They were going to send me home with antibiotics only and reschedule me. I told them that if I did not have this taken care of today then I was going to get me a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pair of pliers and take care of it myself.

  Hence the peridontist.

  I feel your pain.