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Oral Cancer Screening Laser
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I have an abcess on my lower left jaw over an impacted wisdom tooth. I need to have #17 and #32 removed and both ache, but this abcess is killing me. I have been prescribed penicillin and told that I can't see an oral surgeon for over a month. My jaw won't close fully due to this abcess, which is draining and swelling rapidly, it hurts so much I cant sleep and am having trouble working. Is there any way to ease the pressure and pain in the time before I see the surgeon and do I have to worry about being on pennicillin for that long? My dentist acts like this is no big deal. I drive a bus and can't take controlled substances such as tylenol 3 for pain. ...Visitor from NY (answer)
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The Background: I am what is described as a problem patient. In Germany they usually like you to 'suffer' and do not hand out Valium/Whatever like biscuits. I am Claustrophobic and it takes normally 2 strong dental assistants to strap a gas mask on me as I fight back, and so inhalation gas won't work for me. Tamazepam in tablet form calms me a little, but what has worked for me now is Valium Injected into the arm - which German Law does not allow anymore. I literally 'writhe' in a dentists chair and move away when he/she goes near me unless I know exactly what is going on (I realise I am a big baby, and there are people in the world with worse problems than me, but I can't help it, that's me..)
I have a generally low pain threshold, and just like my mother, even for things like teeth cleaning and minor 'pokes' around the mouth with a metal instrument, I need a valium injection in the arm. When I moved to Germany in 1997 I still had a 'back catalogue' of 2 further fillings that needed to be treated, I rushed straight to the German dentist when I got here, explained the situation of how I am, and he literally LAUGHED at me, and couldn't help me further. To cut a long story short it is now 2004, and I have not been to any German dentists (until recently) so I have neglected going to the dentist for about 7 years because of the way I have been treated.
I have been on a long-term dentist plan since I plucked up the courage to go to a dentist (I eventually found a dentist in Berlin who got his Dentist training back in the US) who was able to deal with me and who I was comfortable with. My list of treatments involves 3 new fillings, 2 re-fillings of old fillings made 15 years ago, and a professional 'propylaxe' deep teeth cleaning since the gums have developed inflamations over the course of the last 7 years.
The Abcess Problem:
My motivation for going to this dentist in the 1st place last October was a 'throbbing' (not really pain, but like a heartbeat) above a tooth that needed a deep filling - this started in August 2003. The dentist took an Xray, looked at my teeth, and said the filling needed to be drilled away together with some actual tooth as it was getting dark - I was given an option of fillings, and I chose the ceramic inlay. This was last December 2003. Middle January 2004 I went back to the dentist to say that the throbbing was back for a few days, then stopped and that there was an inflamation and swelling starting near wher the inlay tooth was worked on. He looked at the inlay, looked at the X ray he took in October, and wasn't so sure if this was an abcess at that stage - he asked me about my 'bite' since the inlay was put there and it was slightly misaligned, so he shaved a fraction of a milimeter off the inlay, and suspected that the muscle was hardended at that point and that I should give it a few days to see what happens since he corrected the bite.
Now 2 weeks later I went back to the dentist again, because instead of it now just being inflamed above the inlay tooth (top left tooth towards the back)a growth had rapidly developed the size of a large pea. I was freaked out, I kept asking if he had to take the tooth out, and I didn't want that and it took him a while before I was willing to open my mouth and show it to him.
He immediately X-rayed again, drilled again into that same tooth did something with the nerve that was dead, and filled the hole with something that smells like hospitals - a disinfectant and closed it up temporarily - that was yesterday and said I should keep it under observation overnight. Today; I went back to see him - the actual pea-like growth had softened and reduced above the inlay tooth, but my cheek was swollen - it was as if the fluid in the growth was saying "Nope - I'm not hanging around here near the disinfectant - I am going to travel upwards towards my cheek/left eye where it is cosier". The dentist removed the temporary plug, drilled a bit more to create a crater in the tooth (managing to avoid the ceramic inlay) any put a thin cotton swab in there. He gave me penicillin (Isocillin) and told me to take 6 tabs a day - he hopes that this will kill the bacteria/infection over the weekend. He told me to put cold compresses on all the time, and if the swelling did not go down, I had to go to the emergency dentist on the weekend to have them 'drain' whatever was in the growth. So far 5 hours later the swelling seems to be going down on my left cheek.
I am still VERY worried;
a)That the inlay tooth has to be taken out, despite the inlay just being applied late December, and me spending 300 Euros on a ceramic option which will obviously be wasted if the tooth has to come out anyway.
b) The fact that I am not in pain (yet) - maybe at the point of no return you just stop feeling pain anymore on an infected area.
c) If I have to go to the emergency dentist to have it drained, it will hurt, they will give no local/general, that they will not be sympathetic to me.
d) MOST IMPORTANTLY - that the problem is very serious, and the infection is deep in my skull and I need facial surgery and I am left with scars etc.. while they go right in there near my eye and fill the hole with bone cartilage. If the abcess fluid gets to my brain, I will have brain disease and will die if not treated.
I am sorry to sound overdramatic, but this is me, all the time. Please, please tell me something good. I do speak German, but I do not understand everything the German dentist says, and even if he said it in English for me, I would still freak all the same.
...Visitor from Berlin, Germany (answer)
- My son who is now 9 years old keeps getting abcessed teeth. He has multiple health issues including immune issues and eosinophilic gastroentritis with reflux.
Would the reflux be causing these abcesses? Is there anything I can do to help prevent them? Should he rinse with listerine or something else antibacterial after brushing? He has had 5 abcesses in the past couple of years and the 2 over the past month. I am becoming increasingly concerned that if this trend continues he will lose his adult teeth at a very early age. Also his dentist has not mentioned use of spacers. Should he be using spacers on these areas where he has lost teeth to abcess? ...Visitor from MA (answer)
- About 10-12 yrs ago, my dentist sent me to an endodontist for a consult after he noticed a fistula on my gum, which was small but pussy and draining. Endodontist found tooth was not dead, did all the tests, and said I did not need a root canal. This is a chronic abcess that will flare up off and on over the years..Have been to 4 different dentists, plus the endodontist and all have just given me Augmentin, Tetracycline, and drained abcess. Have also been to 2 different family doctors recently (thinking maybe its not a dental problem) and they both said it was an apthous ulcer. One gave me Magic Mouthwash, the other Keflex. Went to my regular dentist last week for a cleaning, showed him fistula, he took an xray (which showed nothing he could see with tooth), and am now on Keflex for 10 days. My tooth where fistula is above does not now and never has hurt. I have no pain on biting, chewing etc. Tooth is not discolored nor loose after all these years. It does have a filling, which was done 15 yrs ago. It is a back molar upper tooth. My gum is off and on draining and sore though. Who should I see next for a consult? I was thinking of seeing an oral surgeon. Don't really know if it is a tooth or gum problem, but it hasn't changed any in 12 yrs! It is just annoying when it flares up! ...Visitor from PA (answer)
- If a molar has an abscess must it be pulled? Why can't a root canal be done and the tooth capped if the abscess has been cured with antibiotics? ...Visitor from FL (answer)
- Anemia: I have an abscess on my upper left side for over two years. The Oral
Surgeon I saw would not treat me until I could bring my anemia in check. I have tried for two years to do so and am unable (even under my primary physicians supervision) to bring the numbers to an acceptable
level. What choice do I have? The abscess cannot be left untreated and the anemia continues unabated.
If a molar has an abscess must it be pulled? Why can't a root canal be done and the tooth capped if the abscess has been cured with antibiotics? ...Visitor from PA (answer)
- Abscess affecting hip implants?I have at least five untreated tooth abscesses, the result of severe tooth decay. After about a week of swelling and pain a sort of painless encapsulation ensued. I'm considering implants, but I'm concerned that these abcsesses could not be cleaned up or removed adequately, pockets of infection clinging, leaking out at any time in the future; or that they have bored out cavities that would make the implants fail. Also, I must have hip implants. I wonder how the abscesses and the lurking infection in my mouth could spread, pouring bacteria and whatnot into the bloodstream, raising havoc in my hip implants. ...Visitor from NV (answer)
- Abcess on root of tooth: My daughter has been sick with an abcess for a month now and has been on 4 different antibiotics and nothing is getting the infection down so that the tooth can be pulled. What do we do - - have the tooth pulled now or is that dangerous? ...Visitor from TX (answer)
- I have a abcess that has been underneath one of my back molars for over 3 years. I've been taking antibiotics to the point of immunity to certain kinds. I got a root canal on the tooth and the abcess is still there and worse, its causing the nerves in my jaw, neck, and upper chest to tighten and cramp up. What should I do? Did I waste money on getting a root canal (that the dentists strongly recommended) when I should've got an extraction? ...Visitor from TX (answer)
- Ever since being about 15 years old I have always suffered with abscesses on my teeth. As I am getting older (now 23) they are getting worse. I have had around 8 this year in 3 different places. I would say I have good hygiene. I brush my teeth 2 - 3 times a day but they still keep reacurring. Is there anything else that could be keep causing them? Or is there anything I can do to help prevent them from occurring so often? ...Visitor from United Kingdom (answer)
- My dentist told me my eye tooth needed a cap. After drilling the tooth down and cementing the cap, there was some sensitivity which subsided after a couple of weeks. 3 months later, an abscess developed and I'm told I need a root canal. My medical doctor, whom I mentioned this to, said it sounded like a case of failed cap. Is there such a term and what would cause a tooth which has never given me problems before to abscess? My MD said the cap should be redone. I cannot afford a root canal and I'm not sure what to do. ...Visitor from NC (answer)
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