Help needed re dentist!

Toothsmith

I'm not a huge fan of antibiotics either. I can't remember the last time I prescribed 500mg of anything, although now and again 250mg amoxycilin and 200mg metronidazole I have combined.

I think dosage is pretty much a placebo sort of thing in the vast majority of cases.

To start with, the dentist should have told you as soon as she spotted the infection and involved you in the decision making process of what to do about it. Not kept quiet about it until it flared up.

Drainage of infetion is far more effective than antibiotics, so getting into the tooth and giving the infection an exit route will give almost instant relief. Busy NHS practices rarely have the spare time to be able to do this at the drop of a hat though, which is why there can be a bit of an overreliance on the tablets.

As has been already stressed - DON'T hold warm against a tooth.

Hope it's sorted soon.

Brightness

Thanks Toothsmith,

Just been to see my GP who gave me flucloxacillin and metronidazole as the infection is so bad .

I have also booked in to see a different dentist at another surgery as I don't think I could ever trust her again. The new practice is one used by several friends and they all speak very highly of the dentists there

Toothsmith

That's probably best!

Viper_7

Also, to add with a root Canal a crown is usually also required as the resulting tooth is brittle following the treatment.
With a crown the tooth should last a lifetime.

Toothsmith

Viper_7 wrote: »

With a crown the tooth should last a lifetime.

Depends how long the lifetime is!!

The ONLY thing that can be guarenteed for ANY dental work is that one day it will fail!

The ONLY thing that has a chance of lasting a lifetime is a tooth untouched by dental drill!

Once a dentist has done something, that thing will fail one day, and the thing that needs to be done to fix it will be that bit bigger and that bit more destructive. The bigger a restoration the shorter it's lifespan - so the sooner the next, more destructive thing, will be required.

This is why it's VITAL to only ever have necessary treatment (cosmetic stuff for some people can be very necessary, but go into it with eyes open knowing the consequences of messing with good healthy teeth.) To have all treatment done as well as it can be done, by a dentist who only removes as smaller amount of tooth as necessary to do the job.

This is why I sit swearing at the telly when 10 yrs younger is on!!

veronarona

Following root canal treatment I had constant irritation verging on pain for many months, maybe a year or more, but I believed I had to bear anything to keep the tooth. When I eventually had it extracted I wished I'd had it done long before. I think that if the RCT isn't completely satisfactory from the start, have the damn thing out!

Talking of under-doses of antibiotics - a locum GP prescribed me metronizadole (Flagyl) for an agonising ear abscess - when it didn't improve I Googled it and found that he had prescribed a prophylactic dose instead of therapeutic so I upped the dose myself and went back to my GP "proper", and she increased the dose. Thereafter the infection started to subside rapidly, thank goodness - my ear stuck out from my head like a beacon :eek: even though the abscess was inside the ear-hole.

Sorry to ramble OT, but it's all coming back so vividly and I'm so relieved to be over it

veronarona

Brightness

Thanks again Toothsmith - wish you lived near me - I'd book an appointment with you! This tooth was a root canal treatment and then crowned and in the 9 yrs since it was done I have never had a minutes trouble from it.

The tooth is a pre-molar and the reason for the r/c and crfowning was that one day I was eating a banana when I sudeenly felt an 'explosion' in my mouth. Next thing I knew I was spittig out tooth so I rang my dentist who said to go straight down. She began treatment there and then & as I said, no problems until now.

Dentist I saw the other day said taht as I have already had a r/c and a crown then the tooth will have to be extracted if it causes any more problems whereas the emergency dentist I spoke to last night said that a good dentist should be able to remove the crown & root filling, drain abscess and then re-do. Can I ask your opinion on this? If it's going to have to be removed I would rather it done sooner than later and will book in to see the private dentist around the corner as a once off. My appointment with new dentist isn't until end of August although I suppose I could ring and say it is an emergency!

I agree about the cosmetic stuff mind you. A friend of mine had becautiful teeth but she felt they weren't white enough. She went abroad for whitening treatment and came back in agony - she's had nothing but problems ever since

tirednewdad

A tooth can be re root treated and re crowned, but you must fully be aware that the success rates of redoing the root treatment is much lower- about 50-60%

Brightness

tirednewdad wrote: »

A tooth can be re root treated and re crowned, but you must fully be aware that the success rates of redoing the root treatment is much lower- about 50-60%

Thanks, it has gone down quite a bit since yesterday & I have also stopped throwing up (GP thinks poison had gotten into my system :shocked:). Don't feel quite so light headed and dizzy either.

I will wait and see my new dentist in a couple of weeks and see what he/she says and then go with the flow.

As the dentist I was with treated me so appallingly and then wouldn't take a debit or credit card as payment I had to pay by cheque so I have just cancelled it. She can chase me as much as she likes I have a good report from the GP to back me up - she's lucky I am not suing her!