my tooth abscess won't go

annie123

Note to BG:
I am NOT looking for medical advice just other peoples experiences.

Has anyone else had a tooth abscess still there 2 weeks later?:mad:

It's behind my front teeth and goes to the centre of the roof of my mouth, it was at its largest, 6 teeth wide and the size of a walnut shell:eek: but is now down to 4 teeth wide and more like a quality street toffee size, not that I eat those these days.

So far I have had:
500mg of amoxcillian 3 x day with
200mg metronidazole 3x day,
then one day of 3g in 2 doses of amoxicillian (this from GP when he saw it for my sick note from work)
then the same first course repeated but with double dose of metronidozile.
48 hours worth of pills left to take.

Am also taking garlic,echinacea, and salt water rinses.

No pain at all now so not taking any painkillers.

My dentist is reluctant to lance it as there is no head, and said it will hurt as difficult to anesthetise, and no guarantee it will get rid of it all, something to do with pockets in the roof of my mouth but he has booked it for this coming Friday anyway.:eek:

He can see no reason for it being there but said wont know untl its gone and he can xray it

To make things worse I wear a partial denture which won't fit in due to this. So stuck indoors as it wouldn't be a pretty sight if I bumped into a neighbour etc. Hubby doesn't count, hes seen me at my worse before;)

And in 2 weeks time I will be in the Canary Island on holiday, with or without my denture in.
Its a free holiday, just flights to pay for as going with MIL who has paid for everything else. No holiday for 2 years due to being made redundant.
I dont want this to still be there then, that would be a month with it:(

Anyway I digress:rolleyes:

Has anyone else had one for this long?
Did you have similar treatment?
Did your teeth get loose and then tighten after?
2 of mine I can watch them move:eek: they are both caps from last year so hope to get more than a year out of my £500 I paid for them:rolleyes:

You can tell I'm not talking to anyone at the mo, long post, sorry:o

Artytarty

You poor thing!
I've never had anything as bad but I did have an abscess once and my teeth loosened (scary!) but then tighetned again.
Hope you get it sorted soon!
Arty.

BitterAndTwisted

Yep, I had an abcess on a front incisor quite a long time ago but the infection was not apparent at the roof of my mouth, it could be felt up underneath my nose. He drilled a hole in the back of the tooth to enable to infection to drain and I think I had about four or five courses of painkillers and antibiotics in the end but it just wouldn't shift. While all this was going on the dentist was not able to do anything because of the risks. In the end he carried out a surgical procedure (I can't remember what he called it now) to remove the infection under a local anaesthetic and I had a couple of very attractive stitches up there for a couple of weeks and then the tooth was crowned.

coldstreamalways

You need to go back to your dentist (or NHS out of hours care etc) as he can x ray it even when it's infected. The infection needs draining out (never let the sun set on pus) either throught the tooth or by lancing it. I fear you may be being fobbed off.

fifitrix123

I had a recurring abcess after a dentist filled a tooth over it and I ended up on a life support ventilator after it closed my windpipe and I could not breath and they couldn't operate until it had gone down so intravenous anti biotics (after several diff lots didn't work)
Mind you it could have been one lot of antibiotics I was allergic too caused the massive swelling, but I would now keep on at anyone to get it checked out even if you have to go to hospital as it nearly killed me!!
Iv had this 3 times now and counting!!!!

Good luck as I know how much pain you must be in!

Toothsmith

I'd agree with coldstreamalways.

The dentist needs to DO something. Waiting for antibiotics to work can be a long wait sometimes.

annie123

Thank you for the replies, do feel better now I know I'm not the only person to have had this.

I have had the same dentist for 20 years and have always trusted what he advised. Maybe I shouldn't.

I can call him tomorrow but what do I ask for?
Part of the area it spreads over has no teeth, my partial denture fills that gap and that leaves upper right 1, my own tooth, 2 capped, 3 capped last year and feeling a bit wobbly, hope that tightens back up) then big gap.

Just looked with my dental mirror and no sign of a head on it yet.

Fork86

annie123 wrote: »

Thank you for the replies, do feel better now I know I'm not the only person to have had this.

I have had the same dentist for 20 years and have always trusted what he advised. Maybe I shouldn't.

I can call him tomorrow but what do I ask for?
Part of the area it spreads over has no teeth, my partial denture fills that gap and that leaves upper right 1, my own tooth, 2 capped, 3 capped last year and feeling a bit wobbly, hope that tightens back up) then big gap.

Just looked with my dental mirror and no sign of a head on it yet.

Your dentist should have attempted to establish drainage. As coldstreamalways and Toothsmith have quite righly pointed out, antibiotics are no substitute for drainage of pus. If your infection spreads further back, or was in your lower jaw, it could compromise your ability to breathe. If you have a fever, I suggest you goto an emergency dentist or an NHS walk in dental clinic tomorrow if you cannot see your dentist.

annie123

Thank you for your concern but thankfully I dont feel ill at all, no fever, no pain for the last few days, just a swelling there now so will call him tomorrow but still not sure what I am asking him to do.
If it has no head on it can it still be drained?
cant go through teeth as they have caps on and my own front tooth is to the side of it.

I do have an appointment to drain it with him on friday, as I mentioned earlier, but I'm guessing thats too late then. I think he must have been hoping it would be very small so not much left to drain out, or maybe its easier to numb a small area.

coldstreamalways

The tooth that has caused this infection has died (or is a re-infected root filled tooth). That means it either needs to come out (could get it added to your denture?) or it needs root filling. You can do this through a crown or cap. If it's not treated properly, the infection will never go away.

It's great that you trust your dentist but he does need to do something. I have drained lots of these lately simply by drilling into the back of the tooth. One leaked green pus for 40min! The tooth will be dead as doornail so it won't hurt.

Toothsmith

There's always the possibility that there's a post in the way, which means you can't drain it through the tooth.

It's good that you've been to the same dentist for so long, and if you trust him, then us lot on a message board - who've never seen you and not seen the problem - are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to giving accurate advice.

As a rule though, the sooner it's drained the better, so it might be worth going back sooner than Friday just to let him 'have another look'.