I have a tooth in the back, just before my mullar's (sp?) which chipped around a filling about 6 months ago. Decay set in, and it chipped down more and more. The back side is fully intact, the filling is still in place, but the front side is broken down to the gum line just about.

In the mean time, it's caused me some pain here and there, and some headaches from it. Now, in the past few days, it went from being painful here and there, to being extremly painful all day, with a dull ache in my jaw and an accompanying headache.

I haven't had it looked at for 3 reasons. 1, we didn't have insurance until a few weeks ago, 2, we didn't have cash to supplement the insurance, OR do it without insurance, and 3, I've had a very irrational fear of dentists since I was little. Basically, I couldn't breath through my nose, especially if it has something like a gas mask or oxygen mask over it, and I wasn't getting the gas like I should have. I used to have huge panic attacks when going to the dentist, and litterally had drugs to sedate me before each visit.

Anyway, back to the point. We now have insurance, and as of next week, when our taxes get back, we'll have the money to have it looked at.

In the mean time, I'm almost certain there's an infection causing the extra pain, possibly even an abcess. After looking around, I found that most dentists require antibiotic treatment before working on an abcess, and I brought out my "medicine cabinent" (which is really just an baby wipe container), and looked through what I've had for me and my husband in the past year.

I found augmentin 875mg's that are about 11 months old, with only 2 left, and trimox 250mg's which are around 7 months old, and there's probably 12 left.

I split the augmentins in half, and took 1 half today, and plan to take the other three over the next three days. I also took 1 trimox today, and plan to keep taking 1 a day for the next week (or until I can get into the dentist)

I guess what my overall problem is, is that the pain was so bad yesterday that I took 2 migrain tablets, 2 Tylenol PM, and 1 Aleve over a 3 hour period, and it still hurt afterwards. The Tylenol PM has about 25mg's of a sleep aid in each pill, and I had an over the counter sleep aid which had 50mg's of the exact same aid in it, and finally took that about an hour after the tylenol pm, and was finally able to get some sleep.

Now, again, going to the dentist right now is completly out of the question. It'll be next week before I can do it, and even then, I don't know if they'll do the work immediatly, or wait. In the mean time, any suggestions on the pain?

I can deal with it during the day. It's not pleasant, and it does hurt a ton, but during the day, I can at least work through it.

However, at night, I couldn't lay my head down without causing more pain, to the point of having to try and sit upright until the meds kicked in.

So, over the counter meds, what would help that I haven't already tried? I also have some Tylenol3 for when I get back aches, but they make me sick.

-screams- I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated. Any help and advice would be GREATLY appreciated at this point.

Gilly

Well, after last night, money be damned, I have an appt for today. :(

I took enough painkillers that I'm pretty sure I'm lucky I woke up. Over a 3 hour span from 11pm to 2am, I took 2 tylenol w/codine, 4 tylenol pms, 1 muscle relaxer, and 1 aleve. On top of my normal "drug" regiment of 2 wellbutrines, 2 herbal calming pills, and 1 vitamin b-complex.


:( It hurts very badly. I took another t-3 about 20 minutes ago. :(

Hi Gilly, I hope you're feeling a bit better now. It sounds like you have an abscess that has set in from deep decay. You need to get it looked at right away to prevent it from spreading elsewhere.

Ian

Well, brief update, I went in to the office, and filled in the paper work. Well, one question was about whethe or not I had a heart murmur. 8 years ago, I was pregnant with #1, and had been hospitilized for a week with a severe kidney infection. 1 doctor who was looking after me mentioned briefly (1 single time with no follow up) that I had a slight heart murmur. So, I answered yes, and explained what it was. She explained to me that without knowing one way or the other, they couldn't do anything until they had confirmation because of a chance of the infection traveling down to my heart.

So, they sent me on my way, and I need to find out where to get confermation one way or the other (because no doctor before or after has ever mentiond it). In the mean time, I self medicated with anti-biotics I had on hand: 1000mg's of Trimox a day, plus 875mg's of Augmention a day for the past few days. Yes, yes, self medicating is bad. But, the swelling on the bump has gone WAY down, and the pain was gone by Friday. So, I figure that's at least buying me a few pain-free days until I can get everything around.

Fingers crossed that I can get it on Monday, and have an appt by tuesday or wensday at the latest. Ahh, the joys, right?

If the antibiotics are reducing the swelling, I think it's safe to say that you've probably got an absence in there. Definitely get it sorted by your dentist as soon as possible as it will come back again.

I feel bad for you guys in the US as you have such high dental and medical fees. Here in the UK, most of us are covered by the NHS so we have only a limited amount to pay which is only a fraction of what you have to pay. I guess we're very lucky here.

Yeah, the prices are way too high compared to elsewhere. I was talking to someone online not too long ago about dental costs, and prcedures that cost like $300-500 here, were costing him about half that. :(

I know, it's ridiculous. In fact some of the dental treatment we get here is 10% of what you pay in the US, and if you're on benefits or are unemployed it's free. I was talking to a physiotherapist recently who jokingly said that he should go to America to practice because he would make a huge amount of money. I am aware that there are overheads to pay etc, but a think greed is probably the driving factor.

I agree, there. They make heaps of money here being any sort of doctor. It's unbelievable. Insurance companies make a ton, too, compared to what they cover. I mean, we have insurance on our cars, right? We pay it each month, dutifully, and haven't ever gotten in an accident. Yet, no matter how many thousands we've paid in, they'll only cover what our policy is worth in terms of pay out.

Big money makers.

Irritating isn't it. And I believe most doctors to be useless robots anyway. The physiotherapist that I was just telling you about broke his ankle about 2 years ago. When I asked him what they had said to him when he went down to A&E he replied that he didn't go to A&E as that would be the last place he would go with a broken ankle?!? He decided to fix it himself with a support, bandages and magnets. He was completely healed within a month - hmmm, makes you think doesn't it.