Aliba

Hey all,

Just an update on what has happened to me since last week and another couple questions for you all.

You may remember from the other board that I was going through hair-pulling severe pain last weekend. A tooth on the lower right hand side of my jaw was in severe pain, and causing a bit of pain on the throat underneath and on the ear next to it. I was taking tylenol, tylenol with codeine, anbesol, sudafed (in case sinus related) and anything else I could to control the pain but NOTHING worked....until I discovered that running room temperature water over the tooth eased the pain.

I went to the emergency room on saturday evening and they refused to give me anything for the pain but they did prescribe an antibiotic until I could see the dentist on monday. Unfortunately the pharmacy was closed and unable to get them until sunday morning. I spent ALL night sunday awake just rinsing. At one point I could drink no more water and had to rinse and spit...until 8am sunday. The pain finally subsided enough without water that I could sleep.

I saw the dentist and he took a look. No swelling outside or inside the mouth, there is a cold going around that made him suspect sinuses as well. They took x-rays and he didn't really get anything conclusive but thought there may be an abcess beginning because the nerve on that tooth was dark in the film. The tooth that it's on broke off earlier this year and is about 3/4 filled on the top - about half with a 10 yr old filling.

He wanted to wait a little bit but after discussion felt that we needed to extract or root canal and seeing as how the tooth is mostly filled and would likely break off I would rather extract. Of course, now that I am supposed to go in tomorrow and do it I'm having second thoughts.

I am still on the antibiotics and am having no pain on the bottom, but I am on the top. Also, you may remember that this began in August when I came down with a bout of adult chicken pox. At that time my teeth REALLY started to hurt but were controllable with tylenol with codeine. Another strange nerve related condition ocurred at that time that the doctors haven't been able to figure out, my feet turned red...about 3 fingers wide and wrapping around the bottom of the foot from ankle to ankle. That lasted a day or two then the skin turned to leather, died and fell off. I'd had feet problems all my life but not that bad.

Now today as I am preparing for getting a tooth yanked (and $2000 of bridge work) that no longer hurts but hurts on the top, my feet begin to do the same thing. I am wondering if it is related to a nerve condition as was the chicken pox/shingles episode. Should I be seeking a medical doctor before we make the decision to do the teeth?

I'm also about 3 months away from being on a dental plan that would cover all the work which isn't a big deal. I would rather know for certain that this is the correct procedure, on the correct tooth, for the right reasons.

Thanks...