Toothache

[Bernice]

About 4 months ago I had a toothache but mainly when I was laying down at night. It was usually OK during the day and I could eat on that side. The pain was actually on the whole one side of my mouth. I didn't know what tooth was bothering me. I thought maybe it was my sinuses putting pressure on my teeth. Then after about month of this off and on pain, the pain completely stopped. I didn't go to the dentist because during the day it wasn't bothering me. Last night before I went to bed I had a piece of choc. I went to bed and as I was laying down, that side of my mouth started hurting again. I put anbesol on it, took an advil and put a cold compress on that side. Nothing helped. The pain was unbearable. I was almost in tears. It felt like my cheek was hurting too. I called the hospital to see what I can do. They said I can come in and they will give me a painkiller until I can get to a dentist. I don't have insurance so I called my doctor (this was about 11:00pm). She called me back and told me to take 3 advils every 6 hours and in between that I can take 2 extra strength tylenols in between (like 3 hours after taking the advil). So I took 2 more advils since I already took 1 about an hour before. Luckily, the pain went away and I could sleep alittle. I did wake up about 2 hours after I fell asleep but not because of my tooth, I woke up coughing because I'm also trying to get over a cold and my throat was scratchy. I took a drink of juice and fell back to sleep. When I got up this morning, my tooth isn't bothering me as much and I haven't taking anything yet because it's not that bad. My fiance said it might be my sinuses because I do have a cold. I don't like dentists. I know I should have them check it and I will probably call them tomorrow. I heard that it's not a good idea to have a dentist do work on your teeth when you have a cold. Does anyone know if that's true? Does anyone have any idea on how to relieve the pain of a toothache until you can get to a dentist? What do you think? Could it be my sinuses that's making my teeth hurt? Any suggestions?

[kfoster]

I'm a dental student so I'm going to take a shot at this one. Sinuese would only affect your upper teeth and it depends on where the pain was really. My concern would be when you drink cold or warm water, does it hurt? Teeth are naturally sensitive to cold water so don't just run to the dentist if you happen to drink or sip cold water and you feel sensitivity. Now if you drink warm or hot water and you feel the same sensitivity as if it was cold water, that's a problem. Also, if you are in a deep sleep and you are awaken by a pain in a tooth, that's also a cause for concern so keep an eye out of that. The dentist needs to do a vitality test on the area that is bothering you to really pinpoint the problem.