i am obsessing, please help

this is my second post,, I wrote about feeling the drill at my last visit. My lower right molar had a cavity in it.(x-rays were taken about three weeks ago). anyway after the whole drill experience, the tooth was very sensitive. it has been a week sinse the filling and every once in awhile i feel some pain in that tooth. but it seems to only start hurting after i touch it..this morning it started to hurt inside my jaw while i was talking on the phone (I had the phone up against that side of my face. It feels okay now, but if i keep thinking about it or touch it, its starts to get irritated again, then my mind wanders and i start to think that maybe there is an absess that the dentist didnt see on the x-ray ..i started looking up info online and it is not helping. they say that an absess can actually kill you. I feel stupid calling the dentist again, but i have another appt on friday..four days from now..if it is an absess can i wat the four days..now im thinking there is poison going through my system..I know that i am full of anxeity..but over the past five weeks and six visits to the dentist all i think about are my damb teeth..We have alot of things going on in my life right now..we are remodeling our house (magor renovations,)I have a thirteen year old daughter who wants to go out and do things, i have housework that needs to be done etc etc etc.but all i can think about is this darn tooth and having to to go to the dentist on friday and then i have to go again two more times because i have to get bridgework and caps. I would like to get all the dental work done before the holidays..the pain im feeling is in my jaw..is this normal after a filling..has anyone else experienced this. it doesnt last but seems to start as i dwell on it..I feel like a baby calling the dentist i just want to forget about all this..does anyone know how long you can have an absess before it kills you..God this all sounds so ridiculous, but my anxiety is really high over this..I am 40 years old, female..hate dentists , doctors, surgery,am afraid of general anestesia, and taking pills. I would change dentists but i want to get this all over with NOW. i want the work done...have even thought of just getting all my teeth pulled out and wearing dentures..my front teeth are crooked and i want a nice smile. I do want the caps , the bridgework, but do not know if i can handle more dental chair phobia. the whole experience makes me feel like a two year old..I hate it..I hate the needle, the drill, the water running down my throat, not feeling like i can breath, i fear even getting impressions done, the thought of having clay up against my teeth for five grooling minutes terrifies me..I have talked to my dentistt about my fears and he seems kind but not completely understanding. again i do not want to change sinse my appts seem to come quick..cant wait months..I want to enjoy thankgiving and christmas..my whole summer has been ruined now with these visits..i had a cleaning, and four fillings done so far...that doesnt even sound like alot, but to me it was toooooo much..because even when im not at the dentist, while im waiting for my next appt, i obsess....I know i went on and on..but oh i hope someone can not only relate to all of this but could also ease my fears about the sensetivity i am feeling in my tooth....again, it does not hurt all the time..i feel a little pressure in my jaw and pain but it only lasts ;ike two seconds or so, then my tooth gets sensitive again...and then it stops and what the hell is with this absess can kill you thing...I never knew that...i have had infections before.. but i wasnt that scared of them until i read that..how long can you have one before it gets into your bloodstream..??? I feel better just writing this ...Any comments would be greatly appreciated.... Jody

Hi, take a quick breathe and relax.

first, you don't know if you have an abcess. You are just afraid you might have one right?

Sometimes, (not always but sometimes), after a tooth is filled, or capped, that tooth presents a problem and might need a route canal. Don't worry, you'll be numb (that is if your dentist has any brains in his head and is a good caring dentist).

This actually happened to my girlfriend. She had a brand new crown. (She is not phobic by the way, she falls asleep in the dentist's chair while he works on her). She sometimes doesn't even get numb because she doesn't like the feeling of being numb so she gets all her cavities done without novocaine but when she got the crown of  course she was numb.

So all week long, she is getting twinges. When she ate on the tooth or just sometimes for no reason. She went back and sure enough she needed a route canal.  the dentist could not take off the crown so she did the route canal right through the crown.

My friend said to me "I don't know why people make such a big deal about route canals, I could have slept through the whole thing".

See what I mean?  Our minds, because we have phobias, anxieties, etc. make us imagine the worst.

I remember many many years ago when I had my lower right back tooth filled. it was a deep cavity. This tooth drove me nuts for a long long long time. I went to dentist after dentist, took x-ray after x-ray and they always found nothing and would say "probably an inflammation".  To this day, (and I have a brand new phobia dentist) who took those digital x-rays. I asked him the same question. Even though it doesn't bother me any more, if I bite down on a nut or something hard on that tooth, I see stars. He just shook his head and said "probably an inflammation".  

It absolutely does not bother me for eating regular foods, chewing, anything like that. It never botheres me for any other reason. So I just don't eat nuts or hard candies. Shouldn't eat them anyway, right?

Of course, if you start having excruiating pain, immediately phone up your dentist. that is what they are there for.

but I'm sure, it's just the filling and the tooth has to quiet down. See how you feel by tomorrow.

Melody

Hi Jody,

might be that the filling is a little too high and needs adjusting (very quick job), or it might simply need a little more time to settle down. If you're worried about it or it is annoying, let your dentist have a look at it.

While it is possible for abscesses to become life-threatening, this would take quite some time to develop and it would be as a result of a full-blown infection. You've got nothing to worry about on that front, from your description .

I'm sort of going through the same thing myself. I had a large filling done a couple of weeks ago and it still sometimes hurts. My dentist told me to use sensodyne and give it time to settle down. As for an abscess i've had several of those and for me the pain was agony. i've had major surgery twice but the abscess pain was much worse and nothing relieved it, not eveen strong narcotics. I know everyone is different but i don't think on and off pain could be from an abscess.

Hi Jody,

I can completely understand your obsessing as I tend to do it as well.  Trust me, I am being put to sleep to get my work done and that scares the devil out of me!!!  I think Melody and letsconnect said it best but I wanted to add a little something.  I have a molar that needs a root canal which is supposed to be taken care of next week under general anesthesia.  I found out on Aug. 8th on the x-rays that there was substantial infection at the end of the root of the crown.  Luckily I've had little pain but the dentist said it's probably been there for a while.  As letsconnect said it would take some time to get to the point that it would become life threatening and is rare at that.  My dentist told me the same thing, as long as I'm not suffering it could wait a few weeks to be taken care of.  

Some sensitivity is normal and I hope that it is nothing more than that.  Don't be afraid to call the dentist if it would make you feel better.  He is being paid to look out for you and your interests!!  

I'm sure it will all turn out o.k.  Please let us know!

Jody:

I forgot to tell you the story about my own abcess.
I was 15 and woke up with one side of my whole face swollen like a melon. My mother looked at me and said "my god, what the heck happened to you". I was in pain (don't forget, I'm phobic), so I tell my mother. "Oh don't worry, I'll be fine". She says to me "fine, my as*" you're going to the dentist. So we go and he examines me and declares "you have an abcess, you need to be on antibiotics before it can be extracted". (Now I always wondered why on earth they can' extract your tooth if there's an abcess and I'd love for anyone to explain this to me).

So I took the pills, waited over a week, my mother took me to Callahan And Cooley (famous in New York City). This was the first time I ever had General or IV or whatever it was called over 40 years ago.

I sat in the chair, they stuck a thing in my arm and it was like a window shade closing over my body, that's how fast I went under. I did not like that and I don't even like remembering that.

All the iv stuff I have had since that experience has been completely different. They do the IV thing much slower and you just nod off. I will never forget that first time. Thank goodness dentists know better now and IV sedation is much much safer and they DO IT RIGHT!!!!

Melody

Hi Jody

I had a filling in a back tooth exactly one week ago. The tooth feels fine now but my jaw was sore for a few days (until Friday) because of keeping my mouth wide open (very last tooth on the bottom) and from the novacaine injections, and just becuase something was being messed around with. If you still feel problems with the tooth on Friday or even if you don't, mention it to your dentist at your appointment.

Never feel like a baby or a nusance for telling your dentist about your pain or concerns. Remember they went to school for this and it is their jobs to explain these things to you when asked. I can completely sympothize with your situation. I, too, have had a long battle this summer with the dentist and my teeth and know first hand how overwhelming it can be. Everything seems to revolve around one small tooth. Unfortunately, I still don't know what is going on or how to fix it and apparently neither does anyone I have seen. And I have also scared myself to death by reading the internet websites on different dental "issues." trying to figure out or understand what is going on with my tooth. I try not surf the internet anymore because it tends to work me up into near hysteria. Hopefully we will both be done with our teeth woes and dentist appointments very soon.