• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Abscessed Tooth or Not?

S

SummerSunshine

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
52
Location
North Carolina
This is really freaking me out, and my dentist isn't open, nor do I have insurance.

I have had an abscessed tooth before, I had pain in that tooth off and on for years. Eventually, I went and had it removed after a round of antibiotics.

Now, I have another molar that hurts, it's dull and not very sharp, the last time it actively hurt was about a year ago, and has started recently, last week for like a day where it hurt to even eat on that side for a couple hours, then went away and it's back again.

This tooth has a filling in it, as does the tooth next to it (no tooth on the other side of it), and this tooth has forever been sensitive to everything. She said after she filled it, that she had to drill deeper than she was planning, as the decay was deeper, and the filling still feels smooth, as does the filling of the tooth next to it. It was filled I believe 3 years ago. I highly suspect that I will need a root canal on it :shame:

If it comes down to that, I'll ask to have it extracted. I'm really freaking myself out thinking it may be abscessed, though there isn't any signs to it :/
 
Update: I called my dentist and she gave me a prescription of antibiotics.Pretty sure it's an infection.
 
I hope the antibiotics help. Hopefully it is just an infection and not an abscess yet.
 
I hope the antibiotics help. Hopefully it is just an infection and not an abscess yet.

I hope so. The pain seems to be getting worse. The ibuprofen still isn't helping. I did go out and get some orajel mouthwash, it's helping to make it more bearable.

I woke up early this morning from pain.
 
SummerShine..

So sorry you are going through this right now..agh. and that ibuprophen isn't helping.. I"m glad the orajel mouthwash is making it a little more bearable. Did your dentist say anything about getting you in soon if it doesn't calm down.... I hope it does... :grouphug:
 
SummerShine..

So sorry you are going through this right now..agh. and that ibuprophen isn't helping.. I"m glad the orajel mouthwash is making it a little more bearable. Did your dentist say anything about getting you in soon if it doesn't calm down.... I hope it does... :grouphug:

Because of the virus, all dentists are closed until May 6. However, she did give me the number to an oral surgeon's office that is still open, and I'll go there if the antibiotics doesn't help much by Thursday or Friday.

I went out and got some extra strength Tylenol that seems to be working too!
 
Welp, now the Tylenol is barely working :shame:
 
I am surprised your dentist is not open for emergencies. I am in Virginia and my dentist has gotten me in for the seating of my implant crown and follow up appointments. It is just super strict on only having one patient at a time.
I have the same issue as you on a lower left molar. It has been super sensitive to heat cold and sugar. I have been avoiding chewing on it. Mine has been diagnosed as cracked. I will not get a root canal either. I will get it extracted if it comes to that. Mine doesn’t hurt much if I don’t chew on it but I know it will eventually. I was supposed to get it crowned a few weeks ago, but that was put off since the pain wasn’t bad, until after the covid 19 restrictions are lifted.

I would call the oral surgeon and see if they can get you in.
 
I am surprised your dentist is not open for emergencies. I am in Virginia and my dentist has gotten me in for the seating of my implant crown and follow up appointments. It is just super strict on only having one patient at a time.
I have the same issue as you on a lower left molar. It has been super sensitive to heat cold and sugar. I have been avoiding chewing on it. Mine has been diagnosed as cracked. I will not get a root canal either. I will get it extracted if it comes to that. Mine doesn’t hurt much if I don’t chew on it but I know it will eventually. I was supposed to get it crowned a few weeks ago, but that was put off since the pain wasn’t bad, until after the covid 19 restrictions are lifted.

I would call the oral surgeon and see if they can get you in.

They are taking walk-ins, but it appears I can't go til Friday, as there is no one to take me tomorrow :(

I would take myself, but I don't know the area that the place is located or how the appointment will affect me. I want this tooth out.
 
They are taking walk-ins, but it appears I can't go til Friday, as there is no one to take me tomorrow :(

I would take myself, but I don't know the area that the place is located or how the appointment will affect me. I want this tooth out.
I understand that. I hope you can get it out on Friday.
 
I understand that. I hope you can get it out on Friday.


My dad's taking me in the morning when he gets off. Maybe this thing won't cost me more than 200-300 dollars to get it taken out. I've already got plenty of ice cream, pudding, applesauce and other soft foods, haha. I know how this goes.
 
How are you doing today @SummerSunshine ?


Ugh, still can't chew on the opposite side due to the pain of chewing. And I couldn't sleep last night. I had to take benadryl last night in order to actually get some sleep.

Ibprofen isn't working, so I didn't take anymore, been sticking with tylenol, which also barely works, but it did work for about an hour for me to get a nap in.

My dad's taking me tomorrow to the oral surgeon office that my dentist said was open and taking walk-ins, should be there when they open at 7am, so I guess I can get that over with early. I don't think the antibiotics are working, and I know there is still going to be pain after an extraction (I mean, I have had four done before), but it's got to be better than what I'm dealing with now.
 
I hope it all goes well there and they make you feel comfortable!! I would definately ask for some better pain meds if you can , just for a day/nights relief a bit..
 
Maybe my dental anxiety won't be too bad in the morning! Used to, I would get so anxious that my stomach would hurt and I'd have to run to the bathroom... now the amoxicilian is doing that.

But no nerves currently. The worse part of it for me is the shots, and waiting for the numbing. The last few times I've had teeth removed, took under 5-10 minutes. Maybe the oral surgeon will be faster.
 
Let us know how you are doing after Summersunshine!! Thinking of you!
 
I will! Apparently, we went to the wrong location today, as it wasn't open, so I'm going tomorrow, to the correct location. It's a little further than we wanted to go to, and we didn't have time :/

So definitely tomorrow!
 
UPDATE:

I went and saw someone today, and I do have a tooth infection. From my understanding, the filling is just up above the nerve, and the inflammation had nowhere to go, so it went down, she showed me the infection on the x-ray, I don't know if it is abscessed though, she didn't say. It wasn't that painful when I went today.

She didn't want to extract it and was very hesitant about removing it, since it's the tooth I chew on, but honesty, the quote she gave me about the root canal (what she recommends) was $2,668.00, with no insurance, that's a no go. She also quoted $323.00 to take it out.

Can't afford that either. So, I paid for the exam and x-ray and went home. I'll finish taking my antibiotics and hope that holds me over until my dentist opens back up and see what she thinks about it, and if she can remove it, I believe she will be cheaper. If I have to, when my antibiotics are up, and doesn't feel better, I'll call her back and see if I can go on another round until she can see me.
 
Summersunshine,

Glad you got in somewhere to at least get somewhat of an answer, sorry to hear not really what you were looking foward to, a high priced root canal quote :(. .. I hope you can get into your own dentist soon and see what she says and if you can get more a peace.. that is definately the highest root canal quote I've ever seen and I've had more than my share. Is it a retreat? I know those are a little higher . I hope you can hang on until you can talk to your dentist and that the pain goes away.!! :grouphug:
 
Summersunshine,

Glad you got in somewhere to at least get somewhat of an answer, sorry to hear not really what you were looking foward to, a high priced root canal quote :(. .. I hope you can get into your own dentist soon and see what she says and if you can get more a peace.. that is definately the highest root canal quote I've ever seen and I've had more than my share. Is it a retreat? I know those are a little higher . I hope you can hang on until you can talk to your dentist and that the pain goes away.!! :grouphug:


It was on oral surgery place. So I don't know if that factors in or not. But I don't think I could afford a root canal at all though, I can barely afford an extraction.

I was able to sleep last night without pain meds or benadyrl though. And while there isn't any painful throb, I still can't eat on that side, and it feels uncomfortable, but at least I can focus on other stuff now, so I can only hope the amoxicillin is doing its job. I've got four days left after today, and kinda worried that it won't go away until I can get in ?
 
Back
Top