ER/Prompt Care for pain - Questions about Dentures/Extractions, too

[sincitysoul]

Well, my inactivity and delays in seeing a dentist have finally nipped me in the butt. I woke up at roughly 7 am Saturday morning with what I can only describe as horrific pain around one of my bad teeth. It faded away enough that I got another few hours of sleep, but ended up calling a nurse line who said she couldn’t prescribe a narcotic without seeing me in person but suggested alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol. The ibuprofen WAS working so I hadn’t taken Tylenol, but the second dose isn’t working as well so I think I may have to add it in. If this keeps it up, I’ll have to make a trip to the prompt care or Emergency Room In the morning to get something stronger (there are no dentists around here that are open on Sundays, especially not with the pandemic).

the next issue: the dentist I’d like to see in regards to potentially yanking all of my teeth (for a variety of reasons you can see in my post history, not where I wanted to be at 30, but it is what it is) doesn’t do the dentures themselves and only offers implants and over dentures, neither of which I can afford or am a candidate for. I was think of going to the local Affordable Dentures chain to get he dentures themselves, but have the other dentist do the extractions (It’s have to be 1-2 teeth at a time vs all at once). Is that something any of you have had done before?

 

[Enarete]

Hi sincitysoul,

what a nightmarish weekend for you hope you find a way to get it sorted. Will you be able to get seen on Monday? Can't offer any advice your plan with dentures, but was surprised that there are dentists who do not offer dentures... sounds like a very unflexible offer. I have read about people getting their dentures somewhere else than at their dentists so now I understand what can lead to such a decision.

All the best wishes and keep us posted

 

[sincitysoul]

@Enarete - I’m not sure, but I‘d imagine so if I told them it was an emergency that sent me to prompt care and/or the emergency room for relief. It surprised me as well, since I really thought that a place that offered over dentures would also be able to do regular dentures, but I guess that’s a thing now. The dentures place wouldn’t be able to see me until the first or second week of August, but I can deal with a gap until then, if necessary. I just need the toothache to go away until I can get insurance and such sorted. ?‍

the wild part is that, other than the pain, I’m not showing signs of infection - no abcess that I can see, gums aren’t any redder or puffier than normal, no fever. I’d love to get away with not needing antibiotics as I’m allergic to penicillin type medications, and would rather save the others for more serious infections.

 

[sincitysoul]

Update: the location where I WAS going to go is apparently booked out and not accepting new patients until at least November (likely because of all the appointments they had to cancel when the state shut down for the pandemic in March) - which is iffy, as the person who gets me to and fro is having knee replacement surgery in September and we don’t know when she’ll feel up to moving around again. I’ve now sent out a couple emails to other practices to find an alternative.

the good thing is that the toothache has almost completely disappeared, lending credence to the idea that the pain was likely caused in conjunction with pre-existing sinus issues. I’m glad to be mostly pain free (what remains is so minor that im not horribly concerned) which has bought me a little more time to find somewhere.