extraction infection and antibiotic fears and questions

[soupy]

Hi there, thanks in advance for any help.

background - phobic here that also - has phobia of 'big blood test sized' needles, doesn't like being touched, has multiple allergies, has ibs, has never taken antibiotics as i have family members with antibiotic allergies and other serious anyphylatic allergies, is phobic of vomitting (recovering eating disorder sufferer), has just healed uclers naturally after 4 years, is getting over a serious rare skin condition that meant i could not have dentistry for 4 years, and finally, I don't want to take antibiotics even if I am not allergic to them because they are vey hard on the gastro intestinal tract and can cause serious skin allergies.

I am in the UK and have to have an extraction, LL6 molar. Prior to this i have had 5 root canals and gum surgery. Not once have I been asked to take antibiotics, which is fortunate.

Saturday just gone, abscess pops up on root canalled, cracked, crowned tooth. I visited my dentist 2 days ago, I seem to have cleared the infection with allicin and garlic rinses, but the tooth must come out. Due to issues getting a separate anaesthetist the work cannot be done for 3 weeks. Dentist says i don't need antibiotics at present, but there's a chance i *might* post extraction and wants me to have a blood test screening for allergy to anti bios just to be on the safe side IN CASE i was to need them. Dentist also said, if i cant take them, there are 'other ways to treat an infection but they are a little more intrusive'.

My questions are - how likely is it i would need antibiotics afterwards (or before treatment)? I haven't needed them for all my root canals. Also, if i was to pluck up the nerve for the blood test (very unlikely due to all my problems), and was allergic to antibiotics, what are these other 'more intrusive' ways of dealing with an infection?

i am terrified of EVERYTHING, and at this point and the issue of ANTIBIOTICS is causing even more stress. My dentists receptionist did not help matters by saying i would end up in emergency with no sedation.

 

[Gordon]

Pretty high chance you won't need antibiotics after this extraction, most people don't.

Struggling to think of an "invasive" way to treat a post op infection, the best I can think of would be curetting out the infected area (sort of like scraping the socket). I can't see why you'd need to do that.

 

[soupy]

Pretty high chance you won't need antibiotics after this extraction, most people don't.

Struggling to think of an "invasive" way to treat a post op infection, the best I can think of would be curetting out the infected area (sort of like scraping the socket). I can't see why you'd need to do that.

Many thanks for this Gordon, I appreciate you taking the time

I forgot to mention that this tooth is also gum lengthened, as well as crowned, cracked and root canalled, and i just noticed the treatment plan says this will be a 'surgical' extraction thought it should be mentioned in case it made a difference to your answers about anti bios being necessary or not.

I can't handle knowing the details of a surgical extraction as i will never turn up, but are there any other methods of infection cleaning/management, invasive or otherwise, that dentists might use, if they had no chance of using antibiotics?

 

[Gordon]

No, whether it's a surgical or not won't make any difference to the likelihood of needing antibiotics post treatment. Possibly reduces the risk slightly as the socket will be closed with a couple of stitches.

The biggest thing that would help is you following good after care, so no smoking for at least 24hrs, take the rest of the day off and chill out, avoid eating/drinking on that side as best as you can for 24hrs and so on.

 

[Manda883097]

I know how everyone's feeling i have anxiety and panic attacks just thinking about my teeth as well every time i went to the dentist when i was little i screamed before the doctor even touched me im even afraid cause how bad my teeth are my neck will swell up to where i cant breath i check my pulse every 15 mins to make sure im still breathing normal so this is why my teeth are as bad as they are now when i was little my mom had to chase me around the house when i was little to get me to brush my teeth an eventually she gave up so now that i have never brushed my teeth since i was like 13 years old now cause of that all my teeth are rotted badly and im afraid to go get my teeth all pulled out and get dentures cause im only 27 years old and i dont wanna be in all that pain of getting them done but i know I'm having infections in my mouth that need to get gone before it spreads to the rest of my body so im about to be brave and when my medicade gets on im gonna finally make an appointment

 

[soupy]

I know how everyone's feeling i have anxiety and panic attacks just thinking about my teeth as well every time i went to the dentist when i was little i screamed before the doctor even touched me im even afraid cause how bad my teeth are my neck will swell up to where i cant breath i check my pulse every 15 mins to make sure im still breathing normal so this is why my teeth are as bad as they are now when i was little my mom had to chase me around the house when i was little to get me to brush my teeth an eventually she gave up so now that i have never brushed my teeth since i was like 13 years old now cause of that all my teeth are rotted badly and im afraid to go get my teeth all pulled out and get dentures cause im only 27 years old and i dont wanna be in all that pain of getting them done but i know I'm having infections in my mouth that need to get gone before it spreads to the rest of my body so im about to be brave and when my medicade gets on im gonna finally make an appointment

Many thanks for your post, and well done for making your appointment, if you can do it, i can do it. Its hard going in for work, and you are right that we need to be brave and look after our bodies. thanks for sharing your story, it helps a lot.