Getting extraction ASAP

[Anne2021]

I have been having some symptoms of intense, intermittent, trigger (not spontaneous) pain since Monday night. My dentist had retired so I had to start with someone new.

First, the dentist was very compassionate, understanding, and kind. At this point, I plan on staying with her, so that's good.

Second, the tooth has to come out ASAP. Some of the things she said: she was surprised that I haven't had more pain (maybe I have and didn't want to admit it to myself); the ligament areas on the x-ray have the beginnings of abscess in them - not active infection - but any day now; already damage to the bone; a lot of decay obvious on x-ray even with a porcelain-to-metal crown; too late for root canal (which I would never be able to handle anyway). I'm headed for a major emergency if it doesn't come out ASAP. It was the end of the day and the oral surgeon was closed, but the dentist's office will call first thing in the morning to make an appointment. Based on how it feels and what she said - the sooner the better - but I am so, so scared. I don't want to go, and I have no choice. I hope he can get me in tomorrow. Knowing how bad the tooth is will probably cause me to experience the pain more - now that I am adding fear to it.

I'm terrified.

 

[Anne2021]

Extraction is 3:30 today - I'm a wreck

 

[Kml1998]

@Anne2021 hope everything goes well

 

[Anne2021]

@Kml1998 Thank you so much for the encouragement. It helps to know someone knows I'm going in.

 

[Kml1998]

@Anne2021 how did it go?

 

[Anne2021]

@Kml1998 Just got home. It went okay, I think. I'm a little worried that when the anesthetic wears off, there will be nerve pain. One of my biggest fears is that the injection will injure a nerve and leave me with permanent nerve damage and pain. The second injection hurt a bit more than in past appointments and it just felt weird in general. But if that's just my fear and that ends up okay, then it went well. I told him about my uvula and he looked my airway over very well and wasn't concerned. I also asked if an assistant or someone could stay with me while the anesthetic was taking effect - that's usually when I panic. They usually leave the room while it's kicking in and I feel like I can't breathe. The woman who stayed was great. She chatted with me the whole time so I never fully panicked. The extraction itself went okay, too. He had to make a "window" to get the last piece out, which I think meant making room in the bone or something. Anyway, he got it all out and let me look at it. It was an ugly, rotten mess with decay all the way to the nerve. A root canal almost certainly would have failed and put me through appointments I couldn't handle mentally anyway. So, in a way, that's a comfort. This is my sixth lost tooth (in addition to wisdom teeth) and I have to have two more out soon. This was my last molar on the lower left. I have to lose both molars on the lower right as well. They don't hurt yet, except for cold sensitivity. Once they're gone, I have no lower molars and it's time for a partial. But I made it through today and as long as there is no nerve injury, the actual appointment wasn't as bad as the anticipation. I am so tired now - just exhausted. Thank you so much for asking and for your encouragement.

 

[jsabz]

I hope you are feeling better!
You commented on my post so I ended on yours and can recognize myself in some of your fears!
I was also scared of injections since one was painful, so ended up on Google and ugh..
Plus I also have acid reflux and a long uvula and an history of being afraid to suffocate!
Got checked up by ent who is not concerned and also my dentist has been so understanding.. chatting and even holding my hand between two rounds of anhestetic..
Oh, what dentists have to do for us .
Anyway I hope you're fine, commenting mainly because I share some of the same fears, we can feel less alone with that!