• 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.

Lower right pain

R

Rls15

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
47
Hi all

Around 3 weeks ago I started getting pain in what I thought was my jaw. I was under a bit of exam stress at the time so figured I was clenching, no problem. Ibuprofen sorted it out. I had a week off work for revision and no pain. I had two exams and on the second day I started to get a few twinges again. Ibuprofen sorted it out, again. That night I woke up with pain in my teeth so I stayed up all night in a panic and booked an appointment as the pain was so located to a tooth. My dentist took an X-ray and did a visual exam but couldn’t find much wrong, although my fully erupted (and heavily filled) wisdom tooth did react slightly to the percussion test in so far as I felt it more on that tooth than the others, but no pain.

The teeth aren’t sensitive, I can bite on them, and the pain isn’t throbbing although it can be quite strong in the middle of the night. Again, ibuprofen sorts that out and if I take ibuprofen before bed I don’t wake up in the night at all.

I’ve had “proper” toothache before, where it gets worse lying down and reacts to heat/cold. It doesn’t feel like that.

My dentist thought it could be the start of an infection on the heavily filled wisdom tooth and to leave it a few days. If my symptoms were still there, she told me to make an appointment and she would take the tooth out. She did say my gums were inflamed but that’s really all she said.

I still have the same symptoms although it was much better over the weekend - didn’t take any ibuprofen at all. Went back to work on Tuesday and it started again. I do sit at my desk with a phone under my chin or hand but on my left side so don’t know if it’s connected.

I have IBS and dental fear (of check ups weirdly) so it’s always a physical trauma to get me into the chair, although I’m quite happy when I’m there strangely.

I’m not sure what to do, book an appointment for another check up or just book in for an extraction. Could there be any other possibilities? I’d hate to get a tooth removed that didn’t need it and still be in pain but it is heavily filled and did react more than the other teeth to the percussion test so I do see her point. In the day it’s the jaw that aches but at night it’s the teeth.

On a side note if it’s an infection I have just been prescribed flucloxacillin for another condition, I know it’s not the antibiotic of choice but can’t hurt I suppose!

Many thanks :)
 
Forgot to say I’m quite aware that infections/decay sometimes don’t show on xrays so I am fully prepared to have the tooth removed if needed :) just wanted to check all options first and can’t quite bring myself to book another appointment yet :(
 
If it were me, I would get it extracted (and I hate extractions!). Two reasons: wisdom teeth are usually not even missed, and infection pain is usually intermittent until it gets bad, at least in my experience. When my upper 2nd molar started going bad, I only had pain occasionally, but it got more intense intermittent pain over time.

If you are truly uncertain, though, it wouldn't hurt to just get it tested again. Did they do the cold test? With my tooth, it was not hot or cold sensitive, but reacted to the endo ice with a lingering sensation.
 
No other vitality tests were done other than percussion. It’s just a dull ache but I’ve had an abscess before and don’t want it to end up like that! I am going on holiday tomorrow otherwise I probably would just have it whipped out! Was just wondering if there were any other explanations but it’s looking pretty likely that it’s the wisdom tooth. Thanks for your help!

Pain isn’t too bad tonight, clicking my jaw seems to help... probably not the best idea!!!
 
Last edited:
You're already taking Fluclox so there's no way a dental infection will get any worse while you're on those...
Could possibly be some kind of TMJ issue, seeing as you're a student under exam stress...
 
So exams are over and results came back yesterday, all passed so that’s a relief.

I still have pain to my lower right. Was okay on holiday and seems to be better on the weekends but during the working week gets worse.

The pain, when it starts, seems to move around. Sometimes my gums hurt, my inner cheek feels thick, my throat and neck are a bit sore and my ear and temple sometimes hurt too.

One molar occasionally has a bit of shooting pain but not the one that reacted to the percussion test. One front tooth also occasionally has a bit of shooting pain but neither tooth hurt for long. Seems a long way for referred pain to travel to me.

Teeth still don’t hurt to eat on, nor do they have any sensitivity.

Confused and building myself up to go back to the dentist! I’ll update when I finally get a grip and go back. Tempted to have the heavily filled wisdom tooth out just in case
 
Congratulations on passing, feels great doesn't it? :)

There's really no alternative to getting a dentist to look, anything on here will be total guesswork.
 
Ah thank you very much!

Dentist at 11 this morning. I actually coughed this morning and the heavily filled wisdom tooth pulsed a bit. Not painfully but there was definitely a pulse. Good timing for my appointment :) hopefully they can take it out today, I am NHS though so might not have enough time but as far as I’m aware they don’t think it should be a problematic removal :)
 
Still no reaction to any vitality tests but been referred to the hospital for a removal. Tooth too close to the nerve :( have a prescription in case it flares up but nervous that this pain will only increase whilst I’m waiting.

Does anyone know if I can book privately anywhere? I’m in the South West, UK. I suppose any private hospital may well do these types of procedures.
 
Sorry me again, I’ve just remembered I have private health care through work. I’ve checked my policy and extractions are covered to surgically remove a “complicated” tooth root. Obviously not holding anyone to anything but I wonder if a wisdom tooth too close to the nerve would be a complicated tooth root? Don’t fancy paying the £200 excess to find out it’s not :)
 
I could be wrong, but most private insurance will pay up if it's a Consultant Oral Surgeon who does the treatment, most of them have a private clinic you can go to, if you make some enquiries at your local dental hospital. Might be best to discuss it with your insurance company though?
 
Of course, just waiting for a copy of my x-ray and then off to annoy the insurer :) thank you for your help!
 
Not the best x-ray, taken with a child’s bite wing as I’m a wuss and gag but this is what my dentist took. Is it worth checking with dentists in the area to see if they would attempt? Not sure if there is such thing as a specialist who does this kind of thing. Happy to pay, I understand this wouldn’t be available on the NHS
 

Attachments

  • C3898528-F449-46F5-B4F6-B898A591CAD7.jpeg
    C3898528-F449-46F5-B4F6-B898A591CAD7.jpeg
    2.7 MB · Views: 28
So exams are over and results came back yesterday, all passed so that’s a relief.

I still have pain to my lower right. Was okay on holiday and seems to be better on the weekends but during the working week gets worse.

The pain, when it starts, seems to move around. Sometimes my gums hurt, my inner cheek feels thick, my throat and neck are a bit sore and my ear and temple sometimes hurt too.

One molar occasionally has a bit of shooting pain but not the one that reacted to the percussion test. One front tooth also occasionally has a bit of shooting pain but neither tooth hurt for long. Seems a long way for referred pain to travel to me.

Teeth still don’t hurt to eat on, nor do they have any sensitivity.

Confused and building myself up to go back to the dentist! I’ll update when I finally get a grip and go back. Tempted to have the heavily filled wisdom tooth out just in case
I had most of these symptoms. It was muscular issue and TMJ. So please get a second opinion before u do anything drastic like extraction. If it is tmj, extraction will make matters worse.
 
You're kidding me? A dentist took that x-ray and didn't see what the problem is???? Seriously????

That has got to be one of the worst fillings I've ever seen.

I don't say this very often on here but GO TO ANOTHER DENTIST
 
Oh! Well I didn’t expect that :) out of curiosity, what is the problem? I will contact a private dentist for a second opinion :)
 
I’ve got about another 8000 fillings in there by the same dentist so that can’t be good :p
 
Did the same dentist do that filling originally?
There's a huge overhang on the filling, there will be a massive amount of plaque packing under the overhanging amalgam which will certainly be causing some serious gum issues
There's clearly decay under the filling. It looks like they've nicked the back of the 2nd molar in the process of cutting the cavity in that one...

It's OK (not great, but just about acceptable) to occasionally get a filling a bit wrong, but to ignore it when the patient unsurprisingly comes back with an issue and you've got it on an x-ray is very poor indeed.
 
No but her boss did the filling so maybe that’s why she’s not said anything. Suspect she doesn’t want to land him in it which I understand.

Well thank you very much for your help, I have a private second opinion appointment next week so whilst I’m happy to still have the tooth removed I’m hoping he can do something to at least get me out of pain whilst I wait for the referral :)

You’ve been a great help with my anxiety so I’m really grateful
 
Called my current dentist today, another dentist at the surgery had a look and is going to replace the filling next week. Might not fix the pain but worth a go! I’ll still follow through with the referral though, clearly a problematic tooth :)
 
Back
Top