• Dental Phobia Support

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Beckybo

Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2013
Messages
32
Hi everyone. I will cut a long story as short as I can....
I’m 37 and haven’t been to the dentist for years...at least 12. Fear fear fear.
So 2 weeks ago I got a really bad tooth infection and had to take antibiotics for a week. This and this alone made me drag myself to the dentist as I literally couldn’t go through that pain EVER AGAIN. I will give birth to 10 more children first. Anyway, the dentist told me I needed it out, that was fine...get it out and let me start getting my teeth health better again now. 2 days ago I went for my extraction, I was so scared and actually shaking in the chair. It had taken so much courage to get there....and it was horrible ? the roots were so long, and he had to manipulate and move the tooth around so much, I though my jaw was going to break. I’m not exaggerating here, I’ve had teeth pulled before. Anyway I went home and the past 2 days have been so horrible. So much pain and swelling and now I have been told I have dry socket ? I feel sick, I’ve lost around a stone over the past 2 weeks through not eating due to the pain of the abscess, and I was so actually happy to have it taken out to start to feel normal again. I’ve not slept for 2 nights and had a 1 hour nap earlier. I’m on more antibiotics and I had the socket packed today with something that the dentist says will dissolve on it’s own....so for the moment the pain is manageable...but for how long? I feel delirious and weak...I need to sleep to just give me some more energy to fight when the pain comes back. I’m slipping into depression, and don’t remember how I felt before the abscess now because pain has just been my life for the past 2 weeks....please somebody tell me things will get better ???
 
I totally understand , I have a wisdom tooth that became infected 3 months ago and struggled to get a surgeon scheduled to remove it . Took 3 rounds of medication trying to keep the infection at Bay till my appointment which was 2 months later , ugh . Anyways I got it out and I was starting to feel better on the third day but then I woke up on the fourth day with a bunch of gunk in my mouth . Now I'm pretty tender , not dying pain but it certainly makes itself known . I'm on medication but I'm not sure if it's working . I too feel overwhelmingly depressed as I feel more and more stagnant hungry and weak. ? I'm sorry your dealing with this. Hang in there
 
Hi Beckybo,

so sorry to read what you have been through. :( DS is an extremely rare complication so it sounds like you have been really really unlucky. On the other hand - once the dentist packed the socket, you should be fine. If you ever feel like any pain is coming back, call your practice immediately and they can pack it again. I've never had DS myself, but from reading around, dentists are able to provide relief instantly and you're not supposed to endure anything. Hope you can get some sleep and food soon, this must have been an exhausting time for you. I wished your first experience with dentistry would have been more pleasant.

Take care, keep us posted and hope you can get some rest:XXLhug:
 
I totally understand , I have a wisdom tooth that became infected 3 months ago and struggled to get a surgeon scheduled to remove it . Took 3 rounds of medication trying to keep the infection at Bay till my appointment which was 2 months later , ugh . Anyways I got it out and I was starting to feel better on the third day but then I woke up on the fourth day with a bunch of gunk in my mouth . Now I'm pretty tender , not dying pain but it certainly makes itself known . I'm on medication but I'm not sure if it's working . I too feel overwhelmingly depressed as I feel more and more stagnant hungry and weak. ? I'm sorry your dealing with this. Hang in there
Thanks for replying. I’m sorry you going through this as well. It’s so draining isn’t it. I don’t feel like me anymore, I miss being me. I look at people who are smiling and happy and eating and just feel so envious and sad. I feel pathetically weak and just really pray for this to end. I really hope you feel better soon also ??
 
Hi Beckybo,

so sorry to read what you have been through. :( DS is an extremely rare complication so it sounds like you have been really really unlucky. On the other hand - once the dentist packed the socket, you should be fine. If you ever feel like any pain is coming back, call your practice immediately and they can pack it again. I've never had DS myself, but from reading around, dentists are able to provide relief instantly and you're not supposed to endure anything. Hope you can get some sleep and food soon, this must have been an exhausting time for you. I wished your first experience with dentistry would have been more pleasant.

Take care, keep us posted and hope you can get some rest:XXLhug:
Hi. Thank you for replying.
I read that DS can sometimes occur when the tooth was hard to remove/infected etc...which it was.
I have managed around 8/10 hours sleep last night, waking around every 4 hours to pop 2 paracetamols in, and then nod off again. I do still have pain but atm it feels like it’s my actual jaw that’s really sore.
When I had it packed yesterday it was a different dentist, he looked at my X-ray and actually said “wow! That mustn’t of been exciting for you, it was massive”
My face is still swollen, and today’s task will now be to try and eat something...but I’m scared to do that and disrupt the area. I will pop back on and update later on ??
 
Hello.
Thought I would do a quick update...it’s now Sunday, my pain has been very low since they packed my dry socket on Friday. I’m still getting the odd twinge, and my jaw is bruised. Stupidly I’m struggling to enjoy having this pain free time as I’m literally on pins waiting for the pain to kick back in ? I still feel on edge and panicked, but I am eating a bit more so I feel like my strength is getting back up.
The packing has started to come loose today though, and now I’m panicking that as soon as it comes out the pain will intensify to dry socket pain straight away? Will that happpen? Or will the socket have been able to start healing even with the packing in?
My dentist didn’t say that I needed to go back, so do I just let it fall out or try and keep it in? I’m not sure what to do.
 
Hello, another quick update.
The packing is still in there, there is hardly any pain- not from the socket anyway, I have a sore jaw etc.
I am eating more and have been sleeping better...is that a light I can see? ?
 
Sounds like good news! Glad the pain didn't come back and you can even eat more and sleep better. Hope this progress goes on and you get back to normal soon. :clover: Keep keeping us posted :)
 
Well it’s now Wednesday- 1 week since extraction.
The packing stuff came out yesterday whilst I was brushing my other teeth. Cue a hot flush followed by mini panic attack and me hovering over the sink for 5 minutes with my mouth open waiting for some pain to kick in.....nothing.
So hopefully it’s started to heal and DS is gone.
The socket looks like it’s miles off from closing up though, and I can’t actually see anything- just a hole- does it heal from the bottom up?
I’m still quite sore and achy in general on that side of my face- not a tooth ache sore, a bruised sore. As I said, the tooth was big and hard to get out...and I think I have the smallest jaw ever known, so not sure how long this will last for. Also I have been sleeping for almost 10 hours straight and could sleep more!? I’m presuming it’s my body catching up on all the missed sleep and recovering.
I had an omelette last night, only half of one but oh my? solid food. I’m dreaming of a Sunday roast this weekend but not sure yet, may have to wait another week.
Im meant to be starting on my other work soon- 4 fillings on the right side first of all. My first treatment back has been quite traumatic and complicated though so I’m really nervous, but they need doing so I’m just going to have to get them done...surely they can’t be as extractions?
Thanks for reading
 
Well done on finishing the 1st week post-extraction:) if you can, do not observe the hole too much, it will most likely always looks scary, because it just always does, even if all goes well. And yeah, it does heal from bottom up so chances are, it won't look fully closed for few more weeks.
I think no amount of fillings can be as bad as your extraction experience! Fillings are easy, just take a bit longer and there are more different things happening - water splashing, some vibration, blue light, waiting time etc. Comparing to your extraction experience a piece of cake, but I wouldn't be surprised if you had a huge amount of anxiety beforehand anyway.
 
Very glad that you are out of pain :thumbsup!:. As Enarete said, it can take while to heal. From our "Healing after tooth removal" page: "It usually takes gum tissue about 3-4 weeks to heal. The hole in the gum can last for up to 3 months, and the bone can take up to 6 months to heal completely."


While reading your posts, I was wondering how you got on with your new dentist - are they aware of how scared you are? Have you had a chance yet to sit down with them and talk about what you are worried about? Any sort of dental treatment will be a lot easier with someone you trust and feel comfortable with, hence my question :)
 
Hello, may as well update my old thread. I must be stuck in a time warp or something, because here I am again, 1 and half years later going through a similar thing and still feeling as pathetic and scared as I always have…I had such high hopes of continuing with the other work that needed doing, but I didn’t, I recovered from the trauma and managed to forget and ignore again…that’s what I do best with these teeth of mine.
After I recover from this extraction, I’m really going to try and sort things out…my new dentist is so lovely and hopefully if this recovery is swift, I might feel confident enough to go back. I hope I do.
 
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