Terrified, having panics attacks daily. Please help.

[Terrifiedintoronto]

Hello everyone!

I just found this forum and have been reading success stories to try and get rid of some anxiety, but I find it’s not helping at all!!! So I thought I would post and ask some questions.

Basically I’ve had a pretty severe case of pericoronitis for 3 months now. It started with pain in the lower jaw and difficulty opening my mouth so when I went to the er after a week, they initially said it was a Tmj issue (without actually looking in my mouth). I went to a dentist who took an X-ray and only looked at that, again not my actual teeth. He said “there is no infection” and charged me $400 for a 15 minute appointment. He told me to book with an tmj specialist even though he said the X-ray showed nothing wrong with my joints. The only specialist I could get in with is in September so I’ve just been waiting in agony. But 2 people said Tmj so I believed them.

Anyway. That was 2 months ago. The pain has exploded exponentially since then, I cannot sleep or eat. It gets worse when I lay down or lean forward, and I have this incredible pressure in my sinuses. That hurts so much. There are days where the pain is so bad, I’m wishing for it to just kill me already! I never got a fever but I had really bad chills.

10 days ago the tooth started spitting out pus and blood, so I went back to the er where they said “it’s not a Tmj issue, it’s pericoronitis that has become abscessed.” They didn’t take X-rays or do blood or anything, they just looked at the tooth. They gave me antibiotics (amoxicillin) and said to book an appointment to have the tooth removed.

The gum is so swollen I can’t close my mouth properly, but I still can’t open it well either. The pain in the actual tooth/gum, but also my whole lower jaw and sinus area, is unbearable. I can barely eat, even soft foods hurt. It hurts in my ears and throat and the back of my mouth, and I get a kind of tingling/numb feeling sometimes along my jaw and cheek on the side with the infected tooth.

The antibiotic has helped with the pus, which I haven’t had since I started taking it, and some of the pain. But not all of it, not even close. My lymph nodes under my jaw have been swollen the whole time too (so idk why the dentist and er doctors missed it.) They are better after the antibiotics as well.
I’m also doing salt water rinses 4 times a day, and that also helps for a bit. But barely anything is touching the pain now. I have to sleep sitting up because of how bad it gets when I lay down. Which means I’m just not sleeping. And I also got a pinched nerve in my back from not being able to lay down properly. I’m in agony, truly.

But. I am so terrified of getting it removed. I made the mistake of looking up complications and I just can’t cope with the fear. I’m so scared of getting Trigeminal neuralgia. I know it is a rare complication, but it can happen. And it would be arrogant to think it could never happen to me. Is that something that only happens with an inexperienced surgeon? Like if they make a mistake? Or can it be random? If I choose my doctor well, will that make it even less likely to happen? I read that you can even get it from just the local anesthesia, something to do with the length of the needle and the amount used? If I do general anesthesia is that safer? Or will they still do local as well?

And other permanent nerve damage; could I possibly lose my taste? That happened to me once from a medication I was taking, and it was the worst month of my life. It’s miserable not being able to taste. I don’t want it, but I don’t care about numbness, that would be infinitely better than the pain I am going through. But I don’t want even worse pain in trying to get rid of this.

Can it be just pericoronitis? Can it be this severe, and last this long? Could it have really not shown up on my X-ray?

The pain is excruciating, I feel like there must be something else wrong. I’m obviously not an expert but from what I’ve read, I don’t see how pericoronitis can cause this level of agony, and for so long. I’m just so worried. And it’s been 3 months of an untreated infection, how long before it kills me? My cheek muscles hurt so much, I think it must’ve spread, maybe into the bone. What do I do then? They can’t remove my jaw bone.

I tried to get a copy of my X-ray from the dentist I went to but they wouldn’t give it to me. So I don’t know if my roots are close to a nerve or anything, or if it’s a complicated removal. But the tooth is not crooked or anything, so I think that’s good.

But I’m 33, and I know that makes my risks greater as well.

I’m going to another dentist on Tuesday so I guess I’ll see what he says. I really can’t afford to spend another $400 or more for nothing but I am desperate now for the pain to stop. I’m just so scared of waking up in even more pain, or getting TN which from what I understand there is nothing you can do about. So I trade one unbearable pain for another (even worse) one. Ahh. I’m just so, so scared. How long after the surgery do you know if you have nerve damage? I read it can take up to a year to appear. Is that true? So I will have to worry about it for a whole year?

What kind of questions should I be asking the dentist before I do the surgery, to help mitigate my risk for permanent damage? Or what kind of things should I look for? Is an oral surgeon better than a general dentist for this?

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do for this pain while I wait?? I’m taking the antibiotic as well as Tylenol and Advil 3 times a day, and I do the salt rinses. And I don’t eat! I’ve lost 25lbs! I weigh 110lbs now!! None of my close fit lol. I don’t know what else I can do.

Anyway, thank you for reading. I appreciate any answers/advice anyone can give.

 

[letsconnect]

Hi @Terrifiedintoronto

so sorry to hear that you're in so much pain . Often, using a different antibiotic can help, until you can get the tooth removed.

Complications from wisdom tooth removal are actually pretty rare, and with today's x-ray technology, you can usually see beforehand if it could cause problems. So the first thing to do would be to let an oral surgeon have a look and advise you. Make a list of your questions beforehand, print it out, and bring it along to your appointment! It sounds as if you've come across a lot of misinformation about rare complications on Google (not sure why Google search has become so bad, it seems to be a common occurrence nowadays!). Talking to an oral surgeon or dentist in person is bound to alleviate your fears.

Please let us know how you get on with your visit tomorrow.! I hope they're much better than the last dentist you saw (if not, we've got some tips for finding a dentist here). Best of luck!!

 

[Terrifiedintoronto]

@letsconnect thanks. To be honest I don’t think anything will alleviate my fears. I will be a horrible mess until it’s over! And probably for a long time after, while I wait to see what possible complications will come up!

Would you say an oral surgeon is better for this? The person I’m seeing tomorrow is a general dentist. I plan to ask him a lot of questions but I don’t know if I’ll choose him to do the removal. But I also don’t want to have a long wait for someone else, I just can’t cope with the pain and the fear.

I’m scared of every part of it, I’m afraid this pain is something much worse than just pericoronitis. How can a tooth cause this much pain? It must’ve spread to the bones or tissue… and I’m scared of getting a needle in my gum. Like really scared. And I’m scared of the pain during the removal, and the pain during recovery and the potential long term complications. I wish I didn’t have to get it done at all!

 

[MsMaroon]

Hi TerrifiedinToronto
Sorry I don’t have any piece of advice for you and your anxiety. Riding a similar boat here, on the other side, over the pond.

At least I would bump up the thread your question….

If you don’t mind, could you pls share how much Amox…lin and how often and long you were prescribed to take it.

I grew up in country where health was taken seriously. Especially if you take antibiotics to keep at bay an inflammation. For my inflammation I was given such a ridiculously small amount of the above, then when it didn’t work I was prescribed a different antibiotic. Now looking at how things develop, I’m not sure my situation can stay under control till Sept when all dentists come back from their annual leave….

 

[MsMaroon]

I’ve missed mentioning I now reside in the UK, where dental health and dental NHS treatment is a big joke….

 

[MsMaroon]

Would you say an oral surgeon is better for this? The person I’m seeing tomorrow is a general dentist.

please, do so. Make sure you see a sergeon, you would have more options to choose from.
General dentists might not have all necessary equipment (for a complex problem like yours and mine), I was told few days ago by an NHS dentist.

found some really helpful hints and ideas in Letsconnect’s advice. Thanks a bunch!
Good luck to you, Terrifiedintironto!

 

[letsconnect]

With pericoronitis, it really can get very painful when it's infected (as painful as you're describing), so unless the dentist tomorrow is saying something radically different, there's no reason to doubt the diagnosis?

Generally speaking, oral surgeons are more experienced at this sort of thing than general dentists (although there are exceptions to every rule... depending on where they trained and worked before). Of course, make sure you check patient reviews for the oral surgeons you're considering (same as with dentists)!

 

[Terrifiedintoronto]

@MsMaroon hi, sorry to hear that you are also in pain! I hope it gets better for you soon. I was given 500mg of amoxicillin 3 times a day for 10 days, and then the doctor ended up extending it for 5 more days when the initial 10 were up.
I would prefer a surgeon but I don’t know if I can afford to wait any longer! It’s been 3 months of so much pain already, and all the oral surgeons I’m finding are another month wait!

 

[Terrifiedintoronto]

@letsconnect thank you! I will definitely be obsessing over reviews!!

 

[Jusme1998]

@Terrifiedintoronto I’m so sorry this is happening to you! From what I’ve read, and I’m no professional, but it sounds like you’ve got a really bad flare up of TMD, which you have been referred to a TMJ specialist for. You should look into Dr Kim Ledermann, a world renowned TMJ specialist located in the United States! I really hope things get easier for you.

 

[Terrifiedintoronto]

@Jusme1998 hi! I’ve actually had multiple ct scans and xrays of my joints and have been told there’s nothing wrong with the tmjs. Neither of the doctors who said tmj first even looked at me, and the one who did the X-ray even said my joints are totally fine, the X-ray showed nothing wrong with them. He said he didn’t know what was wrong and It was only because I had trouble opening my mouth that he said tmj, and that can also be caused by infection. I think they were both just clueless and didn’t want to admit it. I’ve never had pain in the joints either. And the pus and blood also wouldn’t be caused by Tmj, and the lymph nodes swelling as well as the fever and chills, plus the fact that the antibiotics have helped with the pain when nothing else did. I’m having the wisdom teeth removed tomorrow, so I guess I’ll find out!