Took the big step today - Need support

[AbbyH85]

Hello everyone,

A few years ago you guys helped me through getting my front teeth all fixed up and a partial put in for my wedding. Well stupid me decided to ignore my molars, because well.....you cant see them right???? BIG MISTAKE.

I woke up this morning with a golf ball on my face from 2 infected teeth on the bottom. Needless to say I know you don't mess around with swelling of any kind so I didn't walk but RAN to the dentist this morning. I have 4 molars that need to come out and my 4 wisdom teeth. Shockingly aside from the teeth that I already knew needed to come out, I need a whopping 2 fillings and a cleaning......I though it was going to be WAYYYYY worse.

Doc said that since I am not in pain from the infection that he wants to let the antibiotics do their job for 10 days. My facial swelling sucks though, hope it don't take long to calm down....

Tomorrow I go in to get an impression done for my partial to replace the two molars I'm loosing.

Funny, I thought I would be terrified...but once this got to the point it is now I am not afraid at all. I literally woke up this morning saying to hell with it. I can't take it anymore.

I look forward to sharing my journey with everyone. My dentist is fantastic, there was no shaming. Nothing but a bunch of " Were glad you are here, and this is the best decision you could have made."

Meanwhile, can any one offer some advice on ANYTHING else I can do to help with the facial swelling? I took 800mg of advil. Can I use ice on my cheek? And how long does it usually take antibiotics to help?

 

[ripply]

Hi Abby, I had an abscess in my first molar a couple of years ago and the dentist told me to use ice packs but never to use heat on an abscess. The antibiotics worked very quickly, within 3 days I felt better but I was on a very strong antibiotic. Once it got better, it was very temping for me to just forget about going back for treatment. I wasn't in pain and my fear of dentists took over. Don't let that happen. It will return unless you get treatment. I ended up getting mine extracted and just got another molar extracted last week. I've had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted too.

Btw, your dentist sounds lovely.

 

[AbbyH85]

Well the oral surgeon at my dentist saw my x rays and wants me to get the teeth pulled all tomorrow because the one is so severely infected. The puss bubble beside it has grown substantially. Of course now I am worried it's so bad it's going to spread everywhere when he pulls it but I am trusting their judgement.
So unsless he just decides to drain it when he sees it tomorrow I will be coming home short 4 teeth. He did say to double up on my penicillin vk for tonight so hopefully it will bring it down a bit more by tomorrow.

Wish me luck, I'm going with novacaine and no sedation, little worried about the tooth numbing but I figure worst case of he can't get it numb I will just come back after the antibiotics clear it up a bit. Hopefully in a few days I will finally be chewing with out pain!!! Can't wait for that part.

 

[AbbyH85]

Well I had way too much swelling around the abcess on the tooth and couldn't numb it so they drained it out .....appoint set for Friday next week to let the antibiotics do their thing. I feel 10 million times better since they drained it though.

 

[Sevena]

That sounds like quite the trial! I'm glad they've drained it, huge swellings are awful.

Hang in there

 

[AbbyH85]

So my appt day is almost here. And now for what ever reason I am freaking out. I googled....Rule#1 NEVER GOOGLE. But I did and I keep reading horror stories about people who had multiple infected teeth pulled and ended up in ICU with a massive neck infection nearly killing them. I have been taking my antibiotics and they have helped but you can clearly tell to of my molars are actively infected. I fully plan on addressing my concerns before my dentists starts pulling. And all four teeth are painful so I WANT them out at the same time but I'm almost debating doing 2 this week and two next week.

Ugh some one please help me calm down.

 

[AbbyH85]

Well I only did two this time. Get the other two out on Aug 5th. It was totally uneventful and I can't believe how scared I was. I think it took MAYBE 5 minutes to get the two molars out. easy peasy. At least I'm not dreading my next appt. I promise the anxiety is much much worse than the experience. I didn't even feel the shot.