Waiting for extensive work to be done and I'm really scared.

[Terrified318]

I'm new here and still learning the ropes so please bear with me.
I've been having ongoing teeth problems for most of my adult life and my mouth is pretty much
ruined because of a bad dentist that caused more problems, so I've since developed severe doctor anxiety.
I've been on and off antibiotics for the last 4 - 5 years, I don't have insurance so I haven't been able to get
many of my problems fixed so I ended up going to a dental school. I've been waiting for about 9 months to
get ANYTHING done for my mouth in the dental school, it takes forever to get appointments and then refer
you to other doctors in the school so it's more waiting time. Meanwhile I'm in near constant pain and everytime
I call them to try and get help or to at least get something done that can stop some of the pain, they call in ANOTHER
antibiotic prescription and tell me to wait it out because they don't have anyone available. So the last 4 - 5 months I've
been on antibiotics once or twice a month, and this is really scaring the crap out of me. I don't think I should
just keep taking these antibiotics and then just be expected to deal with the pain for months on end.

I mean a serious question I have: how many times a year is it even safe to take antibiotics?
Can anyone give me some advice as to what I can do now? I'm really scared that this is a sign that whatever infection is going on in there is possibly spreading. I also have severe anxiety problems too so I'm freaking out a little here.
I've tried going to other dentists to get help but they pretty much do the same thing that the school does, they tell me I need to take antibiotics and that they can't really help me if I don't have insurance and I don't make a lot of money.

Any advice that anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

 

[letsconnect]

Hi there ,I‘ve moved this into the “Ask a dentist” section because it sounds like a medical query . Hopefully one of our dentists will be able to answer!

 

[MountainMama]

Not a dentist but just wanted to offer support. I have had a lot of dental issues over the past year and a half and was also on a lot of antibiotics. My regular doctor had me on probiotics as well, to help keep the balance but it still took a toll on my body.
I am surprised that the dentists won’t take you without insurance. What about Care Credit? Or some dentists do free clinics. My dentist just started offering a free clinic to those that qualify. You may want to check with some other offices.

 

[Terrified318]

Not a dentist but just wanted to offer support. I have had a lot of dental issues over the past year and a half and was also on a lot of antibiotics. My regular doctor had me on probiotics as well, to help keep the balance but it still took a toll on my body.
I am surprised that the dentists won’t take you without insurance. What about Care Credit? Or some dentists do free clinics. My dentist just started offering a free clinic to those that qualify. You may want to check with some other offices.

Wow, that sucks for you too. How are you doing now? What happened to you after you took all
the antibiotics?

 

[MountainMama]

Wow, that sucks for you too. How are you doing now? What happened to you after you took all
the antibiotics?

At first it was just amoxicillin and wasn’t too bad, but it gave me a lot of digestive issues. The probiotics helped a lot with that. I always felt drained and seemed to get sick easily. Then I was prescribed Clindamycin. I had some bad reactions to it, including mouth sores, blisters on my lip and a constant upset stomach. I was not prescribed that again. My oral surgeon said that I just needed to get the tooth out and the area basically scraped clean. It was my front tooth, which had abscessed due to a childhood injury. I had already had a root canal and apicoectomy, which is why I was on so many antibiotics. After the tooth came out and he cleaned it all up, I feel great. No more antibiotics and I feel healthier. I held off getting the tooth out because it is a front tooth and I was petrified of the procedure, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. He removed the tooth and cleaned out all the infection and put in bone grafting. I got an immediate flipper which looks realistic and I had an implant placed. I will be getting the crown next week.
Getting the tooth out was the best thing I could have done. I felt better just a week later. I have so much more energy.
One thing my doctor was worried about was c.diff. She was monitoring me constantly. She also had me doing blood draws every two months to check and make sure everything else was normal.