Worried sick .

[daneylou]

Hi all,
I have severe agoraphobia and anxiety so had a home visit from a community dentist today as I have had a painless quite big swollen lump around a badly broken decayed top molar for 4 weeks now. I have had 2 lots of Amoxycillin in the past month prescribed from a Dr over the phone by saying I had a chest infection just to get antibiotics. The antibiotics didn't clear it up and still it remains with a horrible taste in my mouth sometimes. The lump goes down now and then then flares up again and is so stubborn to budge.

I have been feeling really down and depressed with it there, I have no pain or soreness just a huge swelling. I have kept my mouth really clean with plenty of mouthwashes and a few salt mouthwashes a day.
Anyway, a community dentist arrived today, didn't take much notice of my gum problem but preceded to talk and check all my other teeth! yes, I do have quite a few broken rooted teeth but this wasn't supposed to be discussed on this visit. She really upset me by saying if I dont get the broken roots swiped out soon I will die of poisoning, by the time my husband came home from work I was a sobbing wreck and I'm convinced now I am going to die because of what she said. I never have calcium but my dr tells me not to have milk etc because I am on thyroxine for thyroid illness so I dont know what to do... I don't eat much due to stress and worry as it is. My husband has just gone to see the pharmacist to pick up my high fluoride toothpaste the dentist prescribed me. I have also given him hundreds of questioned to ask the pharmacist (poor man) whether I can be poisoned from pus in my mouth or entering my blood stream and whether Its ok to drink milk etc.

Due to my fear of the dentist and being agoraphobic I can't have my teeth out but I will really look after them the best I can . Any advice would be so so much appreciated regarding the poisoning bit.

Thank you for listening
Jane

 

[Frida]

First sorry... Well I am no dentist but... A few years ago I had a lump and infection.... I would boil / microwave a cup of water, add a lil salt to it and use a qtip and dab it until it drained maybe do that.

 

[fulldenturesgirl]

I totally get that you are feeling so anxious but unfortunately for you the facts are the antibiotics are not getting rid of the infection. I am sorry it is stressing you but you have to follow the treatment plan the dentist layed out for you because the truth of the matter is , while rare the infection can spread. You can end up really ill. I think it is a bad idea to try the home remedies while they can help a lot with pain , you need that infection cleared up.

It might be hard to deal with , you might need some counselling or anti anxiety medicine to help you cope but you do need to actually get the dental work done.

I am sorry I am not telling you what you want to hear but it is a serious condition.

 

[tabhollywood]

I am sorry that you had such a bad experience. I'm not aware of the arrangements for getting home visits but would it be possible to have another dentist come out to you and offer a second opinion.
If that is not an option I would probably contact a local dentist over the phone ( one that specialises in nervous patients) and explain your problem and what the Dentist said to you and see what advice they can offer. Obviously if you have an infection present it requires treatment and I can't understand why the Community Dentist ignored that problem altogether.
Good luck - I hope you can find some resolution as the pain of a tooth/gum infection is so debilitating.

 

[daneylou]

Thank you all for your advice. It has been sorted today. I spoke to the NHS liaisons team and even she said I wont be poisoned and was nt to happy with the scaremongery. They arranged for another dentist to talk to me over the phone. I described what was happening and she has kindly prescribed me metronidazole which my husband picked up from the local dental practise. The dental nurse from the other practise apologised to me for causing me a lot of upset regarding the home visit dentist. . I never named any names as I didn't want to get the dentist in trouble I just really needed another opinion. It seems by my description I have a bad tooth infection from a broken down tooth. My teeth breaking could be due to lack of calcium over the years so I am starting to take calcium tablets, milk and eat yoghurt's. My Dr always told me I couldn't have milk due to when I was anaemic so there has been a lot of crossed wires.Hopefully these antibiotics will work! also I must mention the dentist who scared me told me my teeth were bad from drinking orange squash at night and how it rots the teeth and loads of patients have the same problemand made it quite clear I must take water to bed with me from now on! The previous dentist wasent around to talk to me as she was off sick today. It's all so confusing but the main thing is I get this infection cleared up as it seems like its spreading. I am still doing the salt mouth washes and I've started to use Listerine last thing at night instead of Oraldene. Thanks again
Jane