Dental Health Options & Anxiety

I'm recovering from a long bout of depression during which I neglected to look after my teeth as a form of self harm.

About a month ago I visited my dentist for a checkup and I have been referred to a clinic which offers sedation for the extractions I need, but due to the waiting list I will have to wait until January.

Unfortunately my jaw has become infected. I went back to my dentist and was given a course of antibiotics, which I have completed but the pain from both the damaged teeth and the swollen lymph glands is still present.

I get the feeling that if I go to my GP, they'll tell me to go back to my dentist, who will tell me to contact the other clinic, who will tell me to wait until January.

Please can somebody give me some advice? The pain is overwhelming my ability to concentrate and is causing me to lose sleep.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Parents
  • Hi there.  First off, get back to your dentist.  It sounds like you'll need more antibiotics, they won't usually consider doing an extraction with infection present.

    Probably a decade ago now I had a tooth pulled due to an abscess developing underneath it, for which I was prescribed a course of amoxicillin.  As someone who suffers from significant dental anxiety, the prospect of having a tooth pulled terrified me, and so like yourself, I pushed my dentist for sedation and was referred to a specialist dentist who was equipped to do that (who I had to pay handsomely for the privilege).

    On the day though, the specialist refused to do it under sedation because I had turned up alone (seems obvious now, but I just didn't know at the time), so I decided to go ahead there and then with a local anaesthetic, mostly because I could not afford to muck about with more antibiotics and waiting for another appointment.  The extraction itself was unpleasant, but completely painless and honestly it was a total relief to be rid of that bad tooth once and for all.

    A year or two later I had four more teeth extracted in preparation for orthodontic work, and due to the aforementioned experience I found I was able to proceed with that under local anaesthesia.  The worst part of having a tooth pulled in my experience, aside from the anxiety, has been dealing with the open socket in the weeks following, which you still have to deal with after a sedation anyway.

    Good luck whatever you decide, I hope you can get it sorted swiftly.

Reply
  • Hi there.  First off, get back to your dentist.  It sounds like you'll need more antibiotics, they won't usually consider doing an extraction with infection present.

    Probably a decade ago now I had a tooth pulled due to an abscess developing underneath it, for which I was prescribed a course of amoxicillin.  As someone who suffers from significant dental anxiety, the prospect of having a tooth pulled terrified me, and so like yourself, I pushed my dentist for sedation and was referred to a specialist dentist who was equipped to do that (who I had to pay handsomely for the privilege).

    On the day though, the specialist refused to do it under sedation because I had turned up alone (seems obvious now, but I just didn't know at the time), so I decided to go ahead there and then with a local anaesthetic, mostly because I could not afford to muck about with more antibiotics and waiting for another appointment.  The extraction itself was unpleasant, but completely painless and honestly it was a total relief to be rid of that bad tooth once and for all.

    A year or two later I had four more teeth extracted in preparation for orthodontic work, and due to the aforementioned experience I found I was able to proceed with that under local anaesthesia.  The worst part of having a tooth pulled in my experience, aside from the anxiety, has been dealing with the open socket in the weeks following, which you still have to deal with after a sedation anyway.

    Good luck whatever you decide, I hope you can get it sorted swiftly.

Children
  • Thanks JustMe,

    I had a tooth extracted without sedation a few years ago and because of some extra roots it took the dentist twice as long as she'd expected to extract it.

    After that I found that I was having panic attacks during simple check-ups.

    I don't know what's wrong with me. Going on a bit of a tangent, but every time I look for inspiration I'm told to stop wasting my time.

    I'll book an appointment with my dentist to see if I can get more antibiotics.

    [edit] My dentist is unavailable today. His receptionist has asked me to call back tomorrow.