More dental drama

I am currently feeling somewhat zombified, so I make no apologies if what I'm about to type is full of spelling mistakes, or seems like a load of gibberish.

Within minutes of waking this morning, I was straight on the phone to my new dental practice to book an emergency dental appointment. For the second time this month, I was in considerable dental pain.

Given the amount of pain I was in, the dentist decided to write a prescription for Erythromycin and Metronidazole (antibiotics), with instructions to take both antibiotics together. He explained that it would be akin to taking a fortnight's worth of antibiotics within the space of a week, but that it should help to alleviate my pain more quickly. 

After leaving the dentist, my son called in at an independent pharmacy for me, whilst I waited outside, yelping in pain. Unfortunately, they were out of stock of one of the antibiotics. My son's intention had been for us to try our local Boots pharmacy, but I was doubtful that we would be able to make it there before it closed. Knowing that we would need to walk through our town centre and that there was a Boots pharmacy there, I felt it made more sense to head straight to that branch.

I am not normally one to make a scene in public, but upon hearing that Boots also had no stock of the same antibiotic, I broke down. I wasn't really crying as such (there were no tears), but the combination of my dental pain and growing frustration was such that I had to let it out audibly (loud, tearless sobbing). This resulted in the pharmacy assistant checking to see if any other Boots pharmacies within the area had both antibiotics in stock. They didn't. The pharmacist then phoned an independent chemist in a local village. Yes, they had both antibiotics in stock and would put them aside.

As time was ticking on, my son knew there was no way I would be able to walk to the village before the pharmacist there closed, but as he has a fast pace of walking, he knew that he could. It was therefore agreed that I would make my way home without my son. I am not sure how long it took me to walk home (a distance of just over 1 mile), but I felt incredibly relieved when my son arrived home (with the antibiotics) about 10 minutes after me. The distance from our town, to the village, and then to our home is just under 2½ miles, which proves just how slowly I had been walking, and how quickly my son had been walking.

The good news is that within 30 - 60 minutes of taking my first dose of antibiotics, I had stopped yelping in pain. I've since taken a second dose, along with a couple of co-codamol tablets, so am crossing my fingers that once my head hits the pillow, I'll be out for the count until the morning and won't awake in quite as much pain. 

For the record, it's the combination of the antibiotics and co-codamol that is making me feel somewhat spaced out.

Parents
  • Hello Sparkly, it sounds like you really need that dental work done soon - I hope the new drugs help get the abcess under controll so they can get in and get antibiotics into the roots that are causing the problem.

    I recall my dentist educating me when I had a similar issue to you that prolonged infection will consume the bone structure behind the tooth leading to anything from the tooth falling out to your jaw breaking at the weak point. Maybe it was scare tactics but it worked and I got the work done as soon as the antibiotics ran their course.

    In my case it was a root canal that had been poorly done and where they had left a small amount of the dead nerve in a curve of the roots it had decayed and become infected. The fix was fairly easy - take out the filling, pack in some antibiotic wadding to the root to make sure it was dead then schedule a re-do of the root canal work (at £900 a root that was expensive).

    Luckily it doesn't hurt - just the discomfort of having your mouth open for a long period of time and the sound/smell of the drilling. I used headphones and music to keep me distracted.

    The worst bit is paying for it LoL.

  • Thank you, Iain. You're not wrong about me needing the dental work done soon. I have a bottom molar towards the back, which needs to be extracted. The tooth had been filled 10+ years ago, but more recently a chunk of tooth around the filling broke off.

    My son is of the opinion that the Amoxycillin prescribed by the emergency dental practice earlier this month wasn't strong enough to completely clear the infection. Either way, I currently feel like there is a right old battle being fought between the antibiotics and my dental infection.

Reply
  • Thank you, Iain. You're not wrong about me needing the dental work done soon. I have a bottom molar towards the back, which needs to be extracted. The tooth had been filled 10+ years ago, but more recently a chunk of tooth around the filling broke off.

    My son is of the opinion that the Amoxycillin prescribed by the emergency dental practice earlier this month wasn't strong enough to completely clear the infection. Either way, I currently feel like there is a right old battle being fought between the antibiotics and my dental infection.

Children