I've had problems with my teeth for a couple of months now , I am 35 and glad to say never had toothache until now , and I don't want it again either !

I went for my regular check up 2 month ago and had to go back for a small filling on a top tooth which wasn't bothering me. I suffered afterwards as he clamped my mouth open too far and couldn't open my mouth properly for the next few weeks . At the same time I had a clean which afterwards I seemed to have sensitivity on the bottom teeth at one side. I went back and he gave me antibiotics as he thought I may have an abcess underneath that he couldn't see. They didn't work so I've been back to the dentist today , he's taken an old filling out and redone it and says my tooth next to it is decaying slightly so has done something with that as well ( I think he called it dressing ) . I have to go back in 3 weeks for him to check.  Problem is since the numbness has worn off my teeth are throbbing even worse than before I went today :( , I called and they said to go back tomorrow , I think I'm going to ask him to pull them out if he can't sort out this pain.

Anyone else had worse toothache after a trip to the dentist ?

Yup,

After they cleaned mine just over 6 months back I had awful pain in my mouth.. Couldn't understand it. Very sensitive that I went to a different dentist for a check up, x-rays done and nothing wrong ? So spent a fortune on senstive toothpaste and the like.. Its all worn off now... Well apart from my wisdom teeth are coming through and they have to be removed - teeth extraction can only be done at hospital now too, sooo its a long wait for the hospital to now get back to me with a date for a day in with them.. Having a general as i'm a wuss!! lol

Really , they don't take teeth out at local dentists anymore ! I hope he does something to help tomorrow then !

My sister is having awful trouble with her wisdom teeth ATM , they are taking ages to come through , I had mine in fully when I was 14. I don't blame you for wanting a general I've got worse as I've got older , when I was about 13 I had 6 teeth out in one go with just a local , I had too many teeth for my mouth they said at the time. Don't think I could do it again though .

My dentist, not NHS removed my wisdom tooth. It only took a few minutes and was painfree and I had no pain afterwards.
However have to say he his a super dentist as I usually hate them.1

>teeth extraction can only be done at hospital now too

My dentists took my wisdom tooth out at her practice; I was amazed that it was totally pain-free both during and afterwards, because I'm a real scaredy-cat when it comes to dentists.

Our dentist does extractions!  :)

Ooh maybe I'll be painfree tomorrow then :)

My dentist does extractions too. One time I wished she didn't though. I had the tooth out and afterwards I was in absolute agony. I have never felt such pain, it was like something building to a higher and higher pitch then it reached a peak and all of a sudden subsided. I rang the dentist up and was told to come next day but I was fine by then and didn't really want to see that place again any time soon.

It was almost like an abcess building and building and suddenly bursting.

Also after I've had a clean my teeth aren't right for a couple of days but I wouldn't class it as pain.

> My dentists took my wisdom tooth out at her practice; I was amazed that it was totally pain-free both during and afterwards

My wisdom tooth was taken out at my dentist's practice. Not actually by my dentist, but by another partner who was supposed to be the expert there :) :) :) It was painless and quick :)

I had an awful experience years ago (1998 to be exact while I was on free maternity dentistry).  The dentist gave me a filling, but the clamp wouldn't stay on properly so he really tightened it up.  When I got home I saw a huge blood blister developing where the clamp had been.  Two days later the pain was getting worse, i couldn't eat or sleep properly for 3 days.  Went back to dentist who proclaimed I had an abscess and needed root canal work.

It took two lots of antibiotics, and weekly appointments to disinfect the cavity, and finally they filled it.  I didn't go back to the dentist for 5 years (and a different one).

Do you think you may need more antibiotics and for them swish the area with disinfectant?  Good luck to you I know what you're going through.

after my mum had a terrible experiance with a dentist i am very carefull about them, if i had to keep going back to them because they cant get some thing right i would see a differant dentist, my mum needed a decaying tooth cleaning out to stop it getting worse and the plonker dentist didnt bother to clean it and just slapped a filling over the tooth, her face swelled up to the point she was unreconisable, the guy ended up losing his dental practice because it wasnt the first time he had done it!!! so always be carefull if the guy seems to make your teeth worse!!!!!!

I'm curious to know how difficult/ easy it is to ask for a second opinion regarding dental work? 

I have suffered for a very long time with teeth issues and after losing one recently (gum deterioration) I am due to have 6 more removed and plastic teeth (can't bear to say the word dentures!)

However, following an extremely traumatic tooth extraction in my (NHS) dentist's surgery about 2 years ago when the numbing injections failed to work as the tooth was still infected by an abscess, I am terrified of having any teeth removed whilst sitting in the dentist's chair!

I have asked to be knocked out - and was told this may not be able to be arranged through NHS/ hospitalisation and I may have to pay for private anaesthetist  - £1k!!!  The plastic teeth will cost £200 (Band 3 NHS charge).

Googling this procedure has shown that dental sedation is often used and less risky - also having the bonus of being less expensive.  I plan to explore this option further.

But now I'm starting to worry...the missing tooth is at the front (feeling very embarrassed in professional work environment) and I'd assumed he'd take out all the other lower front teeth as obviously my gums are rubbish - but he has told me he will only take out about half of them as they are loose.

My major concern, I guess. is how odd these mismatched teeth will look and how long before I lose all of them anyway.....

I NEED a second opinion but don't know if this can be done by an NHS dentist or if I'd need to pay for it privately?  A private consultation is fine but I'm not sure I can afford to purchase the plastic teeth privately.

Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks.

Hi Debussy , I'm on maternity a the minute and am putting my problems down to being run down after having the baby and breast feeding her , I think I'm giving all the goodness to her and my body is suffering for it. But she's worth it :)
I'm going to ask him tomorrow if I may need more antibiotics , if he gets it wrong again it is the last time I'll see him .

Well, I am much older than any of you, and had an emergency dentist appointment last year with raging toothache.  Nobody mentioned hospital. The dentist told me that she couldn't save the tooth, so I asked her to take it out there and then.

Like tigran, I had my wisdom teeth out at the dentist too.  No GA, just the normal jab.

Been back to dentist , he took an xray and said I have no more decay , so all it could be is a bad reaction to the dressing he put in yesterday !
He cleaned it out and put a new one in with oil of cloves YUK!!!! I can't stand the smell or taste of it , hope it goes away soon. My face is still numb so don't know if the pain has gone however I could feel some pain yesterday even while numb. Think he's given me extra today as I can't feel my ear properly ( I feel a bit like Shrek :) )
Going to brave my grocery shop soon , hope I don't dribble ! :)

>> hope I don't dribble

Oh I do feel for you, apparently I have deep seated nerves which means I have to have several injections before it feels numb. The downside to this is it tends to affect the whole side of my face, (and ear like you), and down my neck. I was once sent home from work after a dentist appt, as the numb side of my face had dropped, and the lip turned blue. It looked like I'd had a stroke, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), I didn't realise this and had travelled into work by tube - I did wonder why I was getting some really strange looks from the people sitting opposite me - I just thought I was dribbling.

I don't know if theres anyone on here that find the injections don't entirely work on them. You have the jab, go numb and as soon as that drill hits you can feel pain.

If this is you, ask the dentist for Alacaine. Apparantly there is a propotion of people for whom the normal anaesthetic does not entirely work (I was one of them and I used to dread fillings) One day she got fed up of me jumping and twitching in the chair so she tried Alacaine and it was nothing short of a miracle..couldn't feel a thing. First pain free filling ever.

Yes thats me , I was squeezing my eyes tighter and tighter because it felt like he was drilling a nerve .Well the numbness has worn off completely now and I still have slight toothache ( don't know if this is normal or not ! )
He's also left a large chip of tooth on the top edge of one of my bottom teeth which is irritating me soo much now that I can feel my tongue properly.It's ver sharp :( .  I'm going to have to wait 3 weeks like this til next appointment , or I might try and file it off myself , will see how much its bothering me later !

The problem with numbing a infected tooth is as it is infected there is increased blood suply which stops the aneasthetic from taking hold so easy so they have to use more and more and as you work into the tooth they can place it directly into the nerve. Wisdom teeth can be done at a practice but as often if they are problematic and have not broken through or become enpacted they can require a fair bit of pulling which can be most unpleasant for the wide awake patient, i have often been told how sometime they are so tightly in the dentist has to put their feet on the side of the bed to get their weigfht behind (which for most patients would be terrifying let alone nervous ones)
If your tooth needs dressing again or starts to hurt you can put some oil of cloves and mix a small amount to 4 parts olive oil and applie it on some cotton wool as a dressing, do not use alchohol as that increase blood supply to affected tooth and makes it worse.
Hope it starts to feel better and if not make sure you insist he sees you before 3 weeks as if left it will only fester.

fleabag dont know if this will help but my son was getting rubbish treatment for a wisdom tooth at one dentist and was in great pain waiting to have it removed,held up even more by the admin staff not forwarding his paperwork
We change to another nhs dentist who solved the problem in the chair in very short order.
I would phone another nhs dentist and ask for an appointment to discuss you position

poor you, oil of cloves is very effective but nasty :(

I've been a bit cheered up by these posts, if you understand my meaning--I have had two months of everything from uncontrollable blasts of pain where even swallowing was too much, ever mind eating (although I could do with a few days of fasting :)), and the rest of the time feeling as though my mouth and teeth don't even belong to me. It's been so weird I can't even describe it, paracetamol and codeine barely take the edge off it and I haven't a clue what's causing it. I can be fine one day and 10 minutes later be creased up with it. I wondered whether it could be wisdom teeth, but my dentist was dismissive of this idea--took xrays and announced that although there was no infection visible he'd prescribe ABs (!) and if it came back "we could either attempt root canal or take the tooth out."

I've had to go back to my doctor because I've found a small lump on the lower jaw--not an abscess but she thinks not cancer either, although I've now been referred to a maxillo-facial consultant. I've been feeling a bit defeated and depressed by it (horrible when it's so bad you can't brush properly) and hoping someone will find an obvious and easy answer soon. I hardly ever go to the doctor and have never had any trouble with my teeth, so I guess I've been spoilt...

Hope all of you feel much better soon! :)

Cani1, I've been reading your thread with interest, IMO I'd change dentist, I really would, it sounds like one mess up after another, you only went for a regular check up and your dentist seems to have acquired weeks of work from you and you still have problems, I think I would rue the day I ever set foot in this dentist, I certainly wouldn't wish to use him, it's like a catalogue of disasters. Have you thought of getting a second opinion?

You seem to be having a lot of work done, which wasn't there initially and poor you, you have been in such pain.

I am in the same position two abscesses in 5 weeks numerous antibiotics. Second time face looked like I was in a boxing match. Teeth beside and jaw bone hurt sometimes the pain buckles me. If not resolved with next appointment I am going for second opinion as antibiotics and dressing are not sorting it out. 

I work in a private dental practice,as I read all of your posts,I cant believe it.So here goes.
If your dentist took initial xrays and did not spot ALL of the decayed areas,change dentists.
Antibiotics will only work if there is an actual infection,not a tooth that is painful because the nerve inside is slowly dying,this is very painful and can only be resolved by starting the first stage of root canal treatment,by opening the tooth to remove the nerve from it,and putting a dressing in(oil of cloves,is not used by our practice,it is outdated and not as effective as other products on the market)
GET A PRINTED TREATMENT PLAN.this means you know exactly what your being treated for,its easier to understand and you know where your going and what the costs are.

I know I work in a private practice and that means more options are open to our patients,it is hard for NHS dentists to give complete care as they do have limited resourses,especially when it comes to root treatments.
The department of health now states that all files used in a root treatment must be only used once and thrown away because of a risk of cross infection, CJD.This means that nhs dentists dont actually get paid enough to buy the files and treat the tooth ,they would almost be out of pocket,not only that you have to be good at doing them,its called endodontics and our endodontist only does root canal work  using her microscope.
Most NHS dentists do work very hard,but if you can possibly afford private treatment,or even just have a second opinion,you will find a world of difference.
Just google chris lewns, and look at our website,do this for any practice you go to,ask for an info pack aswell,if they are any good,they will have one.
We look after our patients,we try to treat each person as if they were a member of our family sitting in the chair,dentistry has come a long way it does not have to be a nightmare.

Jay just a thought is your problem actually your teeth ? It isnt something like trigeminal neuralgia only it sounds a bit similar and that is excrutiating, 
Not I must say that I am any sort of medic

I had a tooth out at the dentist a year or two ago.. I am a bit of a coward when it comes to this so asked to be sedated, they only do this during certain times when no other patients are present (thankfully)... there was a second dentist  and 2 other nurses in the room ..I commented on' oh right we have a full house' and couldnt understand why until later... he sat me down and asked a few questions then gave me the needle in my hand the next thing I remember is my name being called and my hubby being in the room. The dentist and OH walked me to the car I looked and felt drunk ... but was laughing and chatting telling the dentist 'I was going to decorate the house when I got home'..LOL.. hubby said I talked all the way through the extraction and apparently kept telling my hubby 'he said I was a really good patient' over and over again in the car home... hubby said I was so funny ... and that when we arrived home he told me to wait in the car while he opened the door ..I said 'ok' then when he came back I was out the car falling all over the drive laughing... he got me inside and sat me on the sofa while he went to get a blanket and pillow and when he came back I was out for the count . I have never lived this down but ..dont have a bad memory regarding the dentist... and would definitely do it again if required.
I have been told since that with the drug they use, you are still awake but become very cooperative, when they ask you to open your mouth you do etc:but have no memory of it afterwards.
My dentist is with denplan where you have to pay monthly over the year and so many check ups and hygienist app are inc: