Oooo toothache...

[CaraRose]

So I had a toothache start Monday evening. Got worse yesterday, today, it's killing me. My dentist is squeezing me in tomorrow after work, but that seems ages away.

It seems to be in two teeth, both were filled a couple of months ago. Super sensitive to pressure and heat and cold. I'm using clove oil, and taking alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol since ibuprofen works better but tends to upset my stomach. Anyone know of any other good remedies that'll get me through work tomorrow? I've also got oragel but that doesn't seem to work as well as clove oil.


Ow ow ow ow ow.

[Frog]

found this site with a bunch of suggestions. Hope they help.
If not, drink lots of booze and call in tomorrow.

[Liz]

I found this website with many suggestions - however, it looks like Nyquil is the big winner here! Seems it helped lots of people who read the post. It mentions Dayquil also - if during the day.

http://www.myhomeremedies.com/remedy.cgi?remedyid=5556

Liz

[CaraRose]

Thanks everyone. I sort of took Frog's advice there... minus the booze. After the pain got so bad I couldn't sleep last night, I did call in to work and called the dentist this morning and got them to see me sooner. Had an emergency root canal. Feeling much better now.

[GB1]

Arrgggg. What did they fill them with? Metal, white (clear) resin or on-lay (might be called in-lay)?

I had many old cavities refilled years ago, and have had nothing but problems with some of them. One problem white resin filling I even had redone, but it didn't help: same sensitivity to pressure and cold, but not heat incidentally. I can eat string beans on it, but ...

The other problem tooth is an onlay that is supposed to be the latest, high-tech state of the art (or whatever the heck they want to call it) solution. It has been extremely sensitive to pressure, and cold, ever since they put it in. At first I was told that "It may take a month or two to settle in", but it's been over a year now. The dentist was at a loss to explain, saying the xrays look fine, but a tech whispered to me that another patient who had the exact same procedure was in the week before complaining of the same thing. The dentist finally 'sort' of admitted that there's a problem but said that sometimes any action on a tooth will produce this effect. He said that it wasn't the inlay and that metal or clear would have caused the problem also. His solution: I need a root canal.

This all sort of pisses me off because not only was it fine before they worked on the teeth, but it was also expensive and "state of the art." I really don't believe he screwed up but at the same time think he is reluctant to admit any liability or the possibility that the dental community's theories may be off base.

(Upset) GB

[CaraRose]

I think it was an inlay onlay or whatever they call it. It'd been for four months up to this point, but I actually remember him saying that that tooth had been pretty bad and he'd been worried it might need a root canal. I'm pretty sure he was trying to keep the costs down for me since I'd maxed out my plan for the year when he opted to try to fill it, hoping to have it last till next year.

It definitely needed a root canal in my case. You could smell the infection when he drilled into it. Really gross. It was hurting so badly since the infection was building in the tooth and couldn't drain.

I agree about dentists not being willing to admit they're wrong though. My mom had serious problems with the other dentist in the practice, and ended up going somewhere else. My guy's been pretty good so far, had a ton of work done this year since I finally have dental insurance after spending the last five or six years uninsured.

[OldClicker]

Ouch - sorry to hear about the night. I can take a lot of pain, but at night - just laying there for hours with nothing to do but feel the pain throb... I think I would have found a 24 hr dentist or doctor or vet or something. - TF

[Frog]

Glad its better and hope it stays that way!

[PRB]

I am so happy to hear that you are feeling better.

If I may ask, what kind of dental insurance do you have? We have Aetna Dental through my husband's employer but, it doesn't cover enough to make any difference. They offer a list of "PLAN" dentists and, in my area, their "covered rate" for walking in the door for a consultation is $150 charged to the insured patient (me!) -- God only knows what they charge the poor joes without insurance...:frown2: and, then whatever procedures you need to have done are on top of that!

Are there ANY good dental insurance plans out there?

Thank you for whatever info you can share on this.

My Best to You,
Penny

[CaraRose]

We have delta dental and it's not bad. Before the company was bought last year we had Blue Cross Blue Shield which was a better policy I think. Lot of the same run down but Delta likes be picky about things like the filling type used on molars.

My delta plan is a PPO, $50 deductible, $1500 maximum. They cover 100% of preventative, 80% of minor, and 50% of major. I don't believe I get an office visit charge, though I don't know if that's the plan or the dentist.

I think I pay about $10 a month (through employer) for it.