Oh no!!!!!

I am now 16 days out and i have a problem. My tooth is giving me FITS! I know I'm gonna have to have a root canal. I know there's no way around it. My face is swollen, my mouth is killing me. Its 3am and i cant even lay my head on my pillow. I was eating some almonds the other day and i felt it when i bit down wrong. My thing is... if I go for a root canal, they'll give me pain meds. what do i do? i dont think i can take the pain of having a root canal done without pain meds. i surely cant keep on like this. and i refuse to get hooked on that crap again! I cant request ibuprofen 800mg because i've had gastric bypass and cant take ibu. will i be hooked again if i take the meds he gives me? I need some help here. i'm so miserable. my mouth is killing me but i dont know what to do!

[all_alone1]

Yeah my husband had a root canal about 2 weeks ago they gave him codine or tylenol 3. Cany you take that? It isn't as strong as vicoden. When I had all 4 wisdom teeth surgically removed they gave me vicoden to take. But you know what fixing the tooth (or removing them in my case....and I had huge holes from top to bottom)actually relieves the pain and if there is some it is bearable or at least for me....so I didn't need to take them.  I am sorry if this didn't help much I am sure there will be more posting in a few. They are really good at helping I am pretty new at this.

[LeaAnn807]

Listen, if the pain is that bad, all you can do is explain the situation to your dentist, and let him go from there.  Is there someone who could pick up the pills for you and hold them to dispense to you as needed?  There are also non narcotic meds that can be tried first. You have come too far to turn back now and just give in, ok?  If they start you on an antibiotic first, then within a day or two the pain should subside enough to get by on Tylenol.  I know that toothaches can HURT, but so do WDs from too much meds;  You might have to decide on which one you can stand?   You decide!

Whatever you decide is best, we can support you.  Just give it some thought, and remember that you've been through worse!

Always, ALWAYS remember that honesty will be your friend throughout your recovery!  Be honest with any medical professional.  That's the only way they can help you!  : )

[all_alone1]

I told you it wouldn't be long for someone to come along and give great advice.....I could only give my personal experience..sorry

[littlebit667]

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.  Root canals are he ll.  Too pain is the worst.  I agree honesty is the best policy with the dentist.  I promise they have heard it before and may have some good advice.  Get it fixed..the pain may make you relapse before you even get to the dentist.  

[LeaAnn807]

That just brought me to a point I forgot. Waiting on the RC is the painful part.  Once you actually have it, much of the pain, other than soreness, is gone!  The root and nerve is gone, so there is no more horrible pain thereafter.  Call the dentist tomorrow, be honest and don't worry yourself into a  relapse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   : )

[littlebit667]

LOL...too pain equals tooth pain.  Dang typos.  Tram is right the pain will be gone after the root canal.  I had forgotten that.  I remember calling my dentist late one night....told him I had a set of pliers in my hand and was getting ready to pull the tooth (this is with narcs) if he could not do it NOW.  He met me at his office at 9 pm to do the job. :)  Instant relief.

[mamaamw]

Thanks guys.. I'll call today and see if i can get an apt. i really can't afford it...but i cant do this either. Its hurting so bad my whole rights side of my face is hurting and its making me feel like I have an ear infection. It did this one other time too. :/ ugh...

[Dav125]

Ok Mamaamw, here's the deal. If you have a root canal done by your dentist, it normally involves a 3 step process where 3 appointments are needed as he uses small circular files to remove the root or nerve persay by working his way down the canal spinning the file removing the nerve in steps. And is done by hand as he slowly spins it in his fingers basically spin filing the root out of the canal.

At least thats they way it was back a number of years ago when I had my first one's performed which my primary dentist did.

A few years later, I had a tooth that went nuts requiring another root canal. Problem was, there was a gold crown on this tooth. Why this tooth initially did not have the root canal done before having the crown placed I am not sure of. I'm backing up about ten years here..Common sense for me says one would think that would be wise to do ahead of time but it wasn't. It might have been a cash issue, lack of benefit issue, or its something that doesn't necessarily have to be done based on the condition of the tooth below the upper portion needing to be crowned.. Thats history though..Ok, let me qwell your fears here..

Because I had a situation where we were dealing with an existing crown, my dentist sent me to an Enodontist..Thats all they do all day long. Root canals..Based on the earlier root canals I had and the discomfort I had to deal with in the 3 step process I had done twice by my dentist which drew the process out leaving me in a place of pain and discomfort inbetween each appointment, I had no idea what to expect going to the specialist (endodontist) and was rather concerned as to how much pain I was going to endure as I assumed this process would be similar to my past experience.

Well guess what? My fears were totally overblown..Endodontists handle root canals in one visit..They have a specialized realtime x-ray machine they monitor while doing the procedure..He used a standard dental drill with what use to be hand handled by my dentist attached to the drill (the file) He then drilled thru the crown down to the root base. He then switched to 3 different sized files upsizing each time, again, using a dental drill working down the canal slowly making the canal larger as he drilled while monitoring the removal of the nerve itself which could be seen in the active x-ray he was referring to as he went thru this upsizing until he could see all of the nerve had been removed from the tooth as it showed up like a dark matter he could see still on the sides of the tooth within the canal....Did I feel any pain during the procedure? Absolutely none. The most pain I had was the initial novicane shot which I must say is some high powered stuff...This whole procedure took less than 45 minutes, totally completed in this one appointment AND,,I did not require ANY pain meds concerning what one would think would be post operative pain associated with the procedure..

I had some soreness for a day due to the fact it was an invasive procedure so to speak, but requiring any pain meds? I didn't need any..The soreness was moreso from where he penitrated my gums for the novivane shots. And within 15 seconds, that pain from the needle was non existent.. The tooth did not hurt at all..Matter of fact, I had no further pain to deal with once my gums got over the minor swelling associated with the shots.

Bottom line. If you go to an endodondist, this will be over in 45 minutes, all completed in one appointment, and at least in my case, I did not need any pain medication to deal with the after affects. Once he had completed the root canal, my pain was gone...

Now if your having a tooth pulled, thats a different story. But let me give you a clue on that..I had all these fears of how painful this procedure was going to be the first time I had that done. Well guess what again? I never felt a thing other than the iitial novicane shot.

Matter of fact one time he had the tooth out and I thought it was still in there until he said "were done". That blew my mind. Now,, with an extraction of a tooth, there will be some post op pain associated with that..I needed some low grade pain med for about three days and that was it..

Check to see if your coverage will allow for you to have an endodontist take care of this. At most, some Motrin for a day or so will be all you'll need and the only reason is because of the soreness from the novicane shots in your gums..I've had three root canals done by this one endodontist..Pain meds were not necessary. What was necessary was him getting the nerve in the canal cleared out. Once gone? No more pain....Dav

This is my experience with root canals

[ricart70]

Go to a urgent care and get antibiotics this morning.Take aleve.I have had root canal before with no pain meds.Tram is right you can't barely feel the pain after it is over

[vicki595]

Your pain is caused by all that inflammation!  Once that goes down you'll feel better. You need to get that diagnosed first. If your face is swollen, you'll need an antibiotic before anything can be done. You need to call the dentist today and get that xrayed. If you need an RCTX, it's best to see a specialist (Endodontist).
Get some ice on your face and take extra strength Tylenol. This is painful,I know. It's only up to YOU if you want to take pain med. Personally, I don't believe in suffering. ;)

Call today Honey!

[Dav125]

Vicki is absolutely right. If you have some swelling going on, you've git some infection starting to spread..Get ahold of your dentist and get some antibiotics going now..If the pain levels are really getting up there, your dentist can get ahold of an endodontist and in many cases get this done fast.When my last tooth that went ballistic reqyuiring a rootcanal, I spoke with my Dentist and that afternoon I was in the endodontists chair. Miracles can happen like thing. Get on the phone though. With this swelling and stuff, that tells me infection is present..You need to get on an antibiotic like yesterday if your having the amount of swelling and discomfort your describing...

[dominosarah]

Get going on some antibiotics first and the pain should subside.  Be honest with the dentist, there are other meds other than narcotics you can take.  Keep us posted on how you are.

[snakejones]

The others are right---no dentist or endodontist will touch you until there's no infection, so get antibiotics ASAP. Ask urgent care doc about free samples if you have no insurance. (I think I remember you don't have a regular family doctor anymore, right?)
If it's one of those lower jaw back molars, only an endodontist will do, as those teeth have four roots. An upper molar has three roots, so some dentists will do those. I asked my dentist about him doing a lower back molar once, and even got a second opinion, but they wouldn't touch me because of the four-root thing. Tell the doctor about your addiction and see if they have an alternative, non-opiate postop med they can give you. There's also the possibility that they could give you a single Demerol pill to be used as an emergency. Although an opiate, Demerol is not in the same family as your drug of choice, and possibly wouldn't be as attractive as your DOC. I know that this is probably an unwelcome choice for you---the only reason I am saying this is that I've had two root canals, one upper molar, and the other a lower jaw molar. The upper molar had much less pain than the lower--took just one pain pill. The lower was horrible, due to injecting a nerve by accident. I needed everything they could give me. I just worry about you really needing pain relief during the first night and having nothing but Tylenol. In the end, though, you must do what is best for yourself. If your addiction situation is that fragile and you believe that a single pain pill will jeopardize your recovery, why then, you know what to do. I wish you all the best and hope that you feel better soon!

[mamaamw]

Ok... yall please dont think i'm nuts...but now, i cant tell WHICH tooth is causing the pain! At first I thought it was my widowm tooth on bottom left. Then I thought it was one of the upper right. (my right ear is hurting so i'm thinking its coming from the right.... my right side of my face is throbbing too). But now, I cant tell exactly which tooth its coming from! (will xrays show?)... anyway... all my teeth in my mouth are now hurting, starting with the worst side being the left and by the time you get to teh back of the right side, those teeth aren't really affected. I've tried to even massage my gums...wondering if its some type of infection or something... or maybe a blister causing so much goign on in there. Then.. I wondered... I've been taking 8-10 of the cal-mag-zinc a day... also 4 xtra strength tylenol every 4 hrs, plus 1 potassium, plus b12, plus b6..... could any of those (or the combo of so much of it) cause something freaky to go on in my mouth? I DID call and the soonest I can get in is Thurs morning. Even my front teeth are hurting...but i just wonder if its nerves in my mouth causing the other teeth to be irritated as well. Any idea?????
And what type of non-narc pain meds could they possibly give me? Im a little skiddish on it since they say tramadol isn't a narc and thats what i w/d from! Also, I cant take any ibuprofen, so thats out of the question. so.... what do you guys think now?

[ricart70]

YOU need to go to an urgent care and get antibiotics!.Do that now.It is also very common to not know which tooth it is.Now the infection is causing inflammation which can and probably will lead to a large bump somewhere on the inside of your mouth if you don't go get the antibiotics.Again,I reiterate go to the urgent care and get the antibiotics.If you do this you will be feeling better in a couple of days.If you don't this will start hurting so badly that you can't even think.Then you will have no choice but to take painkillers.They can also give you steroids instead which take away the inflammation but steroids also mask inflammation so yuo need the antibiotic.I have done this more than a couple of times

[ricart70]

You have an infection that will lead to an abcess (abscess) if you do not go get antibiotics.

[littlebit667]

My dentist gets that you can't always tell which tooth.  He will have to play touchy, touchy with your teeth to be sure.  And yes, if you have an infection....your whole mouth may hurt.  Not sure about the vitamins causing a problem.  Maybe you can call dentist tomorrow to see if they have had a cancellation.  

[LeaAnn807]

So, what did you decide to do?  Gonna wait until Thursday?  Or go to urgent care?  Even if they know you're an addict at urgent care, they can still treat you for legit stuff like this.  They just won't treat "imaginary pain" that we drug addicts come up with in order to get meds.  I've done it.  Guess most of us have.  But, you have a legitimate infection going on, so they can treat that!  Trust me.  Get yourself some relief.  Thursday will seem a long way away with this pain.  If money is an issue, and the tooth is in back, you can get immediate relief from having it pulled and not messing with the RC.  Just a thought!  Let us know, ok?

[ricart70]

Mamaamw,I used to have this happen to me and I realized that once I got the antibiotic the pain went away fairly quickly.And the antibiotic kills the infection and even if I did not treat the tooth the pain,swelling,etc.would go away for a month or more sometimes longer.So if yuo just go and spend the 100 bucks at the urgent care then you can wait a little while on the dentist.I do not want to see you go through this pain which will not go away on it's own.Just this morning you said your tooth hurt now it's afternoon and your whole mouth is hurting.When you bit down on the almond you probably felt a shocking pain.That was your root/nerve being hit.Then it got some food lodged in there and is now getting infected.I know this drill quite well.I also know someone who died from this as sometimes the infection will go to your brain.It's not just the pain that you have to go through until thursday.The main thing is to get started treating this infection.Tram is also right they can yank it out for about 50 bucks.

[vicki595]

You need to get this taken care of right now. Call a dentist/doctor, go to urgent care, but DO something.

It's very common to be unsure of which tooth is causing a problem. An xray will diagnose that immediately.

An infection in a tooth(or teeth) can become extremely serious for your overall health. Don't wait on it,okay?

[mamaamw]

Thank you all SOOOOO much! I had a feeling I may have an antibiotic in my cabinet and I did! One that I didn't finish (shame shame) when I had my tooth pulled over the summer!!! :) :) :) I have enough to get me thru til Thursday! I just took my first dose. It was given to me by an oral surgeon when I had a tooth pulled. Surely that'll work! Please pray it magically goes away (like my hip pain which caused me to get on pills to start with)....btw... no hip pain at all since i've been off pills! how weird is that???? I was on the verge of having surgery. not saying it wont flair back up....but as of now... no hip pain! now, if i didnt feel like i've been hit across the face with a baseball bad i'd be doing good! lol hopefully these antibiotics i have will help. they aren't expired, so they should!

[ricart70]

Good Good Good

[LeaAnn807]

Girl, I'm so happy you found those.  Prayers work!!  Just remember to still go in on Thursday even if the pain is better. AND of course, don't forget that you did this without pain pills, and be super proud of that! : ) I sure am!

[vicki595]

There is no such thing as magic.    You know certain antibiotics are prescribed for particular bacteria, right?   You also know that by going on an antibiotic of your own choosing you can mask a real problem,right?  My fear for you is that it may feel better and you won't keep that appt. I guess the onus needs to be on YOU here.  

It's only my opinion but, this needed to be xrayed today.  I can't believe a dental office would make you wait 2 days with pain and a swollen face. Is this a dentist you've seen before?

[mamaamw]

no, i'm in the process of changing dentists. every time i'd go to my previous dentist, he'd always yell ROOT CANAL...no matter what!!!  I can't do it anymore. I've found one that is very well liked around here. so, i'm hoping its worth the wait.

[snakejones]

Girl, why are you so hard-headed? I'm worried about you tonight. It was rough last night, remember? Okay, *sigh* what kind of antibiotic is it that you found? For dental abscesses, penicillin or a derivative is most commonly given. I was given ampicillin, there's also Augmentin and Pen V-K. For folks allergic to penicillin, they give you erythromycin, but it's definitely a second-choice drug. I sure hope your foolish choices aren't going to cause a worse problem for you. When you came here, you didn't know you'd have 500 people acting like your mama coming down on you, did ya?  ;-)
I hope you'll feel better by tomorrow. Did you tell the new dentist's receptionist that it was an emergency? You need to call them again tomorrow morning and fuss, especially if you don't feel better by breakfast time. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night......

[littlebit667]

I just had a picture of 500 mama's standing in a circle around mamaamw!!!

[vicki595]

So?  How are you feeling?

500 people are worried about you!

There are "walk in" dental clinics all over. You could at least get an xray and get on some proper meds...

[mamaamw]

Well, i figured since they were for my teeth before, they'd b ok now.... apparently they are. I took my first dose last night and woke up feeling a little better this morning! I just took my 2nd dose, so by lunchtime I'm hoping I'll feel a LOT better! Then tomorrow morning I go to the dentist. THe thing is...my tooth on the other side of my mouth is hurting worse this morning than the one on my left side. I'm wondering if something isn't going on with my gums or SOMETHING...and not just one TOOTH?? Something causing problems all the way around.
As far as a better night..... I slept a LITTLE better last night. I took my melatonin and sleepytime tea but still didnt rest very well. I feel I could possibly have a sinus infection starting too (wonder if thats related to the teeth?). The reason I think I have a sinus infection is becaues I get them a lot and I know exactly what the symptoms are. So, my head hurt all night long. Anyway.... hopefully I'll feel better as the day goes on. :)
And thank you for the 500 mothers I have! I've needed every one of you! Keep it up! LOL

[vicki595]

Yes...there can be something else going on: Sinus infection will cause teeth to hurt A LOT. If your head is hurting and bending your head over makes it throb...then it could be sinus trouble.  Also, muscle spasm on one side or both sides will cause a lot of tooth pain. To check for that, move your lower jaw all the way to the right,as far as you can. Then all the way to the left. If the pain decreases, it's muscle spasm.

No matter what, you STILL need to see that dentist tomorrow. Guessing is just that: A guess!  LOL

[marycarmel]

Please listen to Vicki!!   An infection in your mouth is serious.  If taking that antibiotic helped, that's great, but you still don't know for certain that it's the right antibiotic.  Sometimes when things quiet down, we feel like we're okay but it could be the antibiotic isn't really working as well as it should.  Plus, you surely don't have enough for the whole course of treatment.

Even if you have to go to a walk-in place, at least you'll be headed in the right direction.  I've often had a toothache and not been totally sure which tooth it was.  At times it felt like all of them ached.

Until you get to the dentist, do lots of ice packs.  They really are underestimated.  If you can take some type of anti-inflammatory it should also help.

Glad to hear your hip pain is gone!!!