Dental Abscess - Most Pain Ever!

Posted , 3 users are following.

Just to share my nightmare of having a dental abscess under a crown may make the agony go away albeit temporarily. It started Monday and I managed to get a 'sit and wait' appointment at my dentist on Wednesday. An xray showed the abscess was under my front crown and I was given antibiotics and appointment in two weeks time. The worst thing is trying to manage the pain - which I have to say is the worst I've experienced and I have had two children and am a migraine-sufferer, well nothing compares! I went to the pharmacy who gave me paramol and that didn't work and neither did paracetamol. Tried NHS direct but they were only taking urgent calls and there was a 4 hour wait for phonebacks. Tried ringing my dentist (it's Good Friday so knew they'd be closed) and the emergency number they had on their answerphone was no longer in use! In complete desperation I phoned a veterinary surgeon friend of mine who advised ibuprofen and paracetamol together every 4 hours and to keep going even if the pain subsided. I am now only experiencing a dull ache rather than excruciating pain but I feel rather let down by my dentist and the NHS direct! So for all fellow sufferers try the ibuprofen/paracetamol plan and see if it works for you.

1 like, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • Posted

    The problem with the Antibiotics Dentists give is that, err, frankly (and this is just a humble opinion) they're no good neutral I mean they might work in days but not within hours rolleyes For me just 1 x 500 mg Flucloxacillin works literally within hours smile
  • Posted

    I've been taking amoxycilin 500mg 3 times a day since Wednesday and so far 48 hours later no sign of relief. Who would prescribe me flucloxacillin though - no one is open til Tuesday after Easter when I was planning on going back to my dentist. A) to get more treatment and B) to tell them to update their answerphone message!
  • Posted

    Ask your friends they might have one lying around, it only takes one capsule smile Older folks usually have tons of goodies cheesygrin
  • Posted

    Continuing saga of abscess nightmare: after now enduring pain for 5 days, I phoned emergency dentist out of desperation and am off to see them now. Will report treatment so as to help others in due course.
  • Posted

    Best treatment as advised by NHS Dental Surgeon for abscess in short term, antibiotics Amoxycillin and Metronizadole, as well as a hot salt-water mouthwash to draw out pus as follows:

    teaspoon salt dissolved in mug of hot water and sip into mouth and wash around tooth, like a mouthwash, spit out when cools and continue with hot (not boiling) water. Care should be taken that water is not too hot to burn mouth and do not swallow salted water. Has given me some relief anyway. But as always, do consult your own dentist if in doubt.

  • Posted

    Hi Jane, Like Benny Blanco, I had some left-over 500mg Flucloxacillin and have used that along with some Cepacaine mouthwash, available over the counter.  Cepacaine (google it) is a trade name which isn't available in the UK, but there must be something else.  For those in the southern hemisphere, the cepacaine is cheap and very effective at numbing the pain if it can be flushed into the tooth gaps, but DON'T swallow it.  I have a hole in an upper left molar and also broke a lower right molar at Christmas and it's now New Year.  I have to wait for the holidays to finish or go to ED as the dentists aren't answering their phones.  I'll certainly try your "old wives" salt solution.  Don't know why I didn't think of it. Happy 2017.

  • Posted

    I have a remedy for dental abscesses but first I'll detail my experience and why I ended up getting rid of an abscess TWICE without a dentist. We all know dental abscesses can be very painful. Dull constant ache and can be sleep deprived for what used to be days but now possibly weeks due to length of time in between appointments these days. Amoxicillin is typically the standardised prescribed anti-biotic and I have used this before. Flucloxacillin also works but predominantly a dental abscess's 'root' cause (no pun intended) derives from our diets. I've had around 3 dental abscesses now (2 under the same tooth) and I really lost all faith equally in dentists and the NHS for several reasons. 1) Modern dentistry only care about "drilling, filling and billing" period! 2) I was away to Ireland for a week when I had a flare up and going into an Irish pharmacy (in Northern Ireland) they recommended I contact my dentist to fax or email proof of treatment / patient and that they could then provide antibiotics. The dentist would not email or fax through anything and told me to phone their 24 health line (equivalent to NHS 24) and wait for an emergency appointment. I told them I was here for work (I'm in business development) and I couldn't just throw away a day or 2 for that. I honestly felt betrayed. A few months before this Ireland trip I foolishly allowed a dentist to provide a scale and polish around a year and a half ago knowing that it may be a bit rough for a couple of teeth at the front. A scale scrapes away hard plague, which is fine if you have very strong enamel. Nonetheless after Just a week I noticed sensitivity in one of teeth at the front (clearly the scraping away with the scale scraped at the enamel which weakened the tooth) so trying sensitive toothpastes seemed to help a little bit, or may have been mind over matter. But a few months later (as I'm heading to Ireland) I get the dull aching throbbing pain, only minor but enough to know an abscess was on its way and that the pain would only get worse. It did and I had to take a load of painkillers, ibuprofen etc until I got back home.

    I then got the nerve killed off on the tooth with a start on root canal with a course of amoxicillin. Because it was the same time that I was thourougly researching dental health and teeth and the anger and betrayal I felt, I didn't ever go back to the dentist. No nerve and no pain. Fast forward 8 months later and I start to get a minor dull throb again, which increases over the next 2 days. So my remedy in eliminating this? 

    x3 175mg oregano oil capsules daily (oregano oil is a natural anti-biotic which only targets bad bacteria, unlike amoxicillin and the rest which kill off good bacteria as well)

    x3 raw fermented cod liver oil tablets daily (not to be confused with any old cod liver oil, even Holland and Barrett don't stock raw cod liver oil. 'Raw' and 'fermented' contains natural, not synthetic, vitamin A and vitamin D, which is very important. Vitamin A is an anti-oxidant involved in reducing inflammation and maintaining strong bones. Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body so together they help the tooth and tooth structure. There is a well documented vitamin D deficiency in the UK today) 

    x2 pints of raw unpasteurised  milk daily. (Yes unpasteurised raw milk. Being in the UK this cannot be purchased in shops or supermarkets and requires purchasing online or direct at the small no. of English farms selling this. Basically pasteurised milk (extreme rapid heat treatment) kills of all of the goodness so offers no help at all and many in fact get bloated, feel sick if they drink a pint of this. Raw milk contains lactase, lipase, phosphatase and a number of natural enzymes. These enzymes help your body to better digest milk and better metabolize its vital nutrients.  Enzymes like phosphatase help the body to better absorb milk’s calcium. I could go on about the benefits but it worked) 

    I cut out all refined sugars where possible and brushed my teeth using a combination of coconut oil and peppermint oil. Within 5 - 6 days the pain was gone. Because I bought the milk in 'bulk' to justify the large overnight courier costs I continued on with the course for another 4 days just to be sure. I was pain free and abscess free for around 4 months before it came back again with a vengeance. The reason? I pretty much neglected healthy eating and succumbed to the easy choice of eating cakes, chocolate and snacks, which did show me that our diets really do influence illness. I done the same a second time and again, it was gone, but due to the pain being a lot worse I was taking x6 raw cod liver oil tablets and drinking around x4 pints of raw milk and the pain was gone again in 5-6 days. 

    My conclusion: eat healthier, cut down refined sugars, drink less pasteurised milk (pasteurised milk can actually draw calcium away from the bones) swap your  toothpaste for 'fluoride-free' toothpastes. An ingredient; Sodium fluoride (not to be confused with naturally occurring 'calcium fluoride'wink doesn't actually "strengthen" teeth as some, even dental professionals claim. What it does is that it 'hardens' the enamel of the teeth. This may seem fine but structurally, the enamel of the teeth eventually become brittle over pro-longed use. It's why some in their 40's and 50's end up with chipped and broken teeth when eating something as silly as a biscuit or sandwich. Do a stress strain linear exam on bone strength exposed to sodium fluoride and it shows that it cannot absorb too much energy before failing. I would also limit visits to the dentist. They exasterbate the problem out of a financial interest. Most dental abscesses come from teeth that have fillings or have had some prior dental work done to them. A bi-annual scale and polish can contribute to scraping enamel just enough to expose a little dentin, which is the inner part of a tooth. This creates sensitivity that can and does eventually lead to other issues in the tooth (or teeth) to enlarge dental caries helping to accelerate tooth decay eventually leading to a filling, crown or other procedure. The dental profession is so slick that even when they have made a lot and exhausted all work on a tooth to the point where it's pulled, they now have dental implants to create a secondary and very profitable revenue source once the tooth is gone. This far outweighs the profits previously made on crowns or bridges. 

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