Decaying tooth, Someone PLEASE help me

[bev1234]

I have an appointment this week and that is the very earliest that I could possibly get in. There are no emergency clinics for dentistry anywhere near me and so my only other option would be an emergency room. I am going to te dentist but since I have to wait on my appointment I am worried about an infection before then and that's why I needed answers. Thanks for replying

[bev1234]

Update: so my appointment was yesterday and there was good news and bad news. The good news is that the dentist didnt say one word about me having any kind of infection. The bad news is that the very earliest they could get me in for surgery is march 5th. So now I have to wait a whole other month to get these annoying things out. Also another month if this extreme anxiety that my teeth are going to kill me. Here's to hoping it goes by fast and without complication.


Some anxieties i'm having right now are: what if I have infection that the dentist didnt notice or catch. He was very short with me and acted like he couldn't even talk to me for more than 2 minutes, so i'm a little worried he didn't notice it because I didn't actually ask if I had infection I just assumed he would tell me if I did right??


Also, all of these fears about waiting a whole other month and what if I don't make it that long?

[LindaRK]

You could always get a second opinion ......

On the other hand, you mentioned earlier in your thread that you're experiencing alot of pain and your root is exposed.  Well, an exposed root IS painful, but not necessarily an infection.  Did they tell you to take Tylenol or something for the pain?

[bev1234]

They actually didn't really say anything about what to take for pain, they just asked if they were hurting and I told them yes and they hurt very often and he said they need to get out. Like.... Obviously lol. The dentist just acted very short with me like he didn't have the time of day to listen to me. But i'm thankful he didn't act like it was a life threatening issue right now, just that they needed to be taken out. I'm gonna take Tylenol or somethig like that and just pray the pain holds off until march.

[bev1234]

UPDATE:

I'm still waiting for my appointment on march 5th. In the past couple of weeks I've been sick. It started wih swollen tonsils and glands and then a sore throat, some body aches. The sore throat as body aces went away but my tonsils are still swollen and have some blisters on them and also some white spots. I also have a knot in the back of my neck on the left side right beside of the hairline if that makes sense. I was wondering if this could all be from my tooth that is infected. I'm really scared about it. Like I said I went to the dentist on January 31st and e didn't say one word about an infection. My question is could all of those symptoms i'm having be from the tooth? And I so am I in any kind if immediate danger or is it okay to wait for my surgery in march? I don't know what to think. Also, this tooth still hasn't hurt that bad and i'm worried the infection is worse than I think and I just can't feel it. Every now and then it starts hurting and my face gets red on the side where the tooth is and I get a headache. I'm worried all of this is because of the infection

[bev1234]

I forgot to say in my last post, would a bad infection show up on the x-rays that the dentist took of my teeth? Please let me know.

[vardnas]

Does anyone think that I could have a life-threatening infection and not know that I did? That is my biggest concern right now. The pain is bearable, it even comes and goes, still no noticeable swelling or anything. But i'm worried that I have a severe infection and because the tooth is mostly gone that I don't know about it? Please please please give me some answers!!!

Bev, no. Life-threatening infections present with HIGH fevers and the like. If you had a severe infection, YOU'D KNOW.

On another note, jeebus! I didn't realize this tooth thread was yours, too.

You need help for your anxiety. Please do something constructive and kind for yourself and LOOK INTO IT. You are TOO wound up right now and it's not good for you mentally, physically and emotionally. Whatever reason/s you feel you need to live your life this way need to be put to rest so you can live the life you have FULLY and WITHOUT this fear.

[LindaRK]

Vardnas - I agree that anxiety plays a big part in this, but speaking from experience, having a dental issue like this can be a pretty anxiety-ridden experience.  I've been dealing with a dental nightmare for almost 3 years now - hopefully, it will finally come to a close in a week or 2 when I get my final crowns!!! Yippee!

Anyway - I agree with Varnas - infections as you think you might have present themselves with fever, etc.  You could just have something else going on that's contributing to the other aches and pains.

I can't believe how your dentist has treated you - sure, I'm not there to hear what's going on, but from what you say, it's ridiculous.  Personally, I'm the type that if I'm not treated well, I get another opinion or move to another doctor or dentist.  I pay their salary and I expect to get treated well.  Still can't believe they didn't put you on antibiotics if there was an infection.  Was that ever determined?  That's pretty basic stuff if you've got something going on - especially prior to a root canal, etc.

[vardnas]

I'm not at all saying her tooth anxiety is unwarranted, all I'm saying is that, having read bev's other thread fearing HIV, it's becoming clear that her anxiety is severely under-managed, that's all.

Yes, by all means bev should get the tooth issue under control, no question there.

[bev1234]

Thank you guys for your answers and your concern. Linda you are definitely right about the teeth anxiety thing. I had never been worried about it until the past couple of years because I have had so much trouble with mu teeth. I can't wait until march to get these awful things out and to not have to deal with them anymore. I hope your appointment in a few weeks goes great and everything gets resolved for you. Vardnas, thank you for always replying even when i'm being ridiculous. And I agree that I probably need to get help for my anxiety an get it under control but the whole name of this website is "anxiety zone" in itself, so I guess that's true for everyone here. The whole reason I joined here was to get advice about these health issues, I thought that was the whole point of it. Anyways, i'm working on getting better and becoming free of all these fears. I know tht starts with getting these decaying teeth out (soon) nd getting tested for peace of mind for good. Thanks everyone and hope everyone is doing well

[sixpack]

The whole reason I joined here was to get advice about these health issues, I thought that was the whole point of it. Anyways, i'm working on getting better and becoming free of all these fears. I know tht starts with getting these decaying teeth out (soon) nd getting tested for peace of mind for good. Thanks everyone and hope everyone is doing well 

I'm gonna stick my nose in here    and I am pretty sure some won't like my opinion..    



BUT,

thing is people here MOSTLY don't have major health ISSUES.  They have health anxiety. There is a difference.  They may have some minor health things going on that they turn into something huge.  they think catastrophically.

So to me AZ, while some certainly use it for this purpose, IS NOT for tea and sympathy.  I mean we all need a little hand holding now and then....  but if all peeps want is tea and sympathy OR  endless reassurance,  IE:  no it can't be cancer because of these reasons  AND then after getting a mess of those type posts the person goes ahead and asks the same question again pretty much asking for another HIT of reassurance,  OR just move onto the next disease fear, THEN they are not really here to get better.  They are here to, well, just to get endless reassurance.  Which is only going to make their anxiety DISORDER worse and more and more entrenched.   AND I suppose if that is what they want (whether they are ready to admit it or not) that is their prerogative.  But, personally, I tend not to want to engage in that sort of help, because it isn't helping.  I don't want to see the Zone be a "misery loves company" sort of thing. 

to me what AZ should be about is helping others to WORK through the disorder.  Help understand how anxiety behaves.  Help people to work on the disorder by giving them suggestions.  Encourage them to get better.  To me THAT IS WHAT THIS FORUM SHOULD be about.  Anything less is just aiding and abetting the disorder and doing a deservice to everybody here.

So, yep, peeps probably won't like my opinion, but I stand by it......

[vardnas]

100% sixpack, yes. I agree.

Bev, I actually don't think you're being "ridiculous." I understand very well the fear (and other emotions) you're experiencing, having gone through it myself. I guess what I'm hoping will happen is that you'll take the task of treating your anxiety more seriously than entertaining your fears of HIV and "life threatening infection." And WHY am I hoping for this? Because again, I know how godawful anxiety is and if I can help ANYONE avoid even a modicum of suffering from it, then by golly, mission accomplished.

[LindaRK]

I agree with sixpack ..... my biggest problem on the forum is people giving out advice when it really could be something serious.  Sure, if you've experienced something similar to what the poster is going through - offer what you've been through.  But, assuming that someone posting here has HA and comes with a health issue to say it's "just anxiety"?  That's just plain scary to me.  I've seen posts where people have come here saying they had health issues, posters would downplay it to anxiety, the poster would come back and they actually had something that required immediate medical attention.  There is a fine line here ...... and I see many people cross is all the time.  Like I said, it scares me.

Sure, when you first start experiencing HA, you want to have everything checked out and see your doctor about every little ache, pain and symptom you have.  We know that's pretty normal protocol for someone with anxiety.  My issue is when people keep doing this .... when they DON'T do anything to address their HA and anxiety.  You don't address this and you will keep on doing the same old thing - going to the doc and obsessing about your symptoms.

People look for a quick fix, whether it's in a pill or in the forum's case - a post of reassurance.  Then they think they're good to go until the next symptom pops up.  It becomes a repetitive cycle until you learn to manage your anxiety.

[floridaguy65]

all I'm saying is that, having read bev's other thread fearing HIV, it's becoming clear that her anxiety is severely under-managed, that's all.

I agree, for sure...I say kindly:)

thing is people here MOSTLY don't have major health ISSUES.  They have health anxiety. There is a difference.  They may have some minor health things going on that they turn into something huge.  they think catastrophically.

This has shown to be the, overwhelmingly, truth. And, when there is an actual health concern HA peeps tend to get it taken care of without completely 'losing it', as we fear we will do (as we perceive 'coming unglued' in our amped up minds). And, then, after we take care of what we need to take of - healthwise - we are still HA / AD peeps. We will ALWAYS be, when we struggle (or have struggled) to the levels most often relayed here on The AZ. This doesn't have be a big deal though, ultimately. But, if we are not getting the help we need or we are not embracing the self-help we need, then history (and our OWN experience) tend to tell us it WILL be a big deal, in our lives.

The AZ is a great place to come and get some reassurances. Reassurances that we are not alone in our struggles and in the 'weird' thoughts and fear-driven habits. Reassurances that others have been down this road before and they have come out OK, on the other end. Reassurances that our bods can be susceptible to physical manifestations majorly created by anxiety and panic. Reassurances that everything is not just anxiety and we do have to try to have a reasonable and practical and natural overall health protocol. There are numerous reassurances that are available here, on The AZ.

But, what is NOT available here, or ANYWHERE for that matter, is the ULTIMATE reassurance that HA peeps desire (crave, feel they need, MUST HAVE) in order to move on with their lives, we believe.

When struggling, when anxiety is calling too many shots in one's life, there is NO ultimate, final reassurance that is going to blanket and quell ALL the influence of dominating anxiety. There has to be pushing forward and doing the right things WHILE we are still scared. And, from there, we have the possibility of moving down a viable healing path. Much more is involved, of course, for longerterm more intrinsic relief. But, there are starting points. And, a starting point is beginning to move away from continually asking other peeps if we are going to be OK in life (and this very often moves outside of the realm of only health concerns...seeking anxiety driven reassurances knows little bounderies).

Bev, what's happening in your anxiety help these days? In the past? There is always hope and help, of course:)

Peace and Feel Well:)

[laura124]

I have never heard of having to wait so long between appointments.  I had an abscess in my tooth and the dentist got me in on an emergency appointment the day I called and put me on antibiotics.  Meanwhile, I made an appointment with an oral surgeon to get it pulled after  I was done with the 7 day course of antibiotics.  It was all done within a week.  What's the hold up with your dentist? geez.  Your swollen node could be from your tooth or you could be fighting a throat infection or virus.  Either way, find a new dentist.

[laura124]

Health anxiety or not--get the tooth pulled.  It's not that complicated

[sixpack]

I have never heard of having to wait so long between appointments.  I had an abscess in my tooth and the dentist got me in on an emergency appointment the day I called and put me on antibiotics.  Meanwhile, I made an appointment with an oral surgeon to get it pulled after  I was done with the 7 day course of antibiotics.  It was all done within a week.  What's the hold up with your dentist? geez.  Your swollen node could be from your tooth or you could be fighting a throat infection or virus.  Either way, find a new dentist.

I fully agree laura.

damn---- my 16yr old had her oral surgeon consult to remove 4 impacted wisdom teeth on Jan. 30.  We set up the removal for Feb 8.  This appointment included the whole monty---IV sedation and all.  The appointment took all of 1 hr.   While we were there, a young man of 22ish came.  His lower left jaw was QUITE swollen.  He had had a root canal 2yrs prior and it recently became infected.  He was on anti-b's and was there to have the tooth extracted.  For damn sure he didn't wait months for the oral surgeon to get around to it.  It swelled up within the last week or so.  His dentist saw him, prescribed the anti-bs and sent him to the oral surgeon.    This same oral surgeon saw my eldest about 5 yrs ago after she took a tumble to the floor from a seizure.  Her tooth broke at the gum line.  I called her dentist.  Her dentist had us into the oral surgeon the NEXT day.  He sedated her, took out he root and stitched it up.  She didn't even need anti-b's.

So, for goodness sake I really don't know why it is taking months to get a tooth extracted. As I understand it, the appointment is in March?  Hell even our regular dentist got my kids in to have teeth removed in preparation for braces within a week or two.

Only thing I can think of is this dentist doesn't think her mouth is any kind of emergency or needs urgent care.  Which would tell me her tooth is probably worse only in Bev's eyes.  In other words, it is now that she is upset about it and allowing her fears and panicky thoughts to run her in a ditch.     OR this dentist is completely callous or incompetent?  If that is the case, I would dump his arse and go somewhere else.




 

[LindaRK]

I was thinking maybe the tooth isn't as bad as Bev perceives it to be .... I kept asking why she wasn't on antibiotics if it was as bad as she said. Heck, whenever I've had anything close to this, he put me on an antibiotic before extraction, surgery, whatever to get the infection under control.

And, like sixpack said - perhaps he's just an incompetent dentist.

I see a very good dentist - he's got alot of patients and there is a waiting time, but if you've got something going on like this, he ALWAYS makes time to fit me in.  This just doesn't make sense to me.

[sixpack]

I was thinking maybe the tooth isn't as bad as Bev perceives it to be .... I kept asking why she wasn't on antibiotics if it was as bad as she said. Heck, whenever I've had anything close to this, he put me on an antibiotic before extraction, surgery, whatever to get the infection under control.

And, like sixpack said - perhaps he's just an incompetent dentist.

I see a very good dentist - he's got alot of patients and there is a waiting time, but if you've got something going on like this, he ALWAYS makes time to fit me in.  This just doesn't make sense to me.

well, linda, we all know we anxious will find an issue that we've been avoiding for months or years and then all of a sudden get panicked about it.  I had a cyst about 2 inches below my collarbone for months many years ago.  My ob/gyn told me it was a skin type cyst and a derm could remove it.  Well  I went "pffft" and didn't give a wit about it.  Then a year or so later I went panicky about it.  I had to have it OUT right now....   well I got it out a couple of weeks later---it was big. but it was a cyst still    now I'm not saying Bev shouldn't have it removed.  she should.  We all need to keep up with dental health.  But I think the out of control thinking is driven ALL by ANXIETY.  Considering, as I recall, she's had this tooth issue for quite a while and just recently her fear of infection has exploded in her mind.

Re the dentist:  same goes for my dentist, linda.    if any of us have an issue with a tooth, she has emergency slots built into her day EVERYDAY.  the most I've had to wait was 24hrs.  On the other side of the coin, she's found a cavity or two that were so minor that she said I could wait until my next 6 month cleaning to have it filled if I wanted to.

[bev1234]

The reason it has taken so long is because I let it go for so many years on my own, like I had mentioned in my first post in this thread. I didn't visit a dentist in a regular basis. I did when I was little and then just stopped, had a few cavities, let them go for years and now here I am today. I have no dental insurance and so having my wisdom teeth pulled along with the others that needed to be taken out because try we're way beyond fixing, would cost way too much and was something I couldn't do, therefore my mom found a student clinic at a nearby university that would do all of it for abouy half or less of what everyone else would charge. That clinic was very helpful and my first 2 appointment were for a checkup type appointment/X-rays/and to set up a list of everythig I needed done. Then after all that my next step was the surgery, which was up to me to make a down payment and an appointment, which I very stupidly put off for another year. That was my fault and not my dentists. If I would have made the smart choice and made my payment and my appointment then this would have been finished a year ago. So I agree with all of you that if te dentist would have put me off for so long then I would most definitely need to find a new dentist, but this was all my fault. Eecently(in September) one of te decaying teeth got infected. I knew it was infected because it wa the worst pain in the world. I could do nothing but cry. I then found a local dentist that would pull a tooth for 120 dollars so I got the infecte one out and knew I would soon make te appointment for surgery for the rest. But that tooth was somethig that had to be out THEN.. I couldn't wait to make an appointment. A month later another decaying tooth got infected and I went to the same local dentist to get it out. Then I knew I couldn't let that happen again so as soon as I got enough money for a down payment I made my surgery appointment so another wouldn't get as bad as those 2. Man that was painful, I can't even explain the pain... And my appointment (pre-surgery evaluation) was January 31st and since the clinic has so many patients and business he very soonest they could get me in was march 5th. So that's why I've waited so long lol. In the meantime since I knew it would be awhile before my surgery I started getting worried that I might have a bad infection since my teeth are so bad, so I turned here. Hope that explains my situation better. My biggest fear is that it's so infected that it will hurt me without warning. I feel better about that though after hearing everyone's answers on here.

[bev1234]

9 more days until my appointment. My infected tooth has cause a hard swollen knot in the back of my neck near y hairline, caused my tonsils to swell and stay swollen for one month and both of my ears to hurt on and off. I am terrified that the infection, since its already in my glands, tonsils and ears, could next move to my brain. It's so scary to me. Yes I took a zpack of antibiotics 20 days ago, but the symptoms didnt go away. I'm also having some light headaches. I don't think I can deal with this panic for 9 more days so i'm going to a general dentist tomorrow morning to ask for some antibiotics. I'm so so afraid somehing will happen before I can get the antibiotics in the morning and get them in my system. I just need some advice on a couple things.. Would a severe infection show up on an X-ray one day before the symtpoms first showed up? And wouldn't I be having fevers and super severe pain in my tooth if I was close to a bad infection moving to my brain OR since a little piece of the roots is all that's left could the nerves (feeling) in the tooth be dead and maybe I won't even know te infection is that bad? Please help. I feel desperate and like a ticking time bomb

[Slangevar]

Bev - on a completely separate note, aren't you the one who was worried you had HIV because you have a persistent sore throat and swollen glands?  You know dental issues can cause both of those things, right? 

[bev1234]

Yes I started putting the pieces together in my mind an it hit me that it is probably from my problem with my teeth. I even asked a dentist and he said it could have caused the swollen glands. That would also explain why I am not getting better... Because the teeth are still in there. I'm hoping after I get them out that all of these symptoms clear up. And then, after all this is over I will go get tests just to say I did. I won't lie, it's still in the back of my mind. But I have thankfully started thinking a lot more logically about it.

[bev1234]

 Going into panic mode. Read something about someone having to rush to get their teeth out that were causing swollen parts in neck and doctors were afraid it would move to lungs. Well my neck has been swollen for A WHOLE MONTH!!!! I never thought of an infection spreading to my lungs! Now i'm panicking! I am on antibiotics but they aren't helping anything. 5 days untils surgery. Also acared once teeth are pulled that infection will spread further. So so scared

[laura124]

Your letting your anxiety take over right now.  First of all, stop wasting your time on the internet trying to find strange and unusual stories about infected teeth spreading through bodies.  Why do you want to torment yourself?  Get OFF the computer and on with other things in your life until you get that damn tooth pulled!!!  If the dentist thought it was that urgent he would have hospitalized you or had it pulled immediately or whatever.  He's the doctor, the expert in this field-not you! I told you what I would have done....I would have had it pulled months ago when it all began and moved on. If you feel so sure that something serious could be happening then call your dentist and talk to him/her about your concerns. But please don't waste your time googling on the internet and sending yourself into panic mode for no reason.