Anyone with dental knowledge here? Need Advice, Please UPDATED post 1

[lucyanna girl]

I really need some advice.

DD, age 14, had never had a cavity until last summer. She had a small cavity in her very back lower tooth. The dentist said it was very small and filled it. Several months later Sarah began on and off complaints about the tooth hurting again. I took her back to the dentist who ex-ray-ed it but could find nothing wrong. She continued to complain periodically. Finally he re-ex-ray-ed it in December and said it was abscessing. According to him, a tooth will sometimes react badly to even a small filling and the root will die. He did a root canal and said she should have a crown in about six months. This week she again complained that her tooth is hurting. We are leaving early Sunday for WDW. Last night she woke up in the night with her tooth hurting. This morning I took her back to the dentist. He looked at it (no ex-ray) and finally decided that the temporary filling he had put in until he does the crown was a little loose and replaced it. Sarah had relief at the time but tonight she is crying with her mouth again. I have been trying to call him but have not reached him so far. Any ideas?

Update:

Many thanks to everyone who answered us last night. It turned out to be quite an eventful night around here.
Due to Sarah's toothache we were still up when our telephone rang at 12:15. Sarah has many friends but her two dearest are Staci and Chelsea. The late caller was Staci calling to tell us Chelsea was at the ER with a possible acute appendix. We immediately left to be with her Mom. Sure enough, by 2:30 AM poor little Chelsae was in the OR. Luckily they removed her appendix before it ruptured and today she is on the road to recovery. Strangely enough, while we were there another student from their small Jr. High (maybe 200 students) also came in with appendicitis. The same surgeon operated on both.
We came home around 4 with poor Sarah still hurting but not unbearably. She went to bed but was up by 5.
This morning we finally solved the mystery of the missing dentist. Seems he is moving and the telephone company had disconnected one phone but not hooked up the next. This is one advantage of living in a small town, we were able to track down his father who passed along our message.
The dentist called in an antibiotic and some pain medication to use while on our trip. When we get home we will investigate further the cause.
So once again let me thank you for the advice. Pray we have a safe and pain free trip to WDW.
Lucyanna Girl
Penny

 

[The Dark Dancer]

Anyone? Please?

 

[kirbsam]

one of two things, most likely, the tooth is either reinfected or the tooth including the root is cracked. antibiotic will help with the first thing, but she will need further treatment, somehting called an apicoectomy. as for the cracked tooth/root, could have been why the tooth needed rootcanal in the first place. often does not show up on xray, have to often go by symptoms and experience(gut feeling). tooth may need to be removed if it is cracked down into the root. good luck.

 

[VickiVM]

I'm so sorry - I don't have any advice, but I can sympathize as I've endured tooth pain and there's not much that is worse. I would continue to try to reach your dentist tomorrow morning, or visit a walk in clinic to at least try to get pain meds prescribed.

It's possible that there is still a small amount of infection left - what does the gum look like? Is it swollen, tender? Is the pain deep within or on the surface.

Meanwhile I would dope her up on Motrin to get her through the night. Have you tried Orajel?

 

[lucyanna girl]

Thank you for answering. If he puts her on an antibiotic will she be able to leave Sunday?

 

[VickiVM]

I don't see why not unless there are other complications that need to be addressed immediately. But I would imagine the first thing that needs to be done is completely get over infection. I would also ask for pain meds - even just one week's supply, just so that you're covered if the pain is persistant.

 

[kirbsam]

antibiotic takes 48 hours to kick in, so by sunday evening she should be feeling better. my experience has been that in cases such as this, antibiotic clears it up and they stay pain free for at least the duration of the antibiotic. i second the motrin comment posted earlier. make sure your dentist prescribes enough antibiotic for the entire length of your trip. if she can bite down and make the tooth hurt with nothing in her mouth, the dentist needs to adjust the bite before you leave and you should insist on it. she should not even be able to hit the tooth with her opposing tooth with nothing in her mouth. good luck.

 

[The Dark Dancer]

Hey y'all,

I'm Sarah, OP's DD, and my dentist couldn't see any signs of infection or anything today by looking at it (he didn't do an X-ray). My DM has been trying to call the dentist all night but, he is nowhere to be found. We even called his nurse's home and she was not there either. My mouth was hurting horribly earlier, and now it's a more bearable, but constant throb. It was hurting bad enough last night, that it woke me up from a deep sleep. It doesn't really hurt to bite down. It hurts even when I don't move and my teeth are parted. I have no idea what to do, so thank y'all so much for your suggestions and ideas. They really mean a lot!


Thank you so much, again,

Sarah

 

[Nasi]

Boy can I sympathize with you. My DS, who is 18 with Down Syndrome, and is terrified of the dentist, came home from school on Wed in pain with a tooth ache. After seeing our regular dentist and an oral surgeon on Thursday, they scheduled him to fix it under iv sedation on Saturday. He wakes up this AM with his cheek swollen. They put him on antibiotics now but he is still scheduled for tomorrow. I thought they had to clear up any infection before treating so I'm stressing a little bit. We leave for WDW on Thursday. He is in so much pain. There is nothing worse than your child hurting. Nancy

 

[The Dark Dancer]

Boy can I sympathize with you. My DS, who is 18 with Down Syndrome, and is terrified of the dentist, came home from school on Wed in pain with a tooth ache. After seeing our regular dentist and an oral surgeon on Thursday, they scheduled him to fix it under iv sedation on Saturday. He wakes up this AM with his cheek swollen. They put him on antibiotics now but he is still scheduled for tomorrow. I thought they had to clear up any infection before treating so I'm stressing a little bit. We leave for WDW on Thursday. He is in so much pain. There is nothing worse than your child hurting. Nancy

I hope he does okay and he gets to feeling much better before y'all leave! We'll say an extra prayer for him and you tonight I hope everything will turn out great for y'all!

I really hope this doesn't effect our trip...I would feel horrible because it would be all my fault.

 

[Nasi]

Thank you.

 

[VickiVM]

I hope he does okay and he gets to feeling much better before y'all leave! We'll say an extra prayer for him and you tonight I hope everything will turn out great for y'all!

I really hope this doesn't effect our trip...I would feel horrible because it would be all my fault.

I bet between you and your mom, by tomorrow you will find your dentist or a clinic that will be able to offer you temporary relief so you all can enjoy your trip. Blessings to you and hope you can get some sleep tonight.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Go see an endodontist. IMO, your dentist is not handling this properly. Quite frankly I would consider him a poor dentist to let your tooth get like that.
Having a tooth abscess is dangerous for your heart, I would not take this lightly. Your dd is in pain, he is not listening.

 

[minkydog]

Mystery Machine is right--an abcessed tooth can be bad news, not to mention incredibly painful. If the pain is too severe for Motrin, or there is fever or swelling, then you probably need a trip to the ED tonight for antibiotics and a narcotic.

 

[Caradana]

Agreed - endodontist is the way to go at this point. Do you have any doctor or medical professional you really, truly trust? Ask him/her to refer you to the best endodontist they know.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

I would try a different dentist who might have some other ideas about how to treat it.

I have some problem teeth that would constantly act up with pain,sensitivity. It was because of my gritting my teeth. New Dentist told me to leave teeth slightly apart behind closed lips most of the time instead of keeping teeth together. Also he made me the thinnest nightguard to keep me from gritting my teeth at night. If i skip my nightguard the teeth will start to hurt again.

Good luck!

 

[tiggersmom2]

I would definitely go to an Endodontist. From reading the OP, I don't think the dentist did anything wrong or handled it poorly. Many times a tooth WILL react badly to a filling and abscess.....the dentist put her on anitbiotics and then did a root canal which is standard procedure.

Since the tooth is STILL painful, I would bet money it is a cracked root....which will NOT show up on x-ray. I am sure your current dentist will happily refer you to an endodontist b/c once that happens, a general dentist is really not equipped to try to save it....but he can pull it.

Lori - the resident Dental Hygienist

 

[lucyanna girl]

If her tooth were abscessed wouldn't he have found it when he replaced the temporary filling? I would have thought there would have been some indication?
I am also wondering if we should not seek a new dentist when the immediate problem is solved. One of the reasons I choose this dentist was because he has four children of his own, Sarah's age and down and I thought he would have a lot of empathy with a young teen. However this is not the case. He doesn't seem to spend much time with her if he doesn't see the problem easily.
Also, not to sound as if I don't expect to pay well for a good dentist but so far a very minor cavity is going to cost around $1400.00. That is if this pain doesn't result in another procedure.

 

[VickiVM]

If her tooth were abscessed wouldn't he have found it when he replaced the temporary filling? I would have thought there would have been some indication?
I am also wondering if we should not seek a new dentist when the immediate problem is solved. One of the reasons I choose this dentist was because he has four children of his own, Sarah's age and down and I thought he would have a lot of empathy with a young teen. However this is not the case. He doesn't seem to spend much time with her if he doesn't see the problem easily.
Also, not to sound as if I don't expect to pay well for a good dentist but so far a very minor cavity is going to cost around $1400.00. That is if this pain doesn't result in another procedure.

Shopping for a new dentist probably isn't a bad idea. I'm surprised there is no one to reach in case of emergency. I had a crown replaced (front tooth) and had a temporary while having my permanent made. It fell out on Good Friday last year. Couldn't go through Easter weekend with a snaggle tooth. My dentist had given me his private cell # in case of emergency and sure enough he met me at his office after hours to secure my temporary - with extra glue! He's also met my husband on a Sat. morning recently when his temporary crown broke. Those little things mean so much to patients.

 

[The Dark Dancer]

I bet between you and your mom, by tomorrow you will find your dentist or a clinic that will be able to offer you temporary relief so you all can enjoy your trip. Blessings to you and hope you can get some sleep tonight.

Thank you very much! I hope I can sleep well through the night without waking up hurting like last night. Again, thank you and thanks for your suggestions and help!


Thanks to you all! At the moment my mouth isn't hurting at all! I hope that it stays that way.... It is an on-and-off sort of thing so, I just don't know.