toothache

[lou 26]

I had toothache earlier in the week which went away after half a day but my teeth have been really sensitive since. Today when I got up I had awful pain but it was more in my gum and my teeth are no longer as sensitive! One part of my gum is quite swollen. I called my dentist's surgery, who couldnt get me an appointment until monday morning even though im in a fair amount of pain! Has anyone got any tried and tested methods for keeping me relatively pain free until Monday morning?

Many thanks in advance

[bensmum]

You may have an abscess in the gum which is painful. If your dentist really can't see you before Monday do you have an emergency clinic attached to your local hospital which is open over the weekend in case it gets really bad? I had to use our local one once when I had an infection in my gum, and they were very good.
Failing that the usual painkillers - something like Paramol which is paracetemol and dihydrocodeine and quite strong should help. You can get these over the counter. You could also ask at the pharmacy if there is anything you could put on your gum.
Hope it feels better soon - it is really miserable having something like that especially over a weekend.

[lou 26]

thank you for your reply bensmum. Its actually quite a lot better this morning, not so swollen and not as painful, although saying that my jaws and head are aching slightly but the paracetamol is keeping that at bay for the time being, thankfully as its a busy weekend! Fingers crossed it will stay that way until I can get to the dentist's on Monday!

[MrXLA]

hi lou 26 sorry to hear you are in so much pain. Sounds as though you have what dentists might call peri-apical periodontitis associated with a non-vital tooth AKA an abscess.
I appreciate that it must be a major inconvenience not being able to walk on off the street into your dentist (incidentally you can't really do that at a doctors either, for fairly obvious reasons).
But have a think, you ring the dentist tommorow for a check-up appointment andf the receptionist will probably have an appointment in say 2 weeks, in some cases 3,4 5 etc..
Well if you have to wait X weeks for an appointment because the dentist/s are fully booked how do you expect to be able to ring up on a friday and walk in.
The obvious argument would be to have emergency only slots (I believe most dentists do) but if they are full, really what do you expect them to do.
If you went to A&E off the street you might wait upwards of 4 hours (although the staff get rather upset if you breach this time, government targets etc...)
Incidentally if you ever have an acute facial swelling and a dentist can't see you the only advice would be to attend A&E and perhaps asked to be seen by the SHO in oral and maxillofacial suregry