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Extreme toothache and swelling under jaw
Last weekend, I started having pretty significant pain in one of my molars. Painful to the touch, can't bite down on it, sometimes throbbing. I also felt some minor swelling under my jaw on the right side, but not a lot.
No fever. On Monday (yesterday), I saw my dentist. He took x-rays and examined it, but said he didn't see any abscess or infection. He wasn't really sure exactly why it was hurting, but said it may be that the tooth is in the process of dying, so he scheduled me for a root canal with an Endodontist. He didn't think antibiotics were appropriate.
Today, the pain is still pretty significant and I feel the swelling has increased a bit. Not so significant that it warrants an ER visit, but still a bit more than yesterday. I've been doing a lot of reading about all this, and am only more confused. The symptoms line up with an abscess or infection, but he didn't see that.
I've been taking the max dosage of Ibuprofen each day along with some tylenol, and that's toning it down a bit, but it's still pretty painful.
The earliest appointment with the Endodontist is 2 weeks from now, and I'm concerned about this swelling issue. I've put in a call to the dentist about it, but haven't heard back from them.
I may be just rambling here, but if anyone has any advice or experience with this sort of thing, I'd love to hear from you.
No fever. On Monday (yesterday), I saw my dentist. He took x-rays and examined it, but said he didn't see any abscess or infection. He wasn't really sure exactly why it was hurting, but said it may be that the tooth is in the process of dying, so he scheduled me for a root canal with an Endodontist. He didn't think antibiotics were appropriate.
Today, the pain is still pretty significant and I feel the swelling has increased a bit. Not so significant that it warrants an ER visit, but still a bit more than yesterday. I've been doing a lot of reading about all this, and am only more confused. The symptoms line up with an abscess or infection, but he didn't see that.
I've been taking the max dosage of Ibuprofen each day along with some tylenol, and that's toning it down a bit, but it's still pretty painful.
The earliest appointment with the Endodontist is 2 weeks from now, and I'm concerned about this swelling issue. I've put in a call to the dentist about it, but haven't heard back from them.
I may be just rambling here, but if anyone has any advice or experience with this sort of thing, I'd love to hear from you.
Update - my dentist did call back and is prescribing an antibiotic.
3 Comments
How are things going after taking the antibiotic? Are you feeling any better?
Thanks for the reply - I was thinking no one was reading this.
The antibiotics did help - after about 5 days the swelling started going down, and now is gone. The pain has lessened dramatically as well. I can tell the tooth still needs to be worked on, because if I tap it, it does still hurt a bit. But not like before.
The temptation to say, "it's getting better, I don't need the root canal" is strong, but from what I read, it really should be done. It just puzzles me what is really wrong with it, since the dentist couldn't see any infection or abscess. But the root canal scares me - I'm a dental phobia type.
The antibiotics did help - after about 5 days the swelling started going down, and now is gone. The pain has lessened dramatically as well. I can tell the tooth still needs to be worked on, because if I tap it, it does still hurt a bit. But not like before.
The temptation to say, "it's getting better, I don't need the root canal" is strong, but from what I read, it really should be done. It just puzzles me what is really wrong with it, since the dentist couldn't see any infection or abscess. But the root canal scares me - I'm a dental phobia type.
I know this post was a fair while ago but wondered what you finally did about this tooth as I have had the exact same experience even with the X-ray not showing anything
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