Antibiotics & toothache

Ihave had a bad toothache for 2 weeks now .I started taking antibiotics at the w/e .,Ive been feeling really ill on them so stopped .I wake up in the morning and its fine ,but as the day goes on ,I have really bad spells of pain ,Ive been taking cocodamol ,which do help ,providing I take them regularly .I started taking my antibiotics again last night and instead of 500mg have cut them down to 250mg ,so far so good .Not feeling ill again,I am dreading having to have my tooth out as it will leave a big gap at the back of my mouth ,it makes me want to freak out at the thought of it :scared15:..I know it taks a while for the antibiotics to work ,but has anyone had this and has it got better without intervention and an extraction? .The tooth isnt bad ,but the gum near the tooth is slightly swollen ..Any answers would be appreciated ..Thanks Sue .X

Hi sue, i had to take antibiotics for my tooth a couple of month ago. I had an abcess. The antibiotics made me feel really ill so my dentist told me to only take 250 mg instead and i was fine. i was on amoxacillin ( dont know if thats spelt right lol). The swelling went down but i had to have root treatment which i was dreading but it was fine, i couldnt feel anything. Now i have no problems at all which im glad about because theres nothing worse than toothache !
Sarah xxx

Thankyou SarahJane .What I dont understand is Why doesnt it hurt to bite down on ? Maybe its not infected the root ,but the pocket of the gum ? Last time this happened ,my dentist said it would just keep happening and pulled it out .I was in so much pain i would have agreed to anything .Its so hard when your teeth have always been good ,to think of losing them ,Reminds me of the dominoe effect :weep:...Im pleased for you that you didnt lose yours .Its depressing .Did you still have pain after the antibiotics ? My Dentist is away for 2 weeks now ,and i have to go to the emergency drop in if it doesnt get better ..Thet just tend to pull them out ..:scared15:Thanks again for replying .Luv Sue x

I had a similiar issue last year with a wisdom tooth. I have to say I took arnica and hypericum (homeopathic remedies from ainsworths) for the accompaning toothache which worked where paracetamol didn't even come close.

I had 3 lots of attempts to root fill the tooth and a course of antibiotics and in the end I was glad to have the flipping thing out. I worked myself up in to the most ridiculous of anxieties and filled my head with the most scariest thoughts ever. By the time I sat in the chair I was on the verge of the biggest panic attack known to man. However my dentist is so lovely and calm and I held the assisants hand .. the whole thing took 2 mins to do and a week or so to heal.

I felt really annoyed with myself for getting this worked up and the resulting levels of anxiety took me far longer to get over than did the procedure or the recovery. Big learning curve that was!

So if indeed you do have to have the tooth out don't you be getting yourself all giddy over it it like I did.

You remember that poem Pam Ayres did 'I wish I'd looked after me teeth' lol ..... well I totally know where she's coming from!!

Love Piglet :flowers:

I had my tooth extracted yesterday after lots of pain and it was easy, no problems extracting it. So don't worry. :) x

[I][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"]Thankyou for your replies .Although i dont relish the thought if having it out ,its the lack of tooth im more freaked about .Still if it doesnt get any easier im off to the dentist .Theres no point in prolonging the agony .Just face it and live with it .Theres so much worse that can happen in life ..I keep telling myself that and hopefully it will help .NO MORE NUT BRITTLE FOR ME ...lol .Thanks Sue

If your tooth is healthy then you wont have to have it out. i never looked after mine when i was younger, ive got a filling in nearly every one. If they could save mine then im sure they will be able to save yours. Theres allsorts of things that the dentist can do, ive had allsorts done to mine and you cant tell by looking at them. Im sure you will be fine xxx

Hi dentists can do so many things nowadays. without having to take a tooth out. Sorry your feeling rough on the antibiotics. Are you sure its a good idea to cut down? Just thinking its a set dose for a reason.

Hope you feel better soon x

If the dentist hasn't actually said the tooth needs to come out, then I would try and do your best to get it treated. As has already been said, dentistry has come a long way and most of the time a tooth can be saved. Even if your dentist says the tooth needs to come out you might want to get a second opinion as dentists do vary considerably in the advice they give.

I spent about 7yrs seeing a local dentist as it was easy to get to the surgery. She never really did much work to my teeth and whenever I had an infection, rather than treat the cause, she would just give me antibiotics and tell me that the only other option was to have the tooth out as it already had a root canal on it and nothing more could be done.

Eventually I plucked up courage to go to a different dentist. It was hard the first time as I was very nervous, but they have a TV on the ceiling and I just tried to concentrate on that. It turned out that my root canal hadn't been done properly and only 1 of the 3 nerves in the tooth had actually been taken out, which was why I was constantly getting infections. I now have to have 3 root canals and 3 crowns done. It's going to cost me a small fortune and take some time, but I would rather try and keep my teeth and go to a good dentist.

Thankyou all for your replies ..The 250mg of Amoxicillin has worked in the past ,just cant take 500mg ,never have been able too .Today i only had a small ammount of pain after my morning cuppa ...But at lunch i bit down at a funny angle and now cant bite down on it ...Perhaps it will settle .If it doesnt feel better by Fri im off to the dentist ,,I,ll ask for all the options ,even if I have to pay private ..I think with NHS patients its not always the patients interest put first .The three stages of payment they have in place now ,doesnt always prove profitable for the dentist ...Keep your fingers crossed for me .:yesyes: THANKS Sue