Worried about dental infection

[Caribou93]

I’m surprisingly not as panicked as I normally would be, but I’m still pretty concerned. So, I have a permanent crown on one of my molars that I’ve had for almost a year now. Well, a problem I’ve had with it is if I were to bite down kind of hard on it, I would get a sudden painful sensation, but it would go away. Well, recently I had done the same thing, only this time it was excruciating. And now, the pain is close to unbearable, and I’m taking ibuprofen every few hours just to manage it. It was really bad two days ago, then yesterday it was completely gone, and today its back again. I have no issue going to the dentist and having it pulled as I don’t have dental insurance, but I could afford out of pocket to have it pulled. Anything to get rid of the pain. What’s odd is it’s only like a weird sensation with the pain, meaning when I take an ibuprofen, I can tell where the pain was if that makes sense at all. Knock on wood, it’s not swollen, nothing like that, but the part that scares me is I’m developing an infection that will kill me.

I plan on contacting the dentist on Monday, as they’re obviously not open on the weekend, but I just don’t want anything to happen to me. Has anyone else ever had something like this happen to them?

[ankietyjoe]

A tooth infection would take days and days to get bad enough to kill you, probably weeks and weeks. You would have called an ambulance way before it got close to that.

Gargle with Corsodyl until Monday. You'll be fine.

[Fishmanpa]

Yeah... I had that happen to a molar. I don't have dental insurance either so I just sucked up the pain doing what you're doing and went to the dentist the first chance I could. It was either root canal and a crown for thousands of dollars or a couple hundred to just pull it. Its been gone for over 7 years and you just naturally adjust.

As far as the cost? Most dentists will work out a payment plan so just ask if its more than you can lay out at the time.

Positive thoughts

[ErinKC]

I have a crown tooth this happens to sometimes, too. If I crunch down on something really hard like a peppercorn or a hard veggie it hurts SO much. The pain started to linger a few months back so I thought I'd need a root canal, but I didn't. When they did the crown the dentist had to go down pretty low and close to the nerve so I think it just gets irritated sometimes. He thinks I'll probably eventually need a root canal but don't yet. The pain eventually faded.

You won't get an infection bad enough to do anything for a long time. You may not even have an infection, it could be that you've just really irritated the nerve since it happened suddenly after biting down on something.

[Caribou93]

Thank you very much for replying everyone. I just don’t want to spend anymore money on it, ugh. But, is the fact that there’s no swelling a good sign?

Also, if it comes and goes, is that a good sign as well? I’ve heard from other people that if it’s constant, that’s where the bigger concern is. And my dentist is pretty good about working something out when it comes to payment options, but it’s the matter of paying so much.

[ErinKC]

Thank you very much for replying everyone. I just don’t want to spend anymore money on it, ugh. But, is the fact that there’s no swelling a good sign?

Also, if it comes and goes, is that a good sign as well? I’ve heard from other people that if it’s constant, that’s where the bigger concern is. And my dentist is pretty good about working something out when it comes to payment options, but it’s the matter of paying so much.

Mine comes and goes and thus far has not been an infection. My dentist has told me that when it's time for a root canal I will know. The pain will keep me up at night and be constant. So, you may be good. I also have had a tooth that became infected and I ended up with a pimple-like sore on my gum above the tooth where the abscess was draining. There was no mistaking it was a large infection. I had a root canal and then it came back again in the same way. And, I was fine. I ended up having the tooth pulled.

It's such a shame that dental work is so insanely expensive, but good that your dentist will work with you. I've spend so much money on dental work it's crazy!

[Caribou93]

Because mine use to come and go, and now it kind of lingers. It sometimes goes away, but I feel like I’m taking ibuprofen like candy. And that doesn’t even always help, because I would say the pain is an 8 or 9 at its worst. I just wish this pain would go away like it has in the past. I’d rather not have to go to the dentist at all. :(

[Caribou93]

Sadly, I think I know what’s been causing all of this pain. I think I have irreversible pulpitis. Throughout the day I only had minor tooth pain, not even constant. But when I got home (where my house is very warm), it felt like my tooth was going to explode. I tried the old cold water trick on my tooth (rinsed it around in my mouth) and the pain was gone in seconds. At first I was so happy to have some relief, but then it hit me...that only happens when the pain is caused by irreversible pulp damage. Oddly enough, I almost started crying when that happened. The pain hasn’t come back really at all, and that was an hour ago I did that...but I have that pressure feeling in my tooth.

I honestly might just tell my dentist to pull this tooth out tomorrow if I can be seen tomorrow that is. It doesn’t hurt if I tap my tooth at all though, just that fullness feeling without the pain at the moment.

[bin tenn]

Dental infections aren't necessarily persistent in terms of pain, at least when they begin. I've had a few of them in the past several years. Most of them did include persistent and worsening pain, but the others had intermittent pain, especially when touching / biting with the affected area. Even then, though, when pain was present it was not a subtle irritation. It was very painful, usually quite unbearable.

HOWEVER, it could just be irritation of the gums or similar. I have a few crowns, and I've had that happen. Not sure if it's directly related to the crowns, but sometimes my gums become irritated (minor cuts / scrapes, I suppose). Sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for several days, I'll experience pain when applying more than a little pressure to whatever area.

[Caribou93]

Well I was seen on Tuesday, and they did the usual sensitivity tests, took some x-rays and found it to be a dead/dying nerve. They put me on Amoxicillin until my next upcoming visit to help clear up any possible infection. I will say that since starting it the pain is like 95% gone. Though I understand why, and that the tooth needs to be taken care of, but it’s a breath of fresh air. So, I guess I’m glad I finally know what’s going on, but does anyone on here have any recent experience taking Amoxicillin? I started it 4 days ago, and I’ve developed some (minor at the moment) GI discomfort. Is that normal? I haven’t taken Amoxicillin in over a decade I think, so I don’t remember if I’ve ever had a side effect to it.