My dental surgery this week

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

My Thanksgiving holiday was almost cancelled by pain from an infected tooth.

It's one of the teeth that's supposed to be removed in the hospital on Thursday

of this week, so I'm hoping that this current infection won't slow up that

procedure. The pain started steadily increasing on the weekend before

Thanksgiving. It was so severe that by Tuesday I was afraid I'd have to cancel

everything, but I had the lanocaine to put on the area, and since both my

dentist and my dental surgeon were on vacation for the week, out of the

country, I didn't feel there was much else that could be done about it.

Miraculously, Wednesday afternoon the pain had stopped almost completely,

but the tooth, one of my middle front teeth, had moved!! It had pushed itself

out and forward, leaving me with a gap about an eighth of an inch between

my two front teeth. This was really weird looking, but I was glad that the pain

had stopped and I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving day and the dinner with my

family and friends. Eating wasn't much of a problem at all, as long as I was

careful not to tear into anything and cut everything up into little bite-size

pieces. Then the strangest thing happened, in the few days following

Thursday, the tooth calmed down and moved BACK to it's normal position!

The only thing I can think of is that swelling within the gums had caused it to

push forward, and then as the swelling reduced, the tooth returned to it's

normal position.

It's still uncomfortable, but not that painful, and it's very loose, but I was

supposed to see my dental surgeon this afternoon for a pre-surgery physical,

so I planned on showing it to him and asking for antibiotics to tide me by until

the full extractions in the hospital in three days. I know there is infection

because my gum is slightly darker and I have been feeling and tasting some

sort of discharge behind the tooth for the last few days...sorry to sound so

gross! Now his nurse has just called and said that the physical is going to be

done by some doctor at the hospital, instead, and that the dental surgeon

didn't plan to see me today. What about this infected tooth, I asked? I told

the

nurse about what had happened with the tooth last week, and now I'm waiting

for her to call me back with an answer.

I feel certain that I need to be on antibiotics prior to this surgery. I

thought they

would have started antibiotics a few days early as a matter of course, but now

under these circumstances, I think it should be an absolute certainty! What do

you all think? Isn't it normal to start antibiotics a few days before a full

extraction like this? We're talking about the extraction of 12 teeth at one

time.

Your ideas about this would be appreciated.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina State Rep.

SE Regional Rep., PAI

http://pancassociation.org/anthology.htm#Heidi

Note: All comments or advice are based on personal experience or opinion,

and should not be substituted for consultation with a medical professional.