Metropol

Pleathe thee the previouth pothting on page one.

Nick Harvey wrote:Pleathe thee the previouth pothting on page one.

If I hadn't read the topic title, I would've thought that you had begun to dabble in old Tudor talk again!

I did think myself lucky, seemingly being one of the last people in the country to have an NHS dentist which isn't about to go private. I couldn't fault it either - mine's recently moved into a swanky new surgery with fancy new equipment which isn't so intimidating. There's never too long to wait for an appointment and the guy is pleasant and professional.

My vision of having that ideal - efficient dentistry you don't pay the earth for was shattered this morning when I needed an emergency appointment. Waking up yesterday to find my face swollen with an abcess, I rang up first thing this morning to see the dentist. I can't see my own because he's called in sick, another is on holiday, and the one remaining guy is so snowed under with the work of the other two that the surgery is not making any appointments at all, emergency or not. The best they could do is fit me in on Wednesday morning, by which time I'll have had an untreated abcess for 3 days.

Considering that it's quite a serious thing, it seems a bit off that they have no contingency at all for providing cover. At least I'm not in pain.

If it does begin to cause you some pain. Get yourself to the chemist and purchase a bottle of liquid anbesol. Dip a cotton bud into the bottle then rub the cotton bud over the gum. Anbesol is an anaesthetic. It works a treat and is brilliant for pain caused when your wisdom teeth start to cut through. It's much better than that oil of clove and downing paracetamol every couple of hours.

cwathen wrote:I did think myself lucky, seemingly being one of the last people in the country to have an NHS dentist which isn't about to go private. I couldn't fault it either - mine's recently moved into a swanky new surgery with fancy new equipment which isn't so intimidating. There's never too long to wait for an appointment and the guy is pleasant and professional.

My vision of having that ideal - efficient dentistry you don't pay the earth for was shattered this morning when I needed an emergency appointment. Waking up yesterday to find my face swollen with an abcess, I rang up first thing this morning to see the dentist. I can't see my own because he's called in sick, another is on holiday, and the one remaining guy is so snowed under with the work of the other two that the surgery is not making any appointments at all, emergency or not. The best they could do is fit me in on Wednesday morning, by which time I'll have had an untreated abcess for 3 days.

Considering that it's quite a serious thing, it seems a bit off that they have no contingency at all for providing cover. At least I'm not in pain.

Whatever the cause of the abcess (which will doubtless need to be addressed), your dentist can't perform any treatment on an infected part of the mouth. The only thing he can do is to give you an antibiotic to take the infection in the swollen area down and begin the healing process in the gum. At that stage, extractions and/or fillings would be a no-no - and it's unlikely you could tollerate the pain whilst concious. Your mouth will be hyper-sensitive, and if you aren't in pain now, you certainly would be then.

You could contact your out of hours GP and ask if they would prescribe antibiotics (explaining you have an appointment scheduled for Wednesday). Ones used for infections like this are narrow-spectrum and very fast acting. If you were to take two between Tuesday and Wednesday you may notice a big difference by the time you sit on the chair.

To reiterate - if the swelling isn't away then he's unlikely to do anything that day, or you risk turning it into a much worse case of infection.

Perhaps this late appointment is a mixed blessing, as it does afford you the chance to be healthy enough to have the root cause dealt with.

No pun intended.

So, extraction day is Friday 18th May. As predicted, I've got antibiotics for now.

Leaving alone the disadvantage (or advantage, depending on how you look at it) of not being able to drink for a week, they're pretty amazing - within 24 hours I've gone from a huge swelling making me look deformed to the tiniest little bump which is barely noticeable.

My bloke's receptionist rang me this morning to cancel my appointment for tomorrow morning to have my stitches out, and move the appointment to Friday morning.

She was less than amused when I told her I'd want £25 discount because he'd have charged me £25 if it had been ME who'd cancelled with less than 24 hours notice.

Had the bugger out today. I'm not experiencing any of the subsequent pain which I was promised, and the anasethetic has well and truly worn off now.

Quite concerned about how bloody my mouth still is though, being that the deed was finished two hours ago.