Toothache
 

Have you ever suffered from toothache? The mere mention of the word can make folk cringe,its said to be one of the worst pains imaginable- I can now confirm this.
Last week (Mon-Tues) I developed a severe pain in one of my molars,the pain radiated through my cheekbone,and was also causing me earache (a worthy contender for the worst pain ever).
I took a ibuprofen (400mg) and a paracetamol (200mg),I also gargled with a little bit of TCP,but the pain was persistent in giving me grief.
By Thursday my face had swollen up and i was feeling a little feverous.Fearing infection,I went to the quacks and got a course of antibiotics (amoxicillin).
The pain just kept getting worse but I suffer from a fear of dentists so i 'stupidly' dismissed the I needed to get it extracted.
Over the next couple of days I tried dealing with the relentless pain using a arsenal of relief treatments.Everything from oil of cloves and rinsing with warm salty water to tramadol when the unremitting pain got too much to bare.
By Saturday, I was in total agony so needing urgent treatment Mrs E arranged for me to see a (emergency?) dentist up at oak house.
I'll be honest,my sphincter was twitching,I really don't like going to see the dentist even if their not the drill and fill type of yesteryear.
I'm pleased to say that the staff up there were excellent and before I knew it I was minus a tooth and pain free....god bless the NHS the saviour of our nation's health :).

Re: Toothache
 

I also had a phobia of dentists...I didn't visit the dentists for more than 40 years.
I filed down broken teeth with a diamond file rather than go and be seen.
Then i decided that this was stupid. I put myself on the list to be accepted by Accy Vic dentist(this later became the current Oak house Dentists).
I was assigned to the care of a lovely man....David Heeley. In the first few weeks he removed 5 broken stumps of teeth and did a couple fillings for me.
He offered to refer me to hospital for a general anaesthetic, but I declined and had all this work done under local anaesthetic.....he went at my pace and was very very patient with me.
I have been going for regular check ups now for about 8 years.
I still get butterflies when I have to attend, but I am far better.
Alas on the 17th of December David Heeley left Oak house to take over a dental unit for nervous and vulnerable adults in based in Preston.
I will have to get used to someone new, but due to the good work he did I know that this is OK......and those very nervous patients in Preston are getting a gem of a dentist.

Jason, glad to hear that you have been sorted out.....now you should see if they would take you on, so that you never need to go through all that again.

Re: Toothache
 

40years :eek: I thought my 5yr campaign was impressive.
I also received a similar treatment,the dentist was great,my visible body shakes were a obvious giveaway to my phobia.
One thing is certain,sooner or later,the excruciating pain of toothache 'will' drive you to seek oral treatment at the dentist.

Good on you getting through that many years without a visit or popping painkillers like sweets :)

Re: Toothache
 

In all other respects I looked after my teeth....and I know that might sound crazy when I did not visit the dentist for so long...but I did clean my teeth regularly........I was just so afraid of dentistry...and it all stems back to being held down in the dentists chair in the School dentists on Cannon street....way back when children were seen and not heard.
That is where my phobia began.
It is something that is never truly eradicated, but the care and kindness of the team at Oak House have made it manageable.
So Jason get yourself signed up to their list if you can...i promise you will never regret it.

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By "held down", do you mean physically restrained? Did kids get their arms strapped down at Cannon st?

It's on my todo list,like you say,I won't regret it. :)

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I wasn't strapped down , but held down by a very beefy dental assistant while my tooth was drilled and filled.....I would have been about eight or nine years old at the time.

Glad to hear that you are going to make Oak house a regular on your calendar.

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Yes Margaret those Cannon Street dentists were the stuff of nightmares and still give me the heebie jeebies just thinking about em'. It was the slow running belt drives whirring about just above your head and the whining drill vibrations resonating through my scull that put me off dentists for a good few years.
I am sure Ian Fleming modeled Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love on the lady who attacked my teeth there back in the day. :hidewall:

Re: Toothache
 

(Shudder)......Yes, except the dental assistant in my past was like a Russian shot putter.
It takes no effort at all to bring her features and menacing stance to mind.
I am sure that the clinic did far more harm by creating fears and phobias in the children of my generation, than the good it did in looking after our teeth.

If I got a slip to take home for parental consent, I felt physically sick.

Re: Toothache
 

Margaret may I ask for a little clarification, was this organised through or at the school? The reason I ask is I have no memory of any 'medical interest' in our teeth at school. I remember two visits by the 'nit nurse' who took a casual interest in our hair and significant interest in our ears, and three visits by nurses to give polio innoculations but thats all.

NB This was primary school, secondary school - nothing!

Re: Toothache
 

Yes, it was through school.
The school dental service used to visit and check our teeth, the nit nurse came and checked our heads(thankfully never found any little walkers in mine or any of my brothers) and the medical service also checked our weight and I can remember having to pick marble up with my toes.
We were made to get undressed and stand in the main hall of the school in just our vests and drawers while a barrage of nurses checked our height, weight and general wellbeing. They did eye tests too.
This was at Junior school...in secondary school it was just the dentist and the nit nurse that I remember.

If problems were found then you used to get a slip of paper to take home for parental consent to treatment.
One of the girls in my class was identified as having some problem and she used to go to Cannon St clinic every week for sunlamp treatment....i was quite envious of that....not so envious of the slips from the dentists...in fact i once got one and failed to give it to my parents...thinking I would escape the dreaded clinic. No such thing the head master sent Ma a letter to dob me in.

All this happened in the early 1950's.
Surely I am not the only BOB on here to remember these things.

Re: Toothache
 

Pretty sure it was organised through the school (Peel Park Juniors in my case) you had an appointment time given you to have an inspection at the Cannon Street Dental Clinic (now a Childrens Day Care centre)


Nit Nurse inspections were every year junior and a couple of times in secondary HW.
There was also a couple of visits by the district nurse in secondary for a general check up as we moved through puberty, tonsils and I think testicles checked, separate spatulas here as I recall. Maybe they just alternated the same ones for effect from pupil to pupil? :confused:;)

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As for nits(I know this has nothing to do with toothache) my mother was religious about checking our heads every Friday night before our weekly bath(tin one, off the wall in the back yard) that and washing our hair with Derbac soap.
I only got head lice once...and that was as a first year student nurse working on E3 ward at QPH......one of the little blighters hitched a lift on me while I was bathing and delousing a tramp who had been brought in for care.
It is still a mystery as to how this head louse managed to get through the protective gear I wearing during this process......the blighter was soon located and put to death by squashing.

Re: Toothache
 

Yes, I was a Peel Parker too.

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Thanks for that, I was just a little curious. Things were obviously different in different parts of the country.
I always thought the polio jabs were badly organised. We were all assembled in the hall and had to go up to he stage one at a time and have the jab in public and then return to one's place in the hall. Perhaps they thought doing it that way would promote 'braveness before one's peers'. In some cases it might have worked, but in many it did not!

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I never had any jabs at school.

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One of the pupils had gone down with polio, so everyone had a jab. I think in those days it was alwas followed by a booster. Third time round, after another case it was the sugar lump - much more civilised!

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My dislike of dentists came from a visit to one on Burnley Rd - both front teeth cracked when hit by a cricket bat - he drilled both cracks out and filled them - without an anaesthetic. Took a long time to get over that, not until my '30s when I wanted the RAF dentist to play in the football team, but he cured my phobia, absolutely brilliant chap.
Can't remember having jabs for Polio, all I remember are sugar lumps. Jabs came later, 70 or so airmen lined up and progressed between two lines of medics - about 8 or 10 jabs in total - quite a few drop outs, literally.

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Oh dear I must be losing it !!! I went to Peel Park but cannot for the life of me remember having my teeth looked at. I did go to a dentist regularly though that my mum and dad went to. I have a vague recollection of having the polio sugar lump though. I am lucky to have a wonderful dentist now. He has cured my son of his fears with his calm quiet manner. I must admit I have never had toothache thankfully.

Re: Toothache
 

top man david

Re: Toothache
 

[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1159273]I also had a phobia of dentists...I didn't visit the dentists for more than 40 years.
I filed down broken teeth with a diamond file rather than go and be seen.
Margaret, you not the only one wth a phobia of dentists, but mine was more of a hatred of them, I can still remember back in the 1930's and that torture camp in Cannon St. We had to go there wether we liked it of not, sit in a big staight backed chair with a head clamp, he had a drill that he worked with his foot, he also had a gadjet that held you gob open, you could neither swallow or do anything,and if you started crying you got a back hander.
As I was growing up I pulled my own teeth with pliers, it was painfull some times, but owt was better than going to a dentist, then in my 70's the doctor looked in my gob, and ordered me to the dentist, she was a nice young lady in Warner St, who said she couldn't do more than take a mouth cast, and it woud be horsepital. I went and said I wanted to be treated as if I was royalty, no pain no fuss. He grinned and said Ok, when I woke up from the anasthetic, I had been treated like Royalty, the Queens farrier was stood there, e were built like a brick toilet, leather apron, giant pair of pliers, the lot.
Then I was told to see the dentist in 3 weeks, she sat me down, looked in my gob, shook her head took a picture and said youve got a new tooth growing, it was coming out of the roof of my mouth, she said it must have been there all my life, had to wait till it was big enough to be pulled, then on the magic day out it came, she got the original cast, but it no longer fit, she said my tongue had swelled and taken up the space, I've had to, put up with no teeth ever since, now its a ******, some things I liked I can no longr eat, I used to love raw carrots, and peanuts, gone for ever. I only hope that sod of a school dentist died a horrible death.

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Oh my goodness, Retlaw, (and other posters to this thread) you have me cringing hearing of how much torture dentistry used to be! The early memories I have of dentists back in the early 60s is getting the gas: a black rubber mask put on my face, the woozy feeling of going under, (sort of a slow spiral image winding down in my head). Then waking up, all done. I sure feel lucky after hearing your tales. Mr. Gleave at Peel Park once pulled one if my uncooperative baby teeth with his hankie. He was strict, but a kind soul really :)
My sister became a dental hygienist, and her ex husband was a dentist, so dental care over here was an expected evil. He worked on my teeth while they were married and he was excellent. I still dread going to any dentist, though. Gives me the Heebie Jeebies even though I go every six months. My main fear these days is him finding a cracked filling as I have many that are decades old. When I can leave his office with an all clear, I fairly skip back out into the parking lot!

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Retlaw...Antley villa used(well almost) to be as bad as that in the 80/90's creating my major fear of dentists for such a long time. I have a fear of needles too



I also have a bit of dental pain due to the operation I had. Toothache is one of the worst pains a person can go through. I have had it a lot in the past, depends on the tooth on how much it hurts. Feel for ya dude.

Talking about rinsing with salty water. I am doing that(also has bicarb soda) every morning and night for the next three months. I am squirting around pint of it up my nose. I had a septoplasty on the 18th and there was complications with the breathing tube for the anesthetic which has left my throat really sore, my nose is sore(its a nose operation) constantly and I am sure they caught my teeth and gums with the tube because my mouth is sore too.
9 days later and I still cannot breathe what so ever through my nose and I sneezed for the first time today and everything felt like it was breaking at once. I tried to get most of it out my mouth, the pain was like nothing I have ever felt before, A quick-sharp-shock of mouth pain, throat pain, nose pain(was absolutely extreme) and my ears popped with the pressure. It hurt so much I felt like crying. Its 3.30am now and sleeping is a terror to give in to. I am sleeping on the armchair because I wake on my side and that isn't good.

Re: Toothache
 

Rob, you can expect your nose to feel totally blocked for up to three weeks.
This is because the mucous membrane inside your nose is swollen.....the salt water you are using is to help prevent bacteria from growing and to keep everything moist.
You should have been given a leaflet about how to sneeze(with your mouth fully open.....still very painful however you do it).
You should be taking pain relief on a regular basis and your GP can prescribe for you if you have run out.

Steam inhalations might be helpful too.
The salt water and Bicarb mouth rinses should make your mouth less sore and you could also add a soluble aspirin to this mix.....gargle with it if you can....But spit it out....don't swallow it.
Aspirin is an anti inflammatory so it should help to take the soreness out.
If none of these self help measures are effective ring the ward where you had your op and ask for their advice.

I hope things look up for you soon.

Re: Toothache
 

Sound advice Rob from Nurse Margaret.
Also: If you can get hold of one of those little facial saunas, the steam generated in one of those will give you additional relief.

Re: Toothache
 

A very effective and cheap way of inhaling steam is to use a litre plastic jug, put a couple of inches of boiling water in the bottom and then close the top of the jug by placing you nose in the place where the spout is and your chin into the jug(this is why you should put only a small amount of boiling water into the jug), and beathe in the steam.
This is a particularly effective treatment when you think you are about to get a cold...before it gets into full swing.
The steam kills the viruses that lurk in the nose and back of the throat....and while it may not stop the cold entirely, it may shorten the discomfort and ease the symptoms.

Re: Toothache
 

The facial sauna/steam generators as the name suggests generate a constant stream of vapour. As long as the device is charged that is.10 or 15 minutes.
The water using the jug method is cooling right from the get go and maybe a tad dangerous.
These purpose built devices have a shaped cradle for ones face and a stable base.

Re: Toothache
 

I get what you are saying, but I don't know about you.....many people(me included) buy gadgets and never use them......we have an unused foot spa somewhere lurking in the house. I would be loathe to buy a facial sauna for this purpose(and I use steam inhalation quite a lot)......they are bulky items, you need to have somewhere to store it....and it may get very little use.
I also have a Nelsons inhaler...which is fine if you just want to loosen chest secretions, but it is of little use for nasal congestion....or for reducing the viruses that lurk in the nose.
Yes my method could be seen as dangerous, but as long as you appreciate there is an element of risk involved then you can make allowances for it.
It is a method I use frequently......and I know it works for me.......and it requires only a modicum of sense.

Re: Toothache
 

True enough Margaret, our George Foreman Grill keeps Mrs P's footspa company in some dark cupboard, think the Breville toaster is long gone though :)

Re: Toothache
 

yes we had those gadgets too......once the novelty wears off they are ditched for the tried and trusted.
Although I have to say my window vac is worth its weight in gold......not bulky does a fine job of windows. mirrors tiles and shower doors. How did I manage without it?

Re: Toothache
 

Snap Margaret.

Gonna'
hop off this thread before the thread wander taliban censure me. :D

Re: Toothache
 

Its in anything goes, so any owd crap will do.:D

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The only other thing I would suggest is to try dropping a few menthol crystals in with the hot water.
Mrs E has sinus problems and she swears by the things,You can get a decent supply for under a £5 from a well known auction site....


...hope your feeling better soon R ;).

Re: Toothache
 

This might not have the same effect Jason.. The swelling that Rob is experiencing is the result of surgical inflammation.
Menthol is fine for clearing the brochial tubes.....but this is different

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I will bow to your greater knowledge on the subject M :)

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I haven't done ENT nursing since 1974(!)...and some things have changed, but I still read medical and nursing stuff....and maintain an interest in all things medical...must be in the blood

Re: Toothache
 

My sympathies for your pain, R. I hope you feel better soon.

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I went to the dentist again today to enquire about the cost of a tooth extraction.
The receptionist said "we offer 3 levels of extraction treatment".

"For £200 there is Lv1 where you get the tooth extracted,no pain,no swelling and no blood"....."or there's Lv2 for £120 where we extract the tooth,there's a little bit of blood and a small amount of pain and swelling"..... "or there's Lv3 for £25 where we pull the tooth the old fashioned way,with pliers,there's plenty of blood,lots of swelling and a unbearable amount of pain".

"Lv3" I said abruptly.
"really" said the receptionist..."yes" I replied "book Mrs E in for Monday".

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Oh, dear! AccyX, you really are all heart...I know you were only joking with your posting but at least I'm sure if the occasion arose Mrs E would be much braver than you where dentists are concerned, 'cause as you must surely know women are built to withstand more pain than their male counterparts.....

...now I bet I've opened the floodgates - just hear the men roar!

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Dotti, I almost posted something very similar to your post yesterday......but didn't for fear of being told that my sense of humour has withered.
Having had very bad experiences of dentistry in the past......and having overcome these with the help and patience of the team at Oak House stops me from finding this funny......and knowing that Jason has just recently had an unpleasant time with a tooth abscess makes me feel that he might just be due a bolt of cosmic karma(not the sort we give on here....the kind that real life doles out).