I’m kind of getting worried here. For the past two or three days, the gums around one of my ingrown wisdom teeth has been swollen and painful. Today, I called some dentists and tried to get an appointment to pull the tooth or whatever needs to be done. I ended up getting referred to an oral surgeon who gave me an appointment. The problem is it’s nearly two weeks from now due to spring break. I didn’t tell them all my symptoms, but upon doing internet research, I think I have pericornitis and by two weeks, I could be in really bad shape.
Anyway, I’m not looking for a diagnosis from you guys. I’m wondering what I need to do to get prompt treatment, maybe not pull the tooth but fix an infection or whatever. If I explained to them the urgency of the situation, would they bump me forward in line? Could I actually go to a doctor or hospital for the infection, if there is one? I mean if I was sick, it wouldn’t be a problem getting treatment the same day, but when it comes to dental problems, it seems I’m going to have to wait until my jaw starts rotting before they’ll even look at it. I’m going to make some more calls tomorrow and I need to know who to call.
There are dentists who provide emergency services. Check the yellow pages or whatever the equivalent is where you are. Call one, explain you have an appointment but you’re concerned this may be an emergency and ask him/her to look at the situation and let you know if you can reasonably want a couple weeks or if you really need to be seen immediately.
Call the surgeons office, tell them you have an appointment in a few weeks. And then say something like “It’s really swollen and painful and I have a feeling it’s infected, is there anyway at all I could get in in the next day or two so the doctor can just take a quick look at it?”
Personally, if it where me, I would imply that I don’t want the surgery bumped up, I just need a 5 minutes so the doctor can take a quick look. If he/she thinks it’s an issue they’ll make sure you get in sooner rather then later. If they can’t accomadate a few minutes in between surgeries for you, I’d see if there’s anyone else in town that can at least take a look at it.
You could also add in that you’d hate to miss the appointment because of an infection. If the doctor could see you now, you could get antibiotics and be over the infection by the time the appointment rolls around.
I have one remaining wisdom tooth. What you describe happens to me a few times a year. I get one of those rubber pointy things, sanitize it in Listerine, and run it along between the tooth and the gum. Nasty stuff comes out, the result of some food getting stuck and causing a minor infection. I asked my dentist and he said it was fairly common, nothing to worry about unless it gets worse, and continue like I do. Of course, that’s me, and not you.
Can you just get in to see a regular dentist tomorrow? It may be serious or it may not.
What sort of insurance do you have? If you have medical- then yes, a MD may give you antibiotics.
Give the surgeon’s office a call. They will probably want to put you on antibiotics to get any infection cleared up before the surgery. If they don’t, I’d consider looking for another surgeon. IME, dental surgery with an existing infection is not a good way to go.
Is your appointment for an actual extraction, or just for the initial ‘meet & inspect’ visit? Generally surgeons (at least 'round here) want one visit to look at your mouth and talk to you, then schedule the surgery for a later date. If that’s the case, they should still be willing to prescribe an antibiotic to get things fixed right now.
Generally dentists will not extract a tooth with an active infection. Call the dentist and tell him the tooth is infected, and he’ll probably prescribe antibiotics, so you won’t waste an appointment.
I had to wait in line to have my teeth examined, but I got antibiotics and I believe the infection is cured now. I’m scheduled to have my teeth removed next Friday. I’m sure that won’t be fun, but I have hydrocodone so maybe it won’t be so bad.
