The Continuing Saga of My Wife's Toothache, update #32, #40

[snubbyfan]

For the last coupla weeks my wife's been in pain from a bad wisdom tooth. We went to the dentist and he recommended that she just have it pulled. We agreed, "okay, pull it." He replied that he couldn't pull it and that we need a dental surgeon to pull it because it's a wisdom tooth.
Back in the day, I went to a dentist with a cavity in my wisdom tooth and not only did he pull it then and there but he also pulled the other three. "Just pull them all while you're at it," I said.
Anyway, he gave her some antibiotics to help clear the infection and made an appointment for a dental surgeon.
Her tooth got worse and the lymph nodes in her neck got swollen.
So, we contacted her old dentist, 'bout 200 miles away and they told her to come on down and they'd pull it.
We loaded up the truck for a road trip and off we went.
By this time my wife was having troubles opening her mouth and chewing 'cause of the swelling from her rotten tooth.
We got there and all they did was to put her on some different antibiotics that were supposed to work better, sent us on our way and recommended a dental surgeon that can pull the tooth when her jaw gets better.
In the meantime, she's still been going to the gym and doing home cardio with me. Doing what she can. Too much cardio would raise her blood pressure and make her tooth and jaw throb.
Our nutrition's been off. She's just been having difficulty eating and I've been eating less, all this had made me kinda lose my appetite.
Anyway, she's been doing better and the swelling's going down, today was a good old fashioned weight lifting gym day and when we got home, we had a nice chicken dinner.
Spin class tomorrow, we'll see how she does.
We still intend to get that tooth pulled.

My biggest question is, "what the (expletive deleted) does a person need to do to get some decent medical help nowadays?"

 

[Oracle]

I waited over a year for a crown, the tooth needed a root canal before they could do a crown.

My insurance dental plan dentist couldn't do root canals. (????) The root canal specialist travelled from office to office doing root canals. You had to get on a waiting list for the next time the root canal specialist was in town. If the root canal specialist didn't do your root canal while they were in town you were out of luck but you did move up the list.

In the interim I was going in weekly or so for them to glue on a temporary crown.

It came open enrollment time and I switched dental insurance. My first visit at the new dentist I got a root canal, they milled a permanent crown and it is still there.

 

[CQB27]

Well Snubby, I had a tooth go bad once. An Army dentist did a root canal on it and about 10 years later all of a sudden it got infected and made my jaw swell. I went to a dentist and he took one look and said "you were either in the Army or Navy" Lol, and he did the same as your wife's did. Gave me medicine to kill the infection and a week later I came back in, no better, and the dentist said "That tooth has to come out today!" and sent me down the road to an oral surgeon.

The oral surgeon, a nice little Chinese feller explained he needed to take me to the hospital across the street and put me to sleep because shooting Novocain in my gum wouldn't work because there was no where for it to go because f the infection. I told him there was no way I was going under general anesthesia to get a tooth pulled. "Pull It!" I said, and that's just what he did. Hurt like hell, but I was glad to be shed of it!

I'll be praying for your wife for sure. I wish you both all the best.

 

[arjay]

The Continuing Saga of My Wife's Toothache

Yep,dentistry has changed a great deal and become far more expensive in the last 15 yrs. I could almost buy a modest house with what I've spent on my teeth!
I've told my fam that I want a big smile and an open coffin funeral lol

 

[Onomea]

Sure hope it gets resolved soon, Snubby. That sounds just awful for your wife. Women tend to be tougher than we are in dealing with pain, too.

(Not to flog a dead horse — he says as he pulls out the whip — but universal healthcare, to include dentistry, is the norm in most civilized countries... I say "most" because I consider the US civilized, though at times, like this thread, I wonder...)

 

[Doug627]

Do you have any ice skates? If you do, rent the movie "Castaway". It will explain everything. Tell your wife I said good luck and let the antibiotics do their job. A big problem with pulling a tooth that is infected is that the infection can get into the blood stream during and/or after the extraction. She does not want sepsis.

 

[grover99]

Medical care in general has gone down hill in the last few years. You get good care but so many people got their hands out to get a piece of that pie. A few years age I had an ingrown toenail so I went to my GP and he took care of the problem and I was out the door with only an office call charge. Not long ago I was out of town and had the same problem with another toe. Went to a local walk in clinic and they sent me a cross town to a foot Dr being sure to charge me for that service. He did same thing my GP did but at a $400+ charge.

 

[Ugly Hombre]

Agree medical care has went down hill starting in about 2008 maybe before and still snowballing.. Old Ugly is a retired GI got a busted fang went to the base dental clinic circa 93 . "We don't work on retired devils any more you gotta get dental insurance", the CIC and crew decided it was to much money or sum such.

Surprise-

Choose your Dentist very careful, lot of Doc Holliday's out there.

Found that out the hard way outside the gate..

 

[steelslaver]

My dentist and I had a discussion about my teeth and boats. I decided I would buy a jet boat for myself instead of nice I/O with a cuddy cabin for him. i now wear dentures

 

[JcMack]

I've had the same dentist for 40yrs. He's probably 10ys my junior. He started at his dad's practice working on kids and now is a dentist/oral surgeon.
Since 2014 I'm a card carrying member of the poor old guy lotsa hospital visits club. This month Jan 3 and then Jan 6, I went to emergency in the middle of the night. Hospital was packed to the gills. Second trip I was in the hallway on a gurney 18 hrs before I got a room. "Something" has happened to medical care in the last 10yrs that is really screwing things up. I'm sure it's beyond my comprehension.

 

[grover99]

Medicine has gone from a Dr practicing medicine to benefit his patients to practicing for the benefit some corporation

 

[dmn57]

Hope things get squared up soon for Mrs. Snubby. I've experienced a variety of pains over the years and with the exception of knee replacement surgery, tooth pain is the worst. About this time last year I had a tooth that abscessed and I wound up in the hospital for a couple of days, in FL while on vacation no less. I resembled Quasimodo until IV antibiotics calmed things down. Couldn't wait to get home and have the offending molar extracted. It did take visits to my regular dentist, a root canal specialist and finally an oral surgeon to get it done, but fortunately the abscess didn't flare up again before it was all over.

 

[NYlakesider]

Good luck to you and your wife.

Things must be different up here I have had 3 wisdom's pulled, all at different times with no serious wait by our regular dentist!

 

[WardenRoss]

I had to have an infected molar removed. Regular dentist sent me immediately to a dental surgeon. He verified it as an emergency because the infection has almost ate through the bone into my sinuses.

He said if I wanted anesthesia that I would have to pay $800 up front because of a time snafu in getting it pre-approved from my insurance. At least something to that effect.

"You look like a tough guy and I can just use a local (lidocaine shots?) but you will be fully-awake." suggested the surgeon.

"Why not! Go for it!" I replied 'cause I was already in torment from the pain.

BIGGEST MISTAKE THAT I EVER MADE! About an hour and a half of wrestling with the devil himself. Pure torture!

"It was much worse than I anticipated." the surgeon told me after the one-hour recovery period was finished.

Long story short, I would have gladly paid $8,000 up front rather than go through that. What was I thinking?

 

[Nevada Ed]

Back in the 90's a dentist would do almost all work except maybe a root canal job.

Today many "Specialize" in just one area and in so doing, pad the bill a little.

A good doctor and insurance plan is needed today, to cover any work that needs to be done. Times have changed.

 

[Onomea]

While I am not a dentist, and don't know that much about it, I did have my wisdom teeth out as a kid, and one of my sons had his out.

I think not all wisdom teeth are the same. Some are easy to grab and yank out or hammer at with a chisel until they can be removed. Others are "impacted," meaning below the surface of the gums. Some can be growing or positioned in odd directions. And some may have caused additional problems, like infections, as noted above.

If it is not a simple extraction, it makes sense to find a specialist, oral surgeon, who knows what he/she is doing. (And with a large repertoire of anesthetics.)

 

[CH4]

Apparently vets have jumped on the Lunacy train. My dog has a loose tooth that needs pulling. All the vets in the area require a $100+ dollar consult and another $300 to $1200 to pull the loose tooth and clean the others. I am about ready to find a piece of string and a door knob.

 

[LVSteve]

Most regular dentists won't touch wisdom teeth these days, you are referred to the oral surgeon. I suspect it has much to do with liability and putting folk to sleep.

Both my lower wisdom teeth came out here in the US on different occasions. The second one was horizontal and impacted somewhere near my knees. A general was the only way to go.

Go to the professional, Snubby, mine managed to do that last one without destroying the nerves in the jaw and giving me droopy face. That's skill.

 

[hsguy]

Sorry your wife has dental problems. They are a misery speaking from long experience but get it taken care of ASAP as it can lead to other medical issues. When I have had dental issues that my normal dentist felt was beyond his scope he would refer me to specialists, I admire his candor and I gladly go. My thought was that I wouldn't want to have a GP physician try doing a heart bypass, although expensive, I'll go to the most experienced specialized practitioner.

 

[Kinman]

Snubby, sorry to hear of your wife's difficulty. Today the entire medical/dental field is way different than it was even ten years ago. Everyone specializes...I remember the first time I had to go to an Endodentist to have a root canal, my old dentist came down to his office one night at 7:30pm to give me a root canal when an abscessed tooth was killing me. I figure an Endodentist works at the end of the line when it comes to teeth.
It does pay to carry a dental insurance that is easily recognized, or be willing to shell out the Benjamins when work is finished. It also pays to see your dentist on a regular basis for cleaning and check ups. I understand that the two of you live a rather healthy life style, that is in your benefit. Poor dental health can lead to heart issues. I have a family member that nearly died from an abscessed tooth that went septic. Few regular dentists work the full gamut of filling, extraction, braces, dental surgery, etc. I had a dentist that did everything but oral surgery which includes extraction. The guy he sent me to had the best looking gals working in his office, good music playing, and was very liberal with the pain medication...try as I might I could not get a return engagement.
In my local area there are any number of specialists, the trick is finding the one you need, then getting in to see him or her. With your situation I would have to believe someone is willing to work and patience is probably required to keep from throttling somebody. Best of luck, I hope she gets relief...peppermint tea with a little honey works wonders.