Is There a Dentist in the House?

[bad company]

So I went to my dentist last week with toothache. He did an X-RAY and saw an infection under a molar. My options were extraction or antibiotics so I went for the later, Amoxicillin.

Three days later with no improvement I saw a different dentist at the same practice & he gave me Metronidazole saying take the 2 together. Three days later the toothache has almost gone but the antibiotics are playing havoc with my guys. To make it worse I am now in South Africa & unable to return to my dentist.

So my question is should I finish the course of both drugs? Apart from the side effects I am in a great wine region but can't drink with the Metronidazole.

[sjc]

Pop a mail to this guy, member on here.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...

[DaveOrange]

I am not a dentist but whatever you do do not drink on Metrodizanole. When I have been on that stuff in the past I allow at least 72 hours from my last tablet before risking any alcohol. I learnt that lesson the hard way

[Nimby]

You should always complete a course of antibioics otherwise you just end up with the more resistant ones surviving and passing on that resistance.

Live yogurt and probiotics might help your gut flora recover quicker.

[bad company]

Thanks for the advice guys.

To update the tooth was extracted today so now in a bit of pain & yet more antibiotics to take 'Clindahexal'.

According to the instructions I need 3-7 days on the Metronidazole so not sure when to stop.

[Lites]

Dentist here. I normally prescribe Metronidazole for 5 days - usually does the trick. With the tooth out, barring any dry socket related incidents you should be fine with regular painkillers if you need them.

++ Edit
Sorry just realised you posted a week ago, hope you're feeling better!

[bad company]

Lites said:

Dentist here. I normally prescribe Metronidazole for 5 days - usually does the trick. With the tooth out, barring any dry socket related incidents you should be fine with regular painkillers if you need them.

++ Edit
Sorry just realised you posted a week ago, hope you're feeling better!

Thank you very much. I took the Metronidazole as you say for 5 days. The tooth has been gone for a week now & the pain has receded. I'm just getting used to the gap & need to decide if it's worth getting an implant for a bottom second molar.

[Driller]

Tricky one that. It is generally considered that you can eat sufficiently well with only the first molar and in that area aesthetics aren't going to be a problem.

However, if you have an opposing second molar at the top that doesn't occlude (touch when you bite) with this first one on the bottom, you may well find in time that it over-erupts and starts moving out of the gum and bone towards towards the gum where the tooth was extracted.

The two negative effects of this are:

1) Mobility and possibility of pain and infection ultimately leading to the loss of this opposing tooth (so you lose a tooth and it makes you lose another one). This isn't going to happen for a few years mind you but dentists have to extract teeth from time to time because of this.

2) Even if the opposing tooth doesn't become mobile/painful/infected, the fact that it over-erupts towards the gum where your tooth was taken out can make it impossible to place a future implant without at least reduces the height of this tooth and crowning it to create space and possibly more (root treatment etc).

If the opposing second molar tooth is in contact with the first remaining molar and you have an erupted third molar wisdom tooth at the bottom, it can still be a good idea to have the implant to prevent the wisdom tooth leaning into the space in time and mucking your occlusion up. Also, having a wisdom tooth makes the gap made by the loss of your tooth more obvious/annoying i.e. it's a real gap.

So, if you don't have an erupted wisdom tooth and the opposing second molar is at least partly propped by your remain first molar, then it's down to choice, you shouldn't have any major problems.

[cornishgiant]

Pharmacist here - drinking and metronidazole isn't a problem for a lot of people despite the robotic dire pharmacist warnings.

Source - research both professional and personal

[hidetheelephants]

cornishgiant said:

Pharmacist here - drinking and metronidazole isn't a problem for a lot of people despite the robotic dire pharmacist warnings.

Source - research both professional and personal

1 post in 8 years; impressive lurking skills sir.

[Moominho]

cornishgiant said:

Pharmacist here - drinking and metronidazole isn't a problem for a lot of people despite the robotic dire pharmacist warnings.

Source - research both professional and personal

It was for me. I forgot I was taking it, and had a cocktail with my girlfriend in a pretty pub garden. Within the hour that cocktail came back out violently. And the same pretty pink colour. Serves me right for drinking a girly drink I suppose.

[Driller]

Sounds very pretty that

Agree with Cornish giant though, we don't routinely warn about mixing the two and very rarely get folk coming back waving been sick.

[bad company]

Thanks again everyone especially Driller (great username for a dentist) & Lites for the dental input.

My wisdom teeth went years ago so it looks like an implant or risk losing another tooth. I will visit my dentist when I get home tho it's tempting to get the implant here in South Africa where it's around half the price.

[soad]

Nimby said:

You should always complete a course of antibioics otherwise you just end up with the more resistant ones surviving and passing on that resistance.

Makes sense, cheers.

[Driller]

bad company said:

Thanks again everyone especially Driller (great username for a dentist) & Lites for the dental input.

My wisdom teeth went years ago so it looks like an implant or risk losing another tooth. I will visit my dentist when I get home tho it's tempting to get the implant here in South Africa where it's around half the price.

It's not the best moment now to get the implant done. The departed molar had two roots which left two holes in the bone, front and back. The implant will be positioned between the two and it's very tricky to drill this new hole before healing as the drill tends to slip into one of the holes either side.

You need to let it heal two months, have an intra oral radiograph taken to confirm approximate bone height and then have a 3D scan if that looks ok. The implant can then be done in the day/weeks which follow.

[bad company]

Driller said:

It's not the best moment now to get the implant done. The departed molar had two roots which left two holes in the bone, front and back. The implant will be positioned between the two and it's very tricky to drill this new hole before healing as the drill tends to slip into one of the holes either side.

You need to let it heal two months, have an intra oral radiograph taken to confirm approximate bone height and then have a 3D scan if that looks ok. The implant can then be done in the day/weeks which follow.

Thanks again. At the moment I am concentrating on rinsing my mouth several times a day to get the food particles out of the holes. The pain has gone tho.

[Driller]

Good stuff

(The holes will heal up from the bottom by the way and so won't close up for 4-6 weeks).

[mu0n]

Sorry to bump an old thread... but just a general question really (before I call up the dentist) - my missus has a problem with her wisdom tooth at the moment and it was so painful today she took the day off work and called up the dentist to explain her situation. She managed to get an appt today, they checked it and gave her some antibiotics. My question is that they charged her the normal £18.50 fee, around £8 for the antibiotics but then another £30 for I'm not quite sure what?

I'm guessing the £30 was for an 'emergency appointment' but really? Surely if they were busy anyway they'd just say they couldn't see her until whenever, but this is my only reasoning. Cheers.

edit - missus said that when she booked the appointment they said she would have the pay as well as NHS charges otherwise they couldn't see her for 2 weeks! But just seen this on the NHS website:

"If you require urgent care, you will only need to pay one Band 1 charge of £18.50. Most urgent treatments can be done in one appointment. However, if more than one visit is required and you return to the same dentist to complete your urgent treatment, the Band 1 urgent charge is all that you should pay."

Edited by mu0n on Wednesday 21st January 17:09

[DocJock]

Jesus wept. Nobody here is clairvoyant.

Call them and ask what the charge is for.

[mu0n]

DocJock said:

Jesus wept. Nobody here is clairvoyant.

Call them and ask what the charge is for.

I've just been trying but the office is closed, so I'll have to call first thing. I just wanted to know the rights as an NHS patient as the waters do appear muddied at times.