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Emergency Dental Marin CaliforniaEmergency Dental Marin California[Baking America]
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Subjects > ... > Medical > Dentistry
On a Sunday afternoon at about 3:30pm, I tried reaching the following dentists according to their emergency procedures...
Important: None of the following is meant to be medical advice. If you are in need of dental treatment, please consult a qualified dentist and follow the dentist's recommendations.
Some notes about severe dental pain:
Vicodin, hydrocone, etc., don't do anything about swelling. For swelling, ibuprofen helps with that. Typical dose of ibuprofen for a 200 pound person is 600mg every 4 to 6 hours. This must be taken with full meal, after the food. This helps with inflamation and swelling.
If the nerve is still dying it will be affected by changes in temperature. Often the infection causes a build up of gangrene gas in the tooth. Cold will help the tooth feel better when it changes the pressure. It is also possible that heat might help. It's possible that heat can help one day, and cold is what helps the next day. If temperature changes the pain, the nerve is not yet dead. In this case, probably the treatment will involve a root canal.
If cold does not affect it, and it doesn't hurt equisitely to tapping it could be gum disease....
If tapping hurts, and cold doesn't affect it, the nerve has probably died, and the infection has spread down to the ligaments. It is then the ligaments that are giving the pain warning.
The tapping can be done with a pencil, just tapping lightly like on a table. Tooth hurts to tap on it with a pencil, a full grown man can jump out of the chair just from a light tap on such a tooth.
One person told me about how they were told to take antibiotics to get rid of a tooth infection that was causing pain, and that the tooth could not be extracted before that, because the infection might spread to the brain. According to a dentist, and clinical instructor, I spoke with, that is complete nonsense. He told me the story of a boy who came into the hospital on a Friday night. His eye was swollen shut, and was badly inflammed, very red. It turns out that the canine tooth was infected. These teeth are also called the eye teeth because when they are infected, the infection often refers up to the area of the eye.
The tooth was extracted within 30 minutes, and the puss poured out. The puss was put on q-tips, so that it could be sent to the lab to be cultured. The culture of the puss is then treated with a drop of penicillin. If the pennicilin kills the culture, then penicilin is prescribed. If the penicillin doesn't kill the bacteria, then it is pennicillin resistant, and they have to use a more powerful antibiotic. The more powerful antibiotic costs $120 for 3 days, and kills all kinds of beneficial bacteria. The patient can end up with a yeast infection, bloody stools, diarrhea, etc.. The extraction was done on Friday, and on the Monday for the followup, the kid was doing fine, the swelling and inflamation was cleared up.
Root canal on first molar especially needs specialized equipment, a $22,000 microscope that can find the hidden fourth root in the tooth. $1050 for a root canal, + $125 - $85 consult fee. Paying the whole cash $1000 at the start, might get you a discount.
Going to need a regular dentist and a hygenist to take care of gum disease. 6 out 7 people need a hygenist for gum disease problems. If someone wants to take care of it, it will need root canal... No root canal, $100, another dentist will extract the tooth. Full evaluation for the whole mouth, then looking at the individual tooth. $250 for pulpectomy, the fact that it is started doesn't get a dentist. Already dead on top, antibiotics will help out with the peridontal ligament because it hurts to talk. Often the antibiotic can be doubled on the first dose. If the top of the tooth is relieved by cold, the gas comes out, and the pain goes away. But that is before it hurts to biting, or talking. Tapping pain indicates problem in the ligaments.
If pain gets better with cold, it's an easy fix to get rid of the pain.
If a full root canal is needed, the first molar can be a difficult to do without specialized dental equipment. First molar is the tooth we do 60% of our chewing with.
A tooth can crack or break from improper fillings. Big amount of filling - exposed the softer root, then the decay goes into the softer root. Gum surgery can run as much as $4000.
Alternative: extraction of the tooth, with either an implant for $3200, or a bridge that has to be replaced every ten years. Crowns last less than 10 years, because the root rots out from underneath. A titanium post has no root to rot. Gold crown lasts longer than porcellain, because procelain can crack.
$1000 for the root canal + $1000 later to fix the tooth with a crown. Don't root canal just to end up with extracting the tooth later. $2500 in 90 days is needed to save a tooth via a root canal +
A tooth extraction can cost $300 for the extraction.
Periodontal extraction - if the tooth is loose, is easy.... A good solid tooth, with a dead nerve, that is firmly anchored, has to be cut in three pieces, and removed, it's much more difficult.
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