I have several missing teeth in the back of my mouth. Now I have an infected tooth that is in a lot of pain. My cheek is swollen so much that I look like I have a golf ball in the side of my mouth. I should tell you up front that I do not have dental insurance. I do have some medicaid, but am between jobs because the company I work for closed its doors without even a warning or any severance package. In fact, they own most of the employees for their last paycheck, me included. I honestly don’t know how to handle this.
Patricia
Dear Patricia,
I am very sorry for what happened to you with your employment. That has put you in a terrible position. While I know many businesses have struggled in this economy, it seems like they lacked some ethics by not notifying their employees of the difficulties and giving them some notice.
You are also in a terrible position with your teeth. What I don’t want you to do is simply try to take antibiotics to solve this tooth infection. All an antibiotic will do for teeth is to simply hold off the infection temporarily. Once the antibiotics runs out, the infection will flare back up.
The only way to truly get rid of a tooth infection is to do so by having a dentist physically remove the infected pulp of the tooth. This can be done by one of two ways. You can either get a root canal treatment or you can get a tooth extraction. The better treatment is the root canal because it means you can keep the tooth.
Your cheek being swollen tells me that your infection is spreading outside your tooth. I would consider this a dental emergency. None of that changes the fact that you do not have the money to take care of this. Given your situation, I recommend looking for a dentist who advertises as an affordable dentist. They are often more compassionate and may allow you to pay out the treatment. Another option is to look and see if there a local dental charity in your area. They will probably remove the tooth instead of doing a root canal treatment so if you can find someone willing to allow you to pay out the treatment, that would be the better option.
This blog is brought to you by Parma Family Dentist Dr. Gecovich.