Hi,

I am a type 1 diabetic diagnosed 2004, I had thrush in my mouth before diagnosis and unfortunately had a hard time getting diagnosed and ended up in hospital very sick and finally found out what was wronng. A few months after being diagnosed I went to the dentist, I needed lots of fillings as the high sugars had done a lot of damage. Even though I have good teeth and have always looked after them, brushing, flossing, etc. About 4 years after diagnosis I had pain in gums and face, a burning stinging pain and went to the dentist who said nothing was wrong on xrays. That weekend I was in pain so I found another dentist who said he couldnt see anything either but gave me some antibiotics. I felt slightly better, I was going abroad for xmas and on the plane my face swelled up I found a dentist in Spain who ssaid I had a huge abscess on a tooth on my lower jaw and no wonder I was in pain! He removed the abscess over 3 hours, put antibiotics in it and got me to come back a few days later. When I did he put a temp filling and told me to get RCT when I got home. I did this and thought nothing of it.

Over the last few years I have had a couple of what I thought were mild gum infections and taken antibiotics or sometimes they just went on their own.

2-3 weeks ago I started getting occassional burning sensation through my inside cheek, gum and jaw on the right. Gradually the pain was more often and more intense, I went to the dentist who took xrays who said that there was an infection my RCT tooth that needed to be redone.This would cost €850 plus €500 for a crown. I told him i couldnt afford it and he put me on antibiotics and said get it done as soon as.

I live in Ireland and unless you have a medical card you get no help with paying for this dental treatment, I work partime, have a lot of debt and no way of getting this money.

By Tuesday I was now in pain eating, then drinking hot drinks and by Thurs even room temp water hurt so bad. I rang one of the specialist endodontist my dentist had given me the number of and made an appointment for the day after (Friday) by Friday I was in agony, when I explained everything to the endodonist he kept telling me that the pain I was describing would not be due to infection or tooth and sounded more like a diabetic neuropathy in the dental area and face! He wrote up a referral let, I tried to explain tht the pain I was describing was present when I had my abscess a few years ago and went awa once it was treated he ignored me.

Finally he looked in my mouth and with cold sensation test he found that it was actually the tooth beside the original RCT tooth that was causing pain and he did an emergency RCT on that, I had to borrow €300 from my mother to pay and I have to find €300 and go back this Friday to finish the treatment. He told me I needed to have the other one redone as soon as, I said I couldnt afford it and could I get it out and all he kept saying was you will have a gap and thats not a good idea. He prescibed anti infams and told me to stop taking the antibiotics and only take them if my face swelled up.

Anyway I have done lots of research and I am now terrified of what RCT is doing to me and my diabetes. I have felt unwell for weeks with the pain and also run down and exhasuted with blood sugars unstable. I have made an appointment with my original dentist who is a very nice woman but was unavailable the day I went for the xrays 3 weeks ago, Im going to talk to her about getting a partial denture for the first RCT tooth and having an extraction because I can't afford all the work it needs. She can't fit me in until next Wednesday (13th Feb) and Im at the endodontist to finish the second one Friday. Ideally I would like to have them both pulled but I know my dentist will talk me out of that as its just had the RCT.

Anyway sorry for such a long post Im just so stressed, crying in pain last week and terrified of what to do what not do this week, plus theres not much help here in this country all dentist seem to think havig a RCT and keeping your tooth is the be all and end all for all their patients even with autoimmune deseases.

Im looking for some help/advice. Is the burning stabbing pain a neuropathy or am I right that it is an infection connected problem?

If my dentist will take the original problem tooth out will she take the periodontal ligament and infected bone out? When I asked the receptionist at the clinic if I would need antibiotics before extraction she said the infection usually comes out with the tooth but you can discuss it with the dentist, this gives me the impression it would just be numb the area and yank it out leaving everything else in there.

Should I have stopped taking the antibiotics Friday on the Endodontist orders?

There were no xrays taken of any of the other teeth beside these bad ones and Im worried they could all be infected! Is this possible?

I wanted to see my doctor to discuss how this is affecting my diabetes and immune system but she cant fit me in until Tues 12th. So the only health professional Il be seeing in the next week is the endodontist.

I was off work all last week with pain and exhaustion, felt a little better over the weekend after emergency RCT and pain killers, went to work yesterday and by 1pm was exhausted with really bad pain in head and eyebrow and face on right side and was out of breath walking up the stairs. Im 32 and usually quite fit! Also the money situation is stressing me out I still owe €300 and would need €500 to crown it. Never mind the €850 and €500 they want for the other tooth! If I get that one extracted it's about €100 annd could get a partial denture for €120.

Anyway Im rambling again any help much appreciated.