Self extraction of teeth

akaMrSmith

What could go wrong with removing one of your own teeth?
A few weeks ago I went to the dentist with a nasty tooth ache. After spending over €400 and having four other teeth the dentist told me that the problem with the tooth I originally had problems was down to gum disease and not the tooth itself. I was given a prescription for By-Mycin. After taking 11 of these I developed serious stomach cramps. This has resulted in me missing the last four weeks from work and I don’t get sick pay. I don’t have a medical card either. I cannot afford to pay either a doctor to threat the stomach problems caused by the By-Mycin and I cannot afford to visit the doctor. This tooth has cost me over €3,000 and my savings are almost exhausted.
On Monday I will apply for a medical card, Im told it will take app. 15 days to process the claim. I am also told from members on this site that I can claim social welfare because I don’t get sick pay but I have no idea how long this will take to process. In the meantime I badly need to stop at least some of the pain I am in. If I extract the tooth myself whats the worse that could happen? Will my gums bleed much? Keeping in mind the tooth is loose from the gum disease so pulling it should not be much of a problem. I will of course sterilise the tools first, I have some stainless steel forceps that should be suitable for the task at hand.
I know dentists will advise me not to do this but like any human I can only tolerate so much pain!

OP I think you should visit an emergency care facility and work something out regarding the charge with them

http://www.dentalhospital.ie/patients/emergency-dental-care/

akaMrSmith

bluewolf wrote: »

OP I think you should visit an emergency care facility and work something out regarding the charge with them

As much as I would love to have a professional sort this out for me €70 is more money than I have. I really am running on empties and this tooth has cost me over €3k so far. I will extract this tooth myself, that much is certain. I would like to know what could go wrong, worst possible case if you like. If I dont get back to work next week my family will go hungry and thats something I badly want to avoid.

triple nipple

You could shatter the tooth while extracting it and inhale a portion of it and die, Thats just off the top of my head. I'm sure plenty of other things could happen with your plan.

akaMrSmith

If I die at least I wont be in pain any more.

davo10

A tooth which feels loose can still have some quite considerable attachment to the bone.

Worse case scenario: you start to extract the tooth, move it a little causing more pain, realise it is not as loose as you thought and make matters a lot worse. Also, dentists extract tooth using a technique which causes minimum trauma to the tissues, it you just grip it and rip it, you will do more damage to the bone and gum.

akaMrSmith

davo10 wrote: »

A tooth which feels loose can still have some quite considerable attachment to the bone.

Worse case scenario: you start to extract the tooth, move it a little causing more pain, realise it is not as loose as you thought and make matters a lot worse. Also, dentists extract tooth using a technique which causes minimum trauma to the tissues, it you just grip it and rip it, you will do more damage to the bone and gum.

I'm surprised this has caused you so much trouble, erythromycin is a pretty benign antibiotic, I have never heard of anyone suffering stomach problems as severe as what you describe after taking it.

1 in 5 people experience side effects according to my research on the web. Even the dentist in question said a lot of people he prescribes this to have side effects from it but he didn’t tell me that before I took them.
I am looking into self extraction and it looks painful but doable. I have to vibrate the tooth out and not pull it out. This will no doubt be painful and I now suspect I also have an abscess which is probably the cause of the pain. If it is an abscess then the correct antibiotics should clear it up without the need for an extraction.
I have talked to three solicitors about this and all three agree there is a case for medical neglect. Two are unwilling to take the case because its one of the bigger dental firms and they are patients themselves but they both advised me to use the court system which I am happy to do. As I said I am down over €3k because of this.
I have started taking nurofen plus and its working a little, as long as I don’t let anything touch the tooth!
A little advice to all medical professionals; if you are prescribing something with known side effects have some respect for your customers and tell them before they start taking the drugs. I went to my dentist with a problem with one tooth, now I am over €3k out of pocket and have still got that problem with the exact same tooth, not only that I have also got serious stomach pain and have missed four weeks of work. I don’t know how many more weeks I will miss but I expect this is going to cost me in the region of €5k before I can return to earning a living and that’s not including legal fees.

davo10

Sorry, I misread your OP, I thought it was E-mycin, not By-mycin.

Gum disease does not occur over night, if your teeth are loose, it has progressed over a long period due to poor oral hygiene and neglect. It would be very difficult indeed to prove this was negligence on behalf of the dentist and I suspect the solicitors who turned you down know this (them being a patient at the clinic should have no baring whatsoever). Also, the size of the clinic does not matter, it is the solicitors at their indemnity company who will deal with any legal issues. Unfortunately all medicines have side effects, most come with a list if these in the box.

akaMrSmith

davo10 wrote: »

Sorry, I misread your OP, I thought it was E-mycin, not By-mycin.

Gum disease does not occur over night, if your teeth are loose, it has progressed over a long period due to poor oral hygiene and neglect. It would be very difficult indeed to prove this was negligence on behalf of the dentist and I suspect the solicitors who turned you down know this (them being a patient at the clinic should have no baring whatsoever). Also, the size of the clinic does not matter, it is the solicitors at their indemnity company who will deal with any legal issues. Unfortunately all medicines have side effects, most come with a list if these in the box.

My gum disease comes from smoking.

davo10

akaMrSmith wrote: »

My gum disease comes from smoking.

A solicitor will ask you, "had you a history of allergic reactions to any antibiotics?, when did the stomach symptoms begin and did you contact the dentist/pharmacist immediately? What did they say?"

As I said, all medications cause side effects and it is only after you have experienced them that you and your clinician know not to prescribe them in future. Penicillin allergy is the most common due to the fact that it is the most commonly used antibiotic, people usually become aware of their allergy after they have had a reaction to it. There is no way an indemnity company would settle a claim like this particularly for the money you are looking for so brace yourself for the legal fees (including theirs which you would be liable for) if you lose.

Having said all that, if you feel you have a case, and you feel strongly about it, then you should proceed.

gctest50

akaMrSmith wrote: »

I did read the informational leaflet that came with them.....

.It does say there are possible side effects but to be honest all medications say that, I have never had a bad reaction to medication before....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=91750732&postcount=7

well, you did now.

davo10

Ah hear c'mon OP, you were given instructions and side effects leaflet with the medication and had no history of allergic reactions so GDP had no way of knowing that this would happen. Definitely brace yourself for the legal fees, and that is if you can find one who would go forward with this.

It may read like I am defending the GDP but I am actually trying to help you avoid getting in to further financial difficulty. The only winner in this will be your solicitor, if you can pay him/her.

akaMrSmith

davo10 wrote: »

Ah hear c'mon OP, you were given instructions and side effects leaflet with the medication and had no history of allergic reactions so GDP had no way of knowing that this would happen. Definitely brace yourself for the legal fees, and that is if you can find one who would go forward with this.

It may read like I am defending the GDP but I am actually trying to help you avoid getting in to further financial difficulty. The only winner in this will be your solicitor, if you can pay him/her.

Why do you assume I have no history of allergic reactions to antibiotics?

davo10

akaMrSmith wrote: »

Why do you assume I have no history of allergic reactions to antibiotics?

Because if you had a history of allergy to by-mycin, you would have known not to take it.

akaMrSmith

davo10 wrote: »

Because if you had a history of allergy to by-mycin, you would have known not to take it.

You are jumping to a lot of conclusions. Never did I say I had an alergy to By-Mycil, my allergy is to Penicillin. I don’t know what the difference between the two but I did inform my dentist. Maybe this makes a difference and maybe it doesn’t, Im not a dentist, doctor, pharmacist, etc.

SuziXX

Hey op, have you tried calling the dentist and explaining the situation?
I've worked with a lot of dentists and if you have spent that much money with him/ her recently in my experience they might extract the tooth for you at no charge as a good will gesture ( although they are not obliged).
I can't see any good coming of taking it out yourself, even if you succeed as a smoker you'll have reduced healing and are more susceptible to infection, a dry socket is as sore, if not more painful than a toothache.
Hope you get it sorted!

Oral Surgeon

Don't extract your own tooth, it will not end well.
I have supervised final year dental students who have struggled to remove and even fractured loose teeth!!
Will you bleed to death, probably not.
You can disinfected the forceps not sterilize it, will it make a difference, probably not...
Likely end result, you break the tooth and end up needing a more expensive surgical extraction, or you just fail and make the pain worse or even if successful you'll probably rip the gum...
Just don't...

I struggle to see how you could pay €3k on one tooth, if someone paid me that much and needed an extraction id do it for free!!

If you have a case, telling the judge they you self extracted will do your case no good.

Bymycin is well known to cause stomach upset.

akaMrSmith

I did call the dentist and he told me a lot of his patients have difficulty with By-Mycin, I guess this is one of the reasons I am so annoyed. It a drug is giving a lot of patient trouble why not prescribe something else? He told me there is nothing more he can do and I should see a doctor.

davo10

akaMrSmith wrote: »

You are jumping to a lot of conclusions. Never did I say I had an alergy to By-Mycil, my allergy is to Penicillin. I don’t know what the difference between the two but I did inform my dentist. Maybe this makes a difference and maybe it doesn’t, Im not a dentist, doctor, pharmacist, etc.

You seem to have done a lot of research about by-mycin, you will now know that by-mycin and penicillin are two different antibiotics and because you are allergic to one does not mean you are allergic to the other. In fact you were probably prescribed by mycin specifically because you had a history of penicillin allergy.

I am not jumping to conclusions, these are questions yours and certainly their solicitors will ask you and all the time you will be paying both of them. If you did not inform the clinician that you are allergic to a particular medication, they have no way if knowing whether you are likely to suffer an adverse reaction.

akaMrSmith

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Don't extract your own tooth, it will not end well.
I have supervised final year dental students who have struggled to remove and even fractured loose teeth!!
Will you bleed to death, probably not.
You can disinfected the forceps not sterilize it, will it make a difference, probably not...
Likely end result, you break the tooth and end up needing a more expensive surgical extraction, or you just fail and make the pain worse or even if successful you'll probably rip the gum...
Just don't...

I struggle to see how you could pay €3k on one tooth, if someone paid me that much and needed an extraction id do it for free!!

If you have a case, telling the judge they you self extracted will do your case no good.

Bymycin is well known to cause stomach upset.

That post made me laugh, thank you for that. Ive decided not to extract as the Nurofen Plus are doing wonders for both my mouth and my stomach. Its amazing the difference in mindset you have when your not in extreme pain. The pain has not gone away but it is bearable now. I am still afraid to eat and I am still clenching my stomach but its not as bad as it was this morning.
I didnt pay the dentist €3k, I paid the dentist €420 and Ive lost over €2.5k in earnings as I have been unable to work for four weeks now. If I don’t go back to work next week I will not be able to buy food, pay bills, etc. My savings have all but run out and all for the pain in one single tooth! As I said earlier I don’t get paid for been out sick 

davo10

akaMrSmith wrote: »

That post made me laugh, thank you for that. Ive decided not to extract as the Nurofen Plus are doing wonders for both my mouth and my stomach. Its amazing the difference in mindset you have when your not in extreme pain. The pain has not gone away but it is bearable now. I am still afraid to eat and I am still clenching my stomach but its not as bad as it was this morning.
I didnt pay the dentist €3k, I paid the dentist €420 and Ive lost over €2.5k in earnings as I have been unable to work for four weeks now. If I don’t go back to work next week I will not be able to buy food, pay bills, etc. My savings have all but run out and all for the pain in one single tooth! As I said earlier I don’t get paid for been out sick 

Did you register for illness benefit?

akaMrSmith

davo10 wrote: »

Did you register for illness benefit?

Not yet, I didnt know it existed until last night. I'll sign up for it on Monday when I will be applying for a medical card.

davo10

akaMrSmith wrote: »

Not yet, I didnt know it existed until last night. I'll sign up for it on Monday when I will be applying for a medical card.

Do, you may be entitled to benefit from 6th day onward.

akaMrSmith

I'll get an overdraft on Monday and get it sorted. I dont owe any money so an overdraft will be no problem. Once its sorted out I can get back to work and get earning again. I have not gone to a doctor in 9 years now, I dont normally get sick and I hope its at least another 9 years before I do again.