u/ThoraTheThor

I’ve been dealing with this since Monday morning. So I’ll add some bullet notes:

-I brush daily (sonicare electric brush with pressure sensor my grandma gave me this past Christmas)
-I floss daily
-I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed 14 years ago
-The pain came on very suddenly. And much worse than when my wisdom teeth were removed.

Monday I woke up with tooth/gum pain in the very back of my left bottom jaw, near the back molar, and by the end of the day, I could feel a swollen bump forming on my bottom left jaw. Tuesday I went to urgent care because I could not for the life of me chew anything harder than rice without massive amounts of pain. I got prescribed 500mg of cephalexin 3x/day for 7 days. The next morning I went to my dentist, and this was barely an “on the books” Appointment. I was seen between patients because I begged them to see me. I was in so much pain. Tylenol/advil barely scratched the surface, here.

When the dentist saw how swollen my left cheek was, his eyes got wide and he asked the hygienist if we’re sure I didn’t fracture my jaw. They got an xray that gets the image by rotating around my head (I couldn’t open my mouth wide enough to do the normal x ray) and yep- abscess. But not just one- I have signs of another one working its magic in the same place on the right side too. Just can’t feel it yet. He suspects that there are little pits where my wisdom teeth were that have caused this and said that I’ll need to finish the week of antibiotics before they can do anything, but that my teeth should and could be saved. Then, when I finish the antibiotics, we’ll have to do laser treatments to remove the dead/damaged tissue and then after that is done, he wants to do a bone graft to fix the issue left behind from my wisdom tooth surgery and prevent this from happening again. For the pain (for now) he’s prescribed 5mg hydrocodone with 325mg acetaminophen. I’ve never once taken a narcotic before so I’ve been breaking those pills in half and taking them every 6ish hours or when I can feel it coming in bad.

Sorry this is long. I know this is gonna be a huge fight with my dental insurance to not just remove my tooth/teeth. But I’d rather save what can be saved and figure it out later than just throw my hands up and say “fuck it”.

Is this a good treatment plan? What other ideas are there that we can explore?

TLDR:
Got diagnosed with a bad abscess and a beginner’s abscess because (in theory) of lil pits left behind from my wisdom tooth surgery 14 years ago. Currently on 500mg cephalexin to combat the infection. Dentist wants to do laser treatments and a bone graft to prevent this from happening again. Am curious if this is a good route to take. Do not want to pull the tooth/teeth if I don’t need to.

This is in Oregon, USA. My 2017 Hyundai Elantra vs. a 2010 Toyota Sienna. He was 70’s M and I’m 30’s F

While traveling home, with no distractions or substances I merged into the slow lane while exiting another highway. About 2 seconds after I merged into the lane fully, I was sideswiped by the Toyota. My blind spot detectors didn’t go off, I checked all my mirrors and checked over my shoulder. Dude was going so fast in the middle lane with a busted passenger side mirror (I have pics of it from the scene) that when he started to merge into my lane he scraped me from the rooter to the tooter. My driver’s side door handle is about to break in half, and while yeah I’ve got my own insurance to cover it, I don’t have the funds for the deductible. Refunded later or not. So I need some help.

The voicemail greeting to the USAA adjuster promises a call back within 24 hours. I’ve sent emails, I’ve left voicemails with all the requested info he wants, and I can’t get a hold of anyone. I was told that because the guy is assigned as the agent for this claim number/incident, the other agent’s I’ve spoken to will not touch this with a 10 foot pole.

I’m running out of time. What are my options here? The other driver has not filed a claim against my insurance to pay for the damages to his vehicle. Tho his damage was much less significant than mine. Paint transfer, at best. What can I do? I know with every ounce of my soul I did not do anything wrong. He was the one speeding in excess, he has the busted passenger side mirror, and meanwhile I was going the flow of traffic.