Dentist Appointment

[Marcia]

So today i had an appt at 4pm. Got there to get some fillings done. Dentist and I were talking about antibiotics and my heart murmur. So i said it's been about 6-7yrs I had a echocardiogram he said oh, i thought you told me it was 2 years. He said i was going with what you said so it thought it was a recent check up. I said no it's been 6-7 years. He said you know i am going to give you a prescription for Amoxicillin take 4 tablets (500mg) an hour before you get here. He said i'd suggest you get your heart checked again, and if they give you the ok, then i will see you; but if your murmur has progressed, you will have to take the antibiotics. I said "you can't even do 1?" he said no. So now i'm depressed and confused. So i will called the Cardiologist and set up an appt. and pray that it's an innocent murmur so i do not have to take antibiotics. He has done extractions and root canal on me before, i do not see why he can't go ahead and do the rest. I guess i scared him with the misunderstanding of 2 years to 7 years. I am so bewildered. Maybe i will just tell him i took the pills (and not do so). Well will just have to go get my heart checked, i should anyways. I just do not want to wait for another tooth infection. I wanted to take care of things before it was too late. Maybe i will look for a different dentist who is willing to be more open to it. I do not blame dentist, he was just protecting his job i guess.

[Bobbie]

Marcia,
Don't know much about heart problems so can't give advice except don't take amox. until you are checked out by a cardiologist. Don't you have an appointment with one soon? Also, ask if you can sub. penVk for amox. -- more narrow spectum. Again, I don't know much about this so seek medical advice. Ask dentist if penVK would be as effective as amox.

I know you are are concerned you have inherited your mother's heart problems. How about your siblings? Do they have similar problems? One of my friend's mother died of heart problems before she was 50 - know that sounds ancient to you now, but, trust me, some day it will sound young. My friend is in her late 60's -- going strong -- doing everything wrong. She is overweight (by about 50 lbs.), can take antibiotics, never exercises, is diabetic. Sometimes I think worry can kill you faster than anything else.

See a cardiologist. It is one field (and there aren't many) where docs. know "a lot of stuff." Mostly, because men usually suffer from heart priblems so there were many studies (and thus meds.) based on men's problems.

[Marcia]

See the thing is, this big nightmare started with an abcess tooth. So when i go to dentist it brings me bad memories.
I was going to see a Cardiologist and a GI and a Women's practicioner (pap smear) but since we do not have a lot of money, i was going to prioritize. So i had the GI set up sometime this month. Thinking my dentist was ok with me not taking antibiotics for each visit. I guess i was wrong. I have a lot of cavities and the thing i wanted to do is, keep my mouth in top shape before any infections started to bother me again.
So i called Cardio office and they want a "doctor's referral" isn't a heart murmur enough? Nooooo they need a doctors referral. Ok so i called dentist and the receptionist told me "ok, i will ask doc if it's ok that we refer you to the cardio, we can fax something"
It was almost 5pm hopefully he gave her the ok and tomorrow i will hear something from them. So i still need to see this.
I am so scared that i told husband i need my teeth worked on soon so i would just take the pills and be sick (c diff) for few months again. Instead of waiting for a bad infection where i would have to take clyndamicin.
He said just wait to go to the cardio. If he says its not a bad murmur then we will take care of teeth. But what if it's not a simple murmur?
I mean, labor and c diff stress who knows what's the stress my heart's been through since i got it checked. It's gotta be weaker now.
I wish i had a particular doctor who really knows about c diff, that would talk to dentist and come up with a plan.
Why does it have to be so difficult to get out of this rut. I mean i get out of one to get into another one. Sorry guys but i am soooo confused. It's not even funny.

[Christina]

Marcia,

When I went to Boston last time and we thought that I had strep(My sore throat is back again.I'm off to PCP today.)Dr.Kelly told me that no matter what I can never take Amox. or Omnicef ever again.Not now or not when someday I get rid of this c-diff mess.They are huge offenders of c-diff.Please make sure you need to take something and then ask your Dr. about other options.Like Bobbi said he did tell me that Pen. was Ok if I did have strep because it is a very low offender.Please,please be careful.I don't want you to end up with this again.

[Bobbie]

Marcia,
It's called "passing the buck" or "I don't want the responsiblity." So many of us on this site have gone through it.

I've had a lot of dental problems that were caused by grinding my teeth from stress after I had C. diff. Eventually, two teeth broke, I developed an absess, had a root canal that drove the infection in to the bone, an oral surgeon botched pulling the wrong tooth, and I wound up on IV Vanco. with osteomyletis for six to eight weeks and then bridges and braces. It was a nightmare. Before this, I had beautiful teeth -- one cavity in my entire long life. This is unusual, however, and I have lousy luck.

Last week several teeth started to hurt. Becuase it wasn't consistent, I waited to call the dentist until yesterday morning. The receptionist (a B . . . ) said, "Oh, we are so busy this week. I'll call you back."She never did. I didn't have any problems yesterday or today but if I do again, I am calling and they WILL get me in ASAP.

Keep your mouth extremely clean. Brush & floss after every meal and use a water pik at night. (I eat out a lot and have a little "kit" with dental floss, toothpaste, cotton swabs, mouthwash, etc. and use it i the restaurant restroom -- after washing my hands, of course). There is an antibiotic mouth wash called Peridex. It's a script so ask your dentist. It will darken your teeth, but the discoloration can be removed

I think I'd get into cardio. first and then go from there. One step at a time, and this seems to be your biggest concern. Then you can go on to dentist, GI, etc. I had three docs. (Gyno, PCP, and eye doc.) plus dentist before C. diff. Now I have a "bouquet" of docs. I'd like to pluck a few.

[Marcia]

Girls thanks for your support. It means so much, i feel like i am running of time and choices. I decided to call hospital who saw me for an emergency tooth infection back in april of last year. I forgot what the name of doctor was. So i called and they transfer me to records office. So i asked the lady that i needed to see the emergency doc that saw me that night. She told me and told me i could pick up a copy of what went on the visit. She told me his name and that he won't be back til 16th.
I am planning to get in contact with him and telling him what his prescription of Clindamycin did to me. I will tell him that i need to see dentist but dentist wants me to get murmur checked. If he can work or think of something to talk to my dentist maybe and let him know how serious c diff is, and hopefully he does know (emergency doc) about c diff, which he never mentioned any side effects from clinda.
Well today i will get cardio appt confirmed. Dentist, Cardio, GI, and it goes on and on.
I almost felt confident with my dentist but yesterday i felt like his attitude was like "i ain't dealing with this one" maybe it was too much risk for him. If i do not take antibotics = possible endocarditis. If take antibiotics = c diff. What a predicament. Gonna go work now, hopefully i can pull out a smile.

[Bobbie]

Marcia,
Not an unusual reaction. Many of us have experienced this. "C. diff.? I don't want any part of this. Once when I was tapering Vanco. and sick, I called the GI on call (before I found Dr. Allen). He said, "You have recurrent C. diff.? Well, I can't help you" and hung up on me. Oh, thank you, noble Healer.

There are good docs. and dentists who want (and aren't afraid) to help, but sometimes it takes awhile to find them.

[Marcia]

Well after work i decided to go to the hospital to get my copies from last years emergency tooth infection. I read it over and he prescribed 300mg Clindamycin 4 times per day for 10 days. I do not know about this but it does sound like a lot. Although i read that i was pretty miserable, not able to eat well and just in pain. It says i had a prescription of Pen VK 500mg 4x a day for 2 days. Now thinking back, i should of stuck with the Penicillin. Anyways too late. So i went into the emergency room to look for the doctor. Eventhough the lady on the phone had told me he would not be back til the 16th, i wanted someone to tell me how, when or if it was possible to have a little talk with him.
The lady at the reception "he is not here" when he will be? "i can't tell you that, what do you want?"
So i told her about last year blah blah blah. She said "well there is nothing he can do about that, you just need to find yourself a physician and discuss things with him and your dentist. This doctor is an emergency doctor so you need to find somebody else. I thought to myself - this lady sees emergency folks every day- poor people, she was so cold and just blew me off. Just what i need now, but i guess she was right.
Another lady who gave me direcctions how to get to the office saw me "did you find what you need?" i saw yeah she said "what's wrong?" "is she having a bad day?" i said i guess.
So she said come in, and i told her what was happening. She seemed very understanding, and told me get a private physician to refer you to a cardio as soon as he can. Then go from there. I know what you went through is not easy and so and so. I walked out of there knowing someone cared or at least pretended to. Was it so hard for the other lady to do the same?
Anyways now i know how much Clinda i took, i wasn't sure. Sorry to bore you with my yadda yadda yadda. :)

[millie]

Marcia--I'm glad you finally happened on someone who would at least listen to your predicament. I completely understand your feelings, it seems like when we get one thing settled down, we don't get much time to "celebrate" before we are on to the next thing. My retired dentist called me the other day--he has Crohns too, and finally had to have some radical surgery to control it--so he really understands what goes on in the "system". He said he had once had a patient where he tried some things for an infection, and was looking at clindamycin as the next step. He sent her to an "expert" because he thought maybe something could be done to spare her the clinda. But of course, the "expert" gave her clindamycin, and she got Cdiff. While he was still working, he knew my whole medical history and didn't insist that I take antibiotics (I have a cardiac stent and a bunch of stainless steel in my spine). The young dentist who took over the practice, however, is not at all comfortable, even though my doctor told him--no antibiotics. The next time I see him, I am going to give him a copy of that recent article co-authored by Dr. McDonald (New Challenges from an Established Pathogen); it's really comprehensive and could be a good education tool.

I am in the middle of something now, a problem with my blood that may or may not be connected to the drug I am taking for Crohns. What is really troubling is that I am the one who caught it, even though I've had lab every other month as scheduled. We have to know alot just to manage; whenever I have any lab or other procedure done, I always get a copy of the results, and in this case, it's a good thing I did.

Good thoughts to you. I hope you can get some answers, and that your heart problems haven't progressed.