Out for the count!

Alan had another rubbish night’s sleep due to mouth pain and with his lips and face still swollen we decided to try and get him seen at the dentist again today.

As luck would have it his own dentist had a cancellation at 2.30 (there’s a joke there! ) and we found we had a dose of diazepam (he normally gets that before dental appointments) so he had that too. This meant he was relaxed enough to let the dentist actually look in his mouth and when she did she got a shock!

The good news is his teeth and gums are fine, no abscess or cracked teeth, which is a relief , however when she saw the inside of his left cheek she gasped loudly.

He has what she described as a massive ulcer/laceration and says she’s never seen anything like it and that he must be in agony :-(
She talked through various scenarios and thinks he’s either bitten the inside of his cheek really hard at some point (a nightmare as because of his cerebral palsy he has a very strong automatic bite reflex which means he bites down harder when he feels the pain, rather than release his bite) There’s a smaller ulcer/bite on the inside of his right cheek too.

He’s back next week at the hygienist but the dentist doesn’t think she’ll be able to do anything as it will be too sore, but she can check how things are. His own dentist is going on holiday for 2 weeks but wants him back before she returns so she called another dentist through (who will see him) so he can gauge progress when he sees him again soon. He saw the smaller ulcer in Alan’s right cheek first and winced and she said “that’s nothing, wait till you see the other side! “ She says it will take weeks to heal. She’s prescribed a spray and an ointment. They are basically local anaesthetic to reduce the pain but we need to be really careful putting it in his mouth as too much will end up anaesthetising his throat and affecting his swallow! Don’t want saliva going into his lungs creating a whole other raft of problems!

She also mentioned worse case scenario but didn’t elaborate, but I assume she meant mouth cancer. I don’t think it’s that since he’s seen regularly at the dentist with trips to the hygienist in between, so I’m sure one of them would have noticed a change in his mouth. I agree that it’s either a bite or a laceration from the friction of grinding his teeth. Either way he’s getting bloods taken and an ECG at the health centre on Monday so all bases covered. She thinks his swollen and sore bottom lip is also from bites.

He’s had the first dose of the numbing spray (the chemist won’t have the ointment till Friday) and thanks to the diazepam is flaked out in his comfy chair getting his first proper sleep in over a week.

So not a great day but I feel better for knowing he’s been properly examined and he’s got some pain relief at last. Will see what tomorrow brings!

*This shot was taken when he got back from the dentist just before he transferred into his comfy chair. The photo is terrible quality as I didn’t want to wake him so had to zoom on my phone. His bottom lip is so swollen. He is so stoic, he never grumbles. I’d be screaming the place down with that level of pain. He may be 26 but at times like this I just want to gather him on my knee and cuddle him in like I did when he was a child.