Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/1vqkmal/tifu_by_ignoring_a_toothache_until_half_my_face/

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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Desperate_Sign_5587 on 2026-08-17 06:40:12+00:00.

This happened earlier today and I'm currently sitting on my couch with an ice pack strapped to my jaw like a helmet.

A few weeks ago I felt a slight dull ache in one of my back molars. Instead of booking a dentist appointment like a functional adult, I decided to ignore it and treat the pain with ibuprofen and pure delusion. Whenever it flared up, I just told myself it was sinus pressure.

Fast forward to last night. The pain suddenly morphed from a minor annoyance into a throbbing nightmare. It felt like someone was using a jackhammer on my jawbone. I barely slept two hours and woke up this morning looking in the mirror only to realize my left cheek had completely ballooned.

I called every emergency dentist in a ten mile radius until someone finally squeezed me in. By the time I sat in the chair, I was practically crying. The dentist took one look at my x-ray, raised his eyebrows, and told me I had a massive abscess that was dangerously close to spreading further.

He had to drain it and perform an emergency root canal on the spot. The local anesthesia barely touched the pain because of the sheer amount of inflammation. I spent 45 minutes gripping the chair arms so hard my knuckles turned white while listening to the drill do its thing.

Now the numbness is wearing off, my wallet is empty, and I'm paying the price for my own stupidity.

TLDR I ignored a toothache for weeks, ended up with a massive jaw infection, and had to pay a fortune for an emergency root canal.