title: Self-treatment using a power drill: a case report.
abstract: The intense pain of dental origin which patients suffer can be underestimated. This can lead them to self-harm or carry out self-treatment, sometimes with only the rudiments of how to achieve pain relief. A case is reported of a patient who attempted to relieve the intense pressure of an abscess arising in a maxillary cyst by using a home power drill. He drilled through the side of the tooth and drained the abscess but, unfortunately, fractured the drill. This was discovered at operation and meant the tooth had to be extracted. The patient had only received antibiotics prior to this for his abscess, with no drainage being undertaken.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This case highlights the inappropriate use of antibiotics when drainage of an abscess is the correct treatment. It demonstrates the extreme measures some patients may take in order to relieve their symptoms by self-treating themselves physically, in addition to self-prescribed medication.
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, University of Manchester, Higher Cambridge Street, Manchester M15 6FH, UK.
authors.forename: Javed
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ikram
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oliver
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010482:Periapical Abscess / Q000601:surgery*; D012648:Self Care / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation