Is There a Dentist in the House?

55 thoughts on Is There a Dentist in the House?

1. Icepacks, icepacks, icepacks. The only thing that did anything when I had all four of my wisdom teeth cut out at once. I couldn’t take the Vicadin the doc gave me so, motrin (or excedrin) and icepacks were all I had. Couldn’t open my mouth full for three weeks though. Hope your experience isn’t as bad as mine was. Good Luck!

2. Sounds like you may have developed a condition called ‘dry socket’. Go back to your dentist.

3. Jill, Although I am certainly neither dentist nor oral surgeon, I can attest to the stomach-wrenching pain that, in a twisted bit of irony, accompanies the post-op painkillers. I suspect that some of my own agony after having the wisdom teeth removed also had something to do with the anesthesia, and the only thing that really made me feel better was sleep. Lots. of. it. (I realize that this might not be an option for you). You are not alone– it was a good three or four days before I was really beginning to feel normal again. That said, however, if you truly feel miserable you might call a doctor or dentist just to be safe.

4. I had a similar situation to you when I got my teeth out this summer. It was horrible and the pain lasted for almost 2 weeks. I had to stop using the pain killers after 3 days and went onto advil and some tylenol 3 that a friend gave me. If you had a lot of teeth removed you should still be in pain. This is also true if you waited a long tine to get them out and they had already started to show which is what happened to me. Just when it seems like the pain will never go away, it will and you’ll forget it happened. That said stick to the ice packs!

5. I was lucky with mine; I was fine within a day or so (they were half-exposed so it was more like a regular tooth extraction). But if you’ve got a cold, your sinuses are probably really swollen, which is making your gums and teeth very sore. That said, maybe the swollen sinuses are related to the teeth problem, so I’d go to the dentist just to be sure they’re not related. Oh, a favorite OTC painkiller is Aleve, but take it after you’ve put something (even soft food) in your stomach.

6. I had mine out last summer, and the best advice anyone gave me was ice packs. I literally left the doctor’s office and had ice packs on both sides of my face for the next 30 hours, whether I was sleeping, watching tv, going out for dinner…

   I credit that (and my oral surgeon, of course) with the fact that I ate a hot meal out at a restaurant eight hours after the surgery, and that my mouth was completely healed within two days despite the fact that they were impacted and were being removed several years late.

7. My boyfriend has had really more than his share of dental work involving big holes in his head (he’s missing a tooth, and the process of getting it replaced involves much drilling, then waiting, then doing other painful things, then waiting…and it failed the first time, so it had to be done again, which also failed so all of that for nothing…anyway) and what his doctor prescribed him was 800 mg ibuprofen. Which worked well for him, and the 600 worked wonders for me when I had toncilitis to allow me to actually swallow things and not starve. The ones you buy over the counter are 200 mg, I think, and though its not usually okay to take more than the recommended dose its actually the same thing to take 4 OTC 200 mg as it is to take 1 prescription 800. Worked very well in my experience (my sister even took it after her C-Section, albiet with Vicodin), and at least for me Ibuprofen has no weird headachy or sleepy or nauseous effects.

   Oh, and for the cold, since I am constant-cold-girl I feel qualified to comment on that too, I highly recommend Robutussin CF (or generic drugstore equivalent). Works wonders as far as removing snuffling symptoms and the CF has an expectorant in it, which is good because cough suppressants are sometimes bad as far as postponing the inevitable coughing-up of phelgm…it does give me kind of a weird floaty headache though. Better than the congestion at least. I think its okay to take with ibuprofen, but you should probably call your doctor first.

8. I’m sorry you’re hurting. In all likelihood you’re just fine, but I think you should call your doctor’s office and talk to the nurse there. From what I understand (I’m not a doctor, but I’m not a stranger to surgery) prolonged pain can indicate that something is holding up your the healing process. Nurses are a wealth of information, whoever you talk to will be able to recommend some alternate pain management techniques. Also, it’s good to keep your doctor up to date with what’s happening in your recovery. (And an added plus–it might put your mind at ease. Worrying makes it even harder to heal!)

   Good luck!

9. Ask for the hospital-stength tylonel. The stuff is so strong they let you double up on painkillers before this. It wont take the pain away but it will provide a lot of relief.
   Speaking as someone who has had multiple horrible dental procedures.

10. Wow, and I thought I had it bad! I am definitely prone to nausea, and I think that they knocked me out a bit harder than they had too (I asked for general anaesthia, and I’m not sure they took my low weight into account as much as they should have–I think they gave me too much). So I, too, could hardly lift my head for a few days. That said, by six days I think I was mostly fine, even if it was still gross to be rinsing my gums ‘n’ stuff. And the whole thing made my breath really weird and sour.

11. Jill: After I had my wisdom teeth out, I also ran out of painkillers before the pain was gone. I had developed dry sockets, which wasn’t accompanied by a sinus headache or congestion, but then again I put a stop to it quick. I’d suggest going to see a dentist; if you have dry sockets, they can basically jam a wad of protective gunk in them that will help to form gum tissue, and will keep the nerves deep in your jaw from being exposed. And they will give you more drugs.

    That was one of the more interesting pains I’ve had in my life: like a constant singing bone-pain, under my ear and through my jaw and eventually up the side of my head. I actually sang myself to sleep one night just to break that certain kind of concentration pain can cause. The bf really loved that. Either way, I’d say go to see someone because you could just have a cold, or the sinus headaches could be related to a larger infection.
    Take care, lady.

12. I’ve never had my wisdom teeth out, but I had a root canal once that hurt like a motherfucker because the tooth was way more infected than they realized.

    I’d definitely go see a doctor/dentist/oral surgeon, just to determine whether you’re experiencing normal pain or if this is something like an infection or dry sockets that needs to be taken care of.

13. From my experience, six days and still in pain isn’t that out of the ordinary. That said, if you’re still in pretty intense pain, there is a chance that you have ‘dry socket’, which is something that happened to me after one of my wisdom teeth was extracted–as the gums heal, they don’t do so quite right, a little ‘pocket’ of air get trapped right next to the bone of yer jaw,, almost certainly with some bacteria in it, and it gets infected. So if you’re feeling no better than you did before (or worse), it’s probably worth it to risk being thought crazy by an oral surgeon to check it out, because dry sockets are more painful, in the end, than having your teeth pulled. In my opinion.

    More fun with dry sockets on Wikipedia.

    (On the painkiller front, I, too, loved the hospital-strength tylenol, though it’s coming out now that high doses of tylenol are not so good for one’s liver.)

14. When I had my wisdom teeth out, I was incapacitated for two weeks. One week with the teeth (all four of my teeth were impacted and the vicodin made me crazy so I couldn’t take it) and one week with an infection in one of the sites. It’s my understanding that as long as your pain is decreasing every day and you aren’t still massivley swollen (I suspected an infection when my swelling went away then came back a couple of days later), it’s normal to still have some pain 6 days later especially if you have sinus pressure. My husband actually just had his out on December 30, and he still has jaw pain but is mostly back on solid food.

    You know, every one I know has been told that they’d be totally fine, back to normal, within two days of having their wisdom teeth out and nobody I know has actually had that experience.

15. Go back to the dentist. Have them make sure you don’t have ‘dry socket’. ‘Dry socket’ is when the blood clot in the hole comes out and thus exposes the bone. My dentist uses an artificial bone to fill the socket and thus virtually eliminates the ‘dry socket’ problem. You also might have some debris that is caught and causing the irritation.

    Go back to your dentist.

    ~

16. Actually, I think I was pretty much fine within three days (if not two) – eating most real food and everything. I’ve always been lucky to be a good healer and whatnot, but my experience was nowhere near as bad as what you’re describing. (So I guess I’d join the folks who say you should feel free to call up the nurse or something.)

17. Oh, and also: make sure you’re eating, even if you don’t want to, and drinking a lot of water (I go with gatorade because I don’t follow my own advice about the eating, so I figure it puts something back in me at least). When I had toncilitus I ended up in the emergency room dehydrated because I didn’t want to put anything down my swollen throat, and the major symptom was extreme dizziness and nausea when I stood up. Just a thought.

18. Unless you have a sweet dental plan, don’t (yet) go to the dentist.

    My jaw hurt like a mother for a good 10 days after I had mine out, and the pain killers made me useless. Two questions: how much are you eating, and is the pain getting better or worse?

    As hard as it is, keep eating. The only thing I could eat for the first month of first year university (I had all four teeth out three days before I moved into res) was the veggie chili. You need all the nourishment you can get right now.

    And unless the pain is getting _worse_, you probably don’t have dry socket. I’m no more of a professional than anyone else here, so take that with as much salt as you want. I’m a bit tough-guy about medical attention. Unless you have a sweet insurance plan, I’d hold off until the pain is clearly getting worse.

    And I agree on the ice packs. Save the pain killers for when you really really need ’em.

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20. Jill – I feel for you. Check what the oralsurgeon actually did! When I had my wisdom teeth removed (all at once and by general anesthetic) they actually had to drill away part of my jaw bone to get the bottom teeth out. I was not told this until I asked why it hurt so much.

    Sometimes just knowing makes it hurt less.

    Sleep helped greatly.

21. I concur with the pro-ibuprofen group.

    Also, Advil can mess up your stomach, especially if you have a sensitive stomach to begin with.

22. My wife had “dry socket” and it fits your description pretty well. I’d at least call the dentist/nurse and ask some questions.

    I’ll second/third/whatever the cold bit. Anything cold definitely keeps the swelling down and reduces pain. Rather than ice, though, go for milkshakes. They do the same thing as ice and absolutely taste better!

    That was my deal when I had all four wisdom teeth pulled. I had stitches, some damn deep holes in my gums and a LOT of pain. I couldn’t even open my mouth for two days because of the pain. But milkshakes did the trick!

    Good luck!

23. I agree that you should at the very least call the dentist, just to see what they think.

    Something that helped when I had my wisdom teeth out was black tea bags. You dip them in boiling water as if to make tea to wet them and sterilize them, then let cool (drinking cold plain black tea’s good too) or put in the fridge, then sort of gently gum them with the sore spots. There’s something about the combination of cold, wet, and tannic acid that feels really good.

    Sympathies!

24. Go ahead and give your dentist a call. Chances are very good that your pain is normal (anecdote follows), but dry socket is suctorial enough to warrant the extra caution.

    I had three wisdom teeth extracted this last summer, and found that pain associated with two of the extractions went away quickly (around 3 days), but the pain associated with the third one lasted for about three weeks. I went ahead and called the dentist about 10 days after the extractions, to ask about the pain. They had me drop by for a 10-second check for dry socket (negative), and told me then that that 3rd extraction required them to break a chunk of jaw out because the roots of that tooth were curved like a claw. I’d had Halcyon about 2 hours before the extractions, so although I was awake, I remembered nothing. A mixed blessing, that, and I don’t know if I’d do it that way again.

25. Were the painkillers helping when you were taking them – that is, was the pain getting less or at least not getting worse? I ask because dry socket generally happens in the first day or two after extraction, so it’s less likely to be that if the painkillers were controlling the pain and it wasn’t getting worse. Infection’s possible. Have you taken a look at your mouth in a mirror? If it looks unusually red and swollen you might want to at least call the dentist.
    Dry socket can be miserable. My mother had it when she had her first two wisdom teeth out, finally got dragged back to the dentist by her friends and fainted, no joke, when the socket was probed. I had two when I had mine out. They had me on oxycodone, and it didn’t come close to holding the pain – I was literally sitting around in a chair waiting for my next dose, until my mother dragged me back to have the socket packed. What was, in the long run, more irritating was the dangling suture end the oral surgeon left, which was there for weeks. I actually tried to get scissors in there to cut the damn thing off.

26. concur with the pro-ibuprofen group.

    Also, Advil can mess up your stomach, especially if you have a sensitive stomach to begin with.

    just to clarify: advil = motrin = ibuprofen. different brand names, same painkiller. they can mess up your stomach, but it is less likely when you have some food in you.

    also, be very careful which cold meds you take. make sure they do not have tylenol (aka acetaminophen) in them if you are taking other pain meds. if you have any questions about what goes with what, ask the pharmacist (or, if you’re stuck at home, give one a call; it’s their job, they’ll be happy to answer your questions).

27. Go to the doctor and don’t feel silly. No need for machisma: if he or she didn’t give you an idea of when you ought to be feeling better, and how much better, than you have incomplete info. Even though we at Fan Feministe are cheering for you, none of us are your doctor!

28. Call the oral surgeon’s office and tell them what’s up – or if the office is really savvy, you might be able to send an e-mail directly to the surgeon. Check the office’s website, if they have one.

    The upshot is, if you can ask the people who know what happened to you, why not do it? 😀

    Heh. I remember coming out of the general anesthaesia (from having one wisdom tooth cut out of the side of my jaw) standing, with two nurses and his S.O. Screaming at me. My neck was stiiff, and I was about to “pop” it (the twisty side to side motion) – with his neck muscles still loose from the drugs. While unlikely that it would be *this* bad, I’m sure the people there had images of those scenes in bad martial arts movies where Yakuza Dude breaks his own neck rather than talk to the police.

29. You can send me any leftover Vicodin.

30. I vote see your oral surgeon, unless it’s expensive. I had 2 out and was fine after 24 hours.

31. When the doc told you not to smoke, he meant bong hits too, silly! Sounds like dry socket to me.

32. First, icepacks were a necessity when I got mine out (all at the same time).

    Second, go back to the oral surgeon. That’s why he’s there. I developed one of those nasty dry sockets, and so it took me more than two weeks before the pain began to subside, and I usually have a fairly high pain tolerance. Those infections can be unbelievably painful!

33. I agree with everyone who’s been saying go to the dentist. First, to make sure that there’s no infection or other problem. Then get him or her to give you some nice narcotic pain killers to take at night and save the stomach killing non-steroidals (ibuprofen, etc) for the day. Take a stool softener along with the narcotics if you possibly can. Also beware of tylenol: too much (more than 3-4 grams a day) can destroy your liver. And if you see blood in your stool or black, very smelly diarrhea or start vomiting call 911. Those are signs of bleeding in the stomach which can be deadly very quickly. Sorry to be so apocalyptic sounding–you’re probably fine, in fact–but people who refuse to get help after six days of pain scare me. If six days of pain doesn’t make you go to the doctor, what does?

34. The highest allowable doses of ibuprofen helped me get through all of my tooth extractions pretty much pain-free. But I was usually able to eat solid food within forty-eight hours, and the serious pain was always gone within four days or so, at the outside.

    Do you usually have a high tolerance for pain? If you normally shrug stuff off, and this level of discomfort seems unusual for you, I’d say go see someone. It could well be that something is wrong.

35. Oops, read “oral surgeon” (preferably the one who did the surgery, a partner in the same practice if he or she is not available) for “dentist” in my above post. Sorry about the brain burp.

36. Why are you asking your blog readers instead of calling your dentist? Go to the guy with the degree, especially for painkiller advice. So far nobody here has mentioned the important detail that when you double up the dose, you halve the frequency.

37. Jill, go back to the dentist. I echo everyone who mentions dry socket — that’s what I developed, and what you describe sounds very much like that. Go see about it.

38. My upper teeth healed in 2-3 days, but my lower ones had been growing sideways, into the bone – they did the jaw-cracking thing. A week later I was only starting to wean myself off the Vicodin, it was two weeks before I was able to eat normally again. IIRC I went from Vicodin to Aleve (naproxen), which worked fine. I second the recommendation to consult a pharmacist about OTC painkillers and cold medicines, especially if you’re still on prescription painkillers at night.

    If the pain is getting better, not worse, it’s probably not a dry socket. But it’s still a good idea to call the surgeon. They should be able to tell you via phone if you need an actual visit or not.

39. Your oral surgeon should not charge you for a recheck on the long lasting pain (my daughter’s not only didn’t, he came after hours and examined her in a parking lot at 10:30 pm when she developed a fever — turned out fine BTW).

    If you are feverish at all (have you taken your temp?) then you must call right away.

    Please, only take OTC pain relievers as it states on the bottle unless your doc tells you differently. I know too many people who’ve had liver damage due to overuse of pain relievers. I believe aspirin is the only one that’s excreted by the kidneys instead of the liver (but it’s much harder on your stomach).

40. It’s not as bad as it was four days ago, but it definitely still hurts a lot, and I’m still relegated to soft foods.

    Ok, what Jill has told us is that it still hurts after a week. While pain is a symptom of dry socket, usually it’s an _increase_ in pain, rather than a frustratingly slow decrease. This is totally consistent with getting wisdom teeth out. Especially if it was all four, and _especially_ if there was drilling involved. Especially for someone with a run-down immune system.

    I know everyone’s looking out for Jill, and rightly so, but at this point there’s no reason to beleive she has dry socket or that she needs to go into the dentist. Calling them is a good idea. This is consistent with what I went through when I got them out. This isn’t abnormal for getting wisdom teeth out (especailly all four, blah blah). If there’s a chance that it’s dry socket, the doctor will pick up on it when you call.

    Dry socket is a terrifying-sounding condition, though, and I fully remember being near-terrified of it.

41. Ibuprofen/advil/motrin/Walprofen etc. will work but you MUST take it with food. If it’s liquids only at this point, make sure it’s heavy – maybe a shake or a smoothie?

42. 1. Listen to NO ONE here who is not a licensed health care professional.

    2. Including me.

    3. Except, I’m right about item 1.

    4. Call the oral surgeon. Someone above said they doubted he’d charge you and I think that’s likely right; but even if he does, it’ll be money well spent.

    5. Would you consult nonlawyers about a legal issue of great concern to you? See item 1.

43. I’m a veteran of numerous dental surgeries, so here is what I have experienced:

    * The pain can last for a couple of weeks. If you have any questions, call your dentist.

    * You have to take the painkillers with food or else you will be barfing all over the place.

    * I usually did not take the painkillers (vicodin) for more than a couple of days. When Tylenol or another over-the-counter drug worked, I used it.

    * It hurts. ANd our bodies are different. Don’t be ashamed of yourself. You are you.

44. Use the little plastic syringe that your surgeon should have given you to clean out the wounds. You might have little pieces of food stuck in them that is causing the pain. Put the pointed end right by the wound and sray the water directly on it to force any food out. Also, a great thing I found was putting Cloroseptic throat spray in the syringe and applying it directly to the cut. It numbs it wonderfully! My pain didn’t go away for about a week and a half, I wouldn’t worry about it – its probubly food stuck.

45. If you haven’t already, sign up for NYU’s Stu-Dent insurance RIGHT AWAY. For about $150 (for the year, I don’t know for just one semester), you get unlimited dental health coverage, including surgery, follow-up, etc.

    When I had my wisdom tooth removed, I was pretty much pain-free and able to carefully munch on thin-crust pizza by day 5 or 6.

    Good luck! Feel better.

46. Ah, the joys of having an endodontist for a father and a general dentist for a mother. They picked me up one night after swim team practice and told me “We’re taking out your wisdom teeth.” Dad did the operation, and Mom assisted. He did a very good job, they healed quickly. But they wouldn’t give me any painkillers afterward. I was pretty dissapointed, I was hoping to meet up with Rush Limbaugh’s maid in a denny’s parking lot in Boca and trade them for a cigar box full of cash.

    How long it takes to heal depends on a lot of different things: how fast your body heals, how well the surgeon tied the sutures, how badly impacted the teeth were, how wet your mouth is, how careful you’re been in keeping food and drink away from the sutures, how healthy you are, etc.

    Also, the location matters a lot. The tops are easy, not as much pain, and heal faster. The bottoms are nothing but trouble. All four, even worse.

    The two things you have to worry about were already mentioned. Infection is the more common one. Even with the antibiotics they give you it is still easy for the area to get infected. A person’s mouth is a dirty place, it’s wet and there is plenty of oxygen for the bacteria to thrive on. In fact a cut in your mouth is more likely to get infected than an anal fissure.

    So really, nothing crazy and freaky happening to you so far. Your gums aren’t turning black and your teeth aren’t falling out. If it is worrying you give her office a call. She’ll ask you a few questions and give you some piece of mind. Who knows you might get some cool new antibiotics.

47. Haven’t read through everything so I may be repeating, but here’s my experience.

    I had a lot of pain about a week after my operation, but that was because the gaping holes closed over something and caused an infection. I had to go have the abcess (which I thought was something that only happened in Victorian times) sucked out, which hurt like hell, but it was better after. So, yeah, you might want to get checked out. Especially any of the holes in your mouth have closed over.

48. Jill– I was in pain for two weeks and whined like a baby the entire time to make sure everyone knew. I didn’t have dry sockets or any other complications, that’s just how my body responded. I was eating pudding and milkshakes (not that I complained about that) for almost three weeks while a friend of mine was eating tortilla chips six hours after she had her wisdom teeth pulled. Everyone’s body works differently.

    That wasn’t meant to wig you out. If you just stopped taking the vicoden and switched to over-the-counter painkillers, you’re probably adjusting to those now. They’ll help. Advil gell-tabs (the translucent green ones– kind of look like alien eggs) are easiest on your stomach. Always take it with food or a glass of milk to coat your stomach.

    Soothe your sorry gums by swishing and gargling some warm salt water. If it gets worse, call a dentists or oral surgeon and see what they say.

    Hope you feel better soon.

49. I hope by the time you read this you’ve been able to get ahold of someone in your oral surgeon’s office, or some other pertinent health professional. As a number of people have pointed out, none of us are in a position to give you a proper opinion on your particular situation. Please always consult the professional(s) first, then come here and tell us all about it. (After all, we do like to be kept up to speed, and we can sympathize and empathize with the best of them!) You are the best advocate for your own health, and your health is vitally important!

    I really wish you the best and hope that you’re feeling better soon. I had my wisdom teeth out sometime in the early Jurassic Period, so I don’t remember much except the pain and having wads of cotton jammed in my mouth…

50. Salt water. My doc gave me a wierd syringe thing to use after 3-4 days to flush food particles out of the sockets using a plain (warm) saltwater solution. The salt’s supposed to help keep everything cleaned out, and I personally think it helps with the pain/healing. It doesn’t sting or anything, I promise.

51. If you haven’t already, sign up for NYU’s Stu-Dent insurance RIGHT AWAY. For about $150 (for the year, I don’t know for just one semester), you get unlimited dental health coverage, including surgery, follow-up, etc.

    Be careful of that, though, if it involves dental students. I never had problems with the dentist until I got some work done by students, who don’t exactly have the most gentle touch. Plus, they tend to be conservative with the anasthetic AND the professors check their work. After spending literally hours in the chair getting a cavity in one of my wisdom teeth filled, with the drill right in my ear, I started tensing up so much that I later required up to seven shots of Novocaine (oddly enough, the needles never bothered me) unless I got gas.

    I *do* highly recommend gas, if you can get it. I had a dentist in Connecticut who routinely gave gas even for cleanings. He had his office in an old saw mill, so you got to get gassed up and watch the waterwheel. Whee!

52. Funnily enough, when I had my wisdom teeth removed, I never took any pain meds. They gave me Vicodin, but my body doesn’t respond to it, so I never bothered taking any of it. The pain was never particularly bothersome; I was more irritated by the stringent restrictions placed upon my diet immediately following the surgery.

    Jill, my guess is, something is amiss.

53. I’ve never heard of a dentist using gas anymore. I wonder if it’s just more common in the States than Canada. I love all the random exceptions to the “DRUGS ARE BAD, MMKAY?” Church Lady state.

54. It appears that in New York, you may have to be a DMD vs. a DDS in order to give gas. I don’t remember what degree the guy in CT had.

    But man, that stuff worked like a charm. My root canal would have taken hours upon hours each visit without it (I had a filling take over two hours because I had to keep stopping them due to feeling the drill because I was so tense the anasthetic stopped working).

55. Whatever you do, be diligent about keeping track of how much Tylenol/acetaminophen you are taking. It’s really easy to take too much and get into trouble. Here’s some information on that front from my blog on pain link.

    I’ve got some stuff on chronic dental pain disorders on the blog, but I wouldn’t suggest you look at it. Whenever you ascribe a negative meaning to a painful sensation, the pain is much worse. For example.

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