FUB, by now you’ve had your appointment. I just wanted to say that you should NOT have to take attitude off your dentist for your habits. Yes, it his job to encourage you to do a good job cleaning your teeth and gums. But he shouldn’t make you feel ashamed or guilty. Tell him you appreciate the point he is making, but you’d prefer he not nag you. Find a new dentist if he can’t be nice about it.
This is a not button for me because I had dental phobia for decades and one of the last sticking points I couldn’t get over was that I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting trapped in that chair while some dentist made me feel stupid. When tooth pain made me overcome my fear (I was desperate with the agony), the dentist I found didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at my shitty teeth, bad habits, and neglect of my mouth. Maybe he was just dreaming of the yacht he was gonna buy after completing my treatment, but I am forever grateful that he didn’t berate me. I love him for that.
Cranky (now free of tooth problems and a regular dental patient, though much poorer)
The problem is that it’s the family dentist, so I doubt my mother would like to take me somewhere else. I will kiss his feet if he makes me feel better, though.
The Motrin has stopped working. I tried Ambesol and that didn’t really work, either. I have to wait for the dentist to call my mother on Monday, have my mother make an orthodontist appointment (long story), have my mother make a decision after the ortho appt, have my mother make an oral surgeon appt and possibly another dentist appt, and go to those. Who knows how long this will take? I can’t stand it for another second, even, let alone two weeks.
All I want for my birthday is for this goddamn pain to subside. Somebody get me a teething ring.
Oy, FUB, I do feel your pain. Just got done with some of my own. Ended up with a crown. I need a root canal too, but I’m not going to be able to get one until probably January, because I’ve burned up my dental benefits for the year.
Oh, that was some agonizing pain prior to getting the crown. Ow, ow, ow. Kept me awake at night. Brought tears to my eyes. I have a high tolerance when it comes to pain–giving birth to three children without benefit of pain medication will do that to you. But that toothache–Good Goddess, it made me want to just cut off my own head.
If the Motrin isn’t working, it’s probably a safe bet that you’ve got an infection of some sort. Could be an abcess or something like that.
Okay. It’s time to tag-team the painkillers. This is what you do with kids with high fevers or when you come home from surgery.
Painkillers work better if the pain doesn’t get a chance to take hold. To that end, you can double up, safely, on Acetomenophen and Ibuprofin (I mean you can take them both at the same time). Take one dose of Acetemenophen, and then when it’s half-way through its supposed dose-life, take the Ibuprofin. Keep this up so there is always something in your system, and that you’re never at the end-time of both doses at the same time. Most of the time, you’ll have both working for you!
I believe I also read that ketoprofin is especially good for tooth pain (that’s a different painkiller). Maybe try that instead?
I am not a doctor, fer chrissakes, let me make that caveat perfectly clear. But to the best of my knowledge this is pretty standard info/advice. The first time someone told me to do this with my feverish baby I about had a heart attack. But it’s actually kosher. If you’re in this much pain, frankly, the dentist ought to be able to give you this much advice (officially) and perhaps even call in a scrip for something to tide you over.
…because her post wasn’t there when I put in my .02, I swear.
Her post about doubling-up on the painkillers is excellent advice.
I had the same heart-attack reaction when my daughter’s pediatrician told me I could do that (like with Cranky’s child, for a high fever). But doggone it, it worked. Like a freakin’ charm. Give it a shot.
I’ve had my fair share or cavities and one root canal + crown (due to sheer stupidity). I’ve found that consistent flossing was the missing ingredient (for me) in helping to reduce or eliminate cavities. I keep the floss in the shower and floss in the morning after brushing. It’s amazing how much gunk there is between your teeth that brushing doesn’t get to and all that junk is food for the bacteria that eat it and poop, and that acidic poop is what tears your teeth up.
If you have pain like you are describing, it probably is an infection. I won’t gross you out with all the gory details of my own mouth infection, but suffice to say, it was the most extreme never-ending pain I ever felt. Do not wait 2 weeks to see a dentist. Find a dentist that can see you right now. It’s an emergency. Trust me on this. You do not want to be told by the dentist, “Wow, could you smell it when we drained the pus out of your jaw? Probably not.” “My jaw?” “Yeah, the infection was eating away your jaw bone. That’s why your face was swollen.”
Thanks for the advice, all. It’s much appreciated.
It turns out I will need to see an oral surgeon, orthodontist, and dentist. I don’t know how easily I can schedule these, but I’ll try. I’m going to ask for a prescription for Tylenol 3 so I can at least sleep at night.
Or have friends who do? Tylenol 3 is sold over the counter in Canada. I’m sure nobody wants you to be bringing it back, but I know LOTS of people who do, just so they can have them on hand and not have to have a 75 buck doc visit and 50 buck scrip whenever they need a tylenol. If you have a friend who lives, for instance, in Detroit and regularly crosses back and forth, they could get you a bottle and UPS it to you. Plus it’s way cheap.
Okay, I got the prescription for Tylenol 3 and also one for penicillin (to reduce the infection). The Tylenol 3 does not work at all. My mother has been singing its praises for many years now, but it neither reduced my pain nor put me to sleep. Thankfully, the penicillin works, but it’s in this huge capsule. I have trouble swallowing pills to begin with, and now that I have this huge abcess on my hard palate, I have to put the powder in ice cream (I hate ice cream). The dentists are taking action on Friday (hopefully the infection will be gone by then), so I have to wait until then for relief. I don’t know how much longer I can wait. Nights are still sleepless…
At least my mother is being wonderful about this; she has offered to take off any day of work that she needs to and bought me cold drinks from Burger King and a lamb who plays Brahm’s Lullaby when you wind up her back. Also, she is always willing to listen to me complain and very sympathetic. I thank her very much for being a saint.
Because of this pain, I will probably not be able to attend a Halloween party which I was looking forward to. I also am missing the end of the quarter in school, so I don’t have all of the assignments turned in and my grades will suffer because of that (hopefully not, though; I’ve e-mailed all my teachers). Also, I do not want to be in pain on my birthday (Monday - buy presents!).
Dammit, I hate this. I’ll brush seven times a day as soon as this is over. I never want to go through anything like this again.
