I know this isn’t an uncommon topic, and I’m sorry to raise it again, but I’m getting near to the end of my wits.
On Saturday night I started to feel an ache and swelling around my partially erupted wisdom tooth. It got worse and my jaw swelled, enough that on Monday I went straight to the dentist who confirmed an infection and prescribed antibiotics. They’re going to remove the tooth once the infection is dealt with. I’m taking Metronidazole 400mg and Cefalexin 500mg, three times a day, ibuprofen and paracetamol as needed, holding a cold pack against it, anointing it with clove oil and curses, etc.
I have three questions.
How long do I have to wait for these damned antibiotics to work and the area to stop making me want to throw up with pain?
Looking into my mouth just now, I found white spots on the inside of my cheek and side of my throat, just around the area of the gum infection. Is it related? Is it normal?!
I have to fly on Saturday. Am I going to die of pain?
Thanks for any advice you can offer. This pain is really getting me down!
I usually get told to use a heating pad with an infection (to help with both circulation and pain) and then a cold pack after a surgery or extraction. You want circulation when taking antibiotics in order to get the drug to the infection.
I’d call the dentist and complain that you are still in considerable pain. I’m allergic to those antibiotics, but I think that they usually work a bit faster than that. And tell the dentist about the white spots.
You probably won’t die of pain. Probably. When I’ve had dental pain, sometimes I wished I could.
Thank you. I’m getting conflicting advice about warmth/cold - I was keeping a warm hot water bottle on it, but was told I was making it worse!!1! and must stop like right now!! Not by the dentist, though.
I think you’re right about calling them. I’ll do it in the morning and see what they say. Thanks also for the reassurance about dying!
If the antibiotics are making you nauseous, call the dentist’s office and ask them to call you in a prescription for an anti-nausea medication. They really help!
Hot water bottles, heating pads, and even warm wet compresses have helped ease my pain considerably over the years. I don’t think that a warm wet compress is appropriate here, except for a tea compress, maybe.
What you do is make tea with a teabag, as opposed to loose tea. Then, you put the used teabag directly on the sore tooth or extraction site. This is supposed to aid in healing.
And all joking aside, people did use to die of dental problems. I hope that this resolves quickly for you.
Metronidazole is NOTORIOUS for causing nausea, and avoid alcohol in all forms while you are taking it. This includes things like cough syrup and mouthwash. If you aren’t taking it with food, you should, and separate it from the cephalexin if you can.
OK, I’ll go back to the warmth. I’ve been using peroxide mouthwash, and haven’t had any nausea beyond the second dose of antibiotics. I’ll try the teabag thing. (Frankly if you’d told me to sacrifice a squirrel and make a compress of its liver, I’d probably try it at this point!) I’ve used it before for bleeding after I had another wisdom tooth extracted - black tea, yes?
Thanks for the advice and sympathy, all of you. That’s what I love about this place. Being ignorant, I rarely get to offer more than the sympathy in return, but I certainly do appreciate it.
Speak to your dentist about your plan to fly. I needed an emergency root canal once, after an enormous infection flared up two days after flying. The dentist told me that when inflammation is present, even at a low level, the air pressure changes associated with flight can kill the nerve.
Even if this does not happen, you may be in a great deal of pain during your flight. Here’s why:
Yes, black tea. I’m not sure that it will help before the extraction, but I don’t think it will hurt, and it’s considerably less messy than sacrificing a squirrel. If you want, though, I can try to catch one of our squirrels and send you its liver. We’ve got plenty of them. Anyway, the worst that could happen is you have to drink another cup of tea.
I really do think (and IANAD) that you need to use a hot water bottle or heating pad until you can contact your dentist. And please mention the white spots…they might be thrush (yeast infection). Yeast organisms grow on and in our bodies, and they are usually kept in check by the beneficial bacteria that also grow on and in our bodies. Antibiotics have a nasty habit of killing the beneficial bacteria along with the ones that are making us sick. The dentist might just diagnose you over the phone, or want to see you in person, but CALL THE DENTIST WHEN HIS/HER OFFICE OPENS, FIRST THING! If you do have thrush, it might be causing you more misery.
Just to update, I went back to the dentist. They irrigated under the gum (ew, also ow) and said the swelling is going down at a normal rate and I shouldn’t worry. They did offer to remove the tooth before I fly, but only if I went private and paid £200 for it. So I said I’d take my chances, since I’d be in pain either way! Also, those white spots? Fordyce spots. Man do I feel silly. Evidently I’ve just never noticed them in there before.