dental pain

[pealradd]

my half of my lower wisdom tooth is out,the other half is covered by my gum,i have swollen gums on my left side lower mouth,it hurts,cant brush my teeth properly,due to the tip of the brush bashing against the gum......help this pain is unbearable.

[wilsarnie]

poor you pealradd, have you a dentist you are registered with? I would recommend that you get down there and ask for an emergency appt. They should normally be able to fit you in.

I have had this with my wisdom teeth twice. Once there was a bit of food stuck under the gum which had caused an infection. Antibiotics cleared it in a couple of days.

The second time was because my mouth wasn't big enough for all the new teeth and it was causing an infection in the gum. With antibiotics, the pain had gone by the next day. They took 3 wisdom teeth out just to be safe.

Whatever you do, get to the dentist.

In the meantime, recommended pain relief is 2 ibuprofen every 4 hours, with 2 paracetemol if needed in the alternate 4 hour slots!

Or a piece of string and a door. (Joke)

[sammd]

Yep, get down to your doctor asap. Mine told me that they try to avoid taking out the lower wisdom teeth if at all possible as they lie on a nerve and are much worse than having the top ones out (the top ones can usually be taken out on a local anaesthetic but the bottom ones are usually a general anaesthetic jobby). The chances are your dentist will just give you some antibiotics as this should clear the problem up.

As an alternative to antibiotics my dentist suggested boiling some water, mixing a teaspoon of salt into it then swilling it around in your mouth once it is cool enough to do so. He suggested doing this 4 times a day. This can clear up minor infection problems around wisdom teeth without the need for a prescription. It's worth a try for a few days if you don't want to go to the dentist...

[curiosity]

If it is infected definately the salt water swill eases it. But also Clove oil from the chemist or Boots is handy to apply and gives relief, it's not expensive either.

[FUZZYBEE]

go

[FUZZYBEE]

go to your dentist. ignore all the bad stories about removal. people only tell you bad stories. you may have a small mouth and therefore have no room for the wisdoms to erupt properly it may have become impacted and yes you could be given antibiotics but that will only temporarily solve problem. get a general anaesthetic and get 4 wisdoms out!!!

[JKennair]

Hi Pealradd,

First thing to say is attend a dentist. If you don't have one then phone NHS direct explain the situation and they will be able to help you find a dentist who can see you. I stress this since it is possible to become seriously ill in some cases from infection around an erupting wisdom tooth.

It is also worth noting that your wisdom teeth may indeed erupt fully (come through) with time and that you may only need something short term for pain relief. While you wait for an appointment it would be wise to gargle salt water and take some analgesics paracetamol or ibuprofen being the best (unless you can't for some medical reason).

Your dentist will most likely take an x-ray to assess if there is enough space for your wisdom tooth to come through. If not it may be that it will have to be removed.

I would stress that it is not necessary for a general anaesthetic in most cases, this depends on your ability to co-operate, your medical status, and the anticipated difficulty involved in removing the tooth.

[JKennair]

In response to curiosity's post, don't bother with clove oil, there is NO medical/clinical or even empirical data to suggest any benefit from its use in dental infection or pain. In fact there isn't even a theoretical method of action. People will tell you they have used it and it worked, however the truth is that the infection will be self-limiting (your body will 'combat it') or it will progress and you will need some surgical or chemical intervention (antibiotics and/or remove the tooth).

[helsbels666]

JKennair seems to know his stuff.....................