Tooth pain and wisdom teeth

[teaweasel]

First of all sorry for the long question: Last Friday I ended up having to have an emergency dentist appointment after establishing my ear and cheek pain wasn't an ear infection. The dentist I saw wasn't my normal one and after checking out my teeth, including one my dentist had flagged as a possible issue in the future, he decided to take a panoramic X-ray. He told me that the tooth my dentist was concerned about was totally fine but that my wisdom teeth were a big issue as the top ones were at a funny angle and the bottom ones were totally horizontal. He then said he was going to sit on the fence about it and I was to speak to my normal dentist.
Well I saw her on Monday and all she was talking about was this tooth that she'd flagged previously. I tried talking to her about the wisdom teeth issue but she was having none of it. Even said that if by some chance it was those then I wouldn't have anything done about this til I've gone through this pain at least 3 times! She gave me antibiotics and said if in 48 hours it was no better I was to go back - guess where i'll be tomorrow then! I'm just wondering if she's avoiding the issue of wisdom teeth because I've been asking her since I was 18 and she told me they were fine and weren't going to be a problem
I'm in stupid amounts of pain, can hardly sleep, can hardly eat/chew. Painkillers aren't cutting it and can hardly concentrate. Can anyone offer me any advice for the pain, what I should do at the dentist and whether the issue of having to have this pain before my wisdom teeth dealt with is true?

[scruffscat]

i dan totally sympathise with you, i had mine all thro relatively together and my dentist said that because they were all embedded ,whatever that means,she wasnt qualified to take them out and id have to see my gp to make an appointment ay hospital.M y friend had the same prob. an told me to go to see her dentist he whipped them all out within in 48 hours of each other.Now im talkin about 5 years ago-so it was quite easy to reregister - dont know how easy it ll be for you to do that but might be worth thinkin about changin good luck

[nat_84]

I really, really have sympathy for you - beacuse ive experienced extremely bad tooth pain myself. I went to my dentist who orginally noticed nothing, then went to my doctors who told me i had gingavitus!!!!! (which is where ur teeth eventually fall out!!!!!) and he gave me medication, but i was in soo much pain i ended up waiting in A and E where i was told to go back to my DENTIST!! So i did.... she took an x ray of my front teeth (where i was experiencing extreme sensitivity and couldnt eat or walk down the street - because of the cold!) and found i had an infection in my gum - from when i fell over as an 8 year old! dont ask...

Anyway, my point is i totally understand the pain and frustration u must be going through! If i were u i'd insist that ur dentist did i x ray of ur wisdom teeth to see at which angle they were growing and also a genrally x ray of ur mouth to see where the problems coming from...

Below is some home remedies people have posted to relieve pain, it appears alcohol is good as it will numb your mouth.

Just do a generally google online and u should find something helpful.

http://www.myhomeremedies.com/topic.cgi?topici d=233

Good Luck x

[Iz66]

I had a gum infection where i had root canal treatment at the cost of hundreds of pounds! great eh! the pain was so severe that i actually contemplated getting the pliars outta my tool box and giving the tooth a good old tug!
pain killers didnt touch it either, eas awful, but after taking the antibiotics the pain subsided but did leave the area very sensitive.
i know have to wait to get the pain again so the dentist will know exactly which tooth is causing it.
i wish i never had the root canal treatment done now especially seeing another dentist who has told me that if i lose the tooth then not so bad as i have a wisdom tooth near by....great eh!

[nat_84]

Iz66 - Ive had the same infection twice... she orginally dug out one tooth to get to the main casue of infection but it came back - not so painful though and she ended up doing the tooth next to the orginal one and an x ray showed remaning infection in my gum.

HOPEFULLY...!! Its all been dealt with now though!

Good luck with ur next spell....! Hopefully it wont be as painful! x

[ktlou]

Hi teaweasel! I'm guessing your dentist would have already done an X-Ray of the area to see where the problem was coming from,which is prob why she isn't looking at the wisdom teeth. Did she tap on your teeth at all? And if she did, was there one that hurt the most (the problem tooth maybe?) If so, then it's likely that you've got an infection under that tooth and thats why she's given you anti-biotics. They won't give anti-biotics for sore Wisdom Teeth, unless there's any infection. I know it must hurt so much but I think you should have faith in your dentist. A lot of the time when it comes to teeth, you can get 'referred pain' so it doesn't necessarily hurt exactly where the problem is!! I'm sure that if your dentist thinks it's the problem tooth then she's probably right. Other dentists don't particularly like getting involved with teeth that have already been labelled a problem, which may be why the other dentist said about your wisdom teeth - he was more than likely just offering an alternative or second opinion. The fact that he didn't do anything to treat your Wisdom Teeth at the time and chose to sit on the fence means he can't have been that sure it was that!!
Keep taking the antibiotics, they will kick in eventually. Your dentist won't be able to treat the problem until they do, so it may mean that she needs to give you a stronger dose of the anti-biotic (if it's metronidazole, don't have any alcohol!!!!!). Good luck teaweasel and have faith in your dentist - they are very good and most will do everything they can to get you out of pain!!
p.s I was a dental nurse for years so i'm not talking rubbish!!

[MrXLA]

Hi teaweasel, firstly I'd like to say that I sympathise with you having suffered dentalm pain myself. Secondly I'd like to thank ktlou for her accurate advice. However its scary that some people for example nat_84, clearly ignorant of the subject offers inappropriate and dangerous advice.
Alcohol will not have any analgesic effect in your oral cavity. It will however if held for long periods of time in the mouth increase the risk of you developing oral cancer. If consumed whilst taking antibiotics (metronidazole) will make you violently ill. So thanks for those pearls of wisdom nat_84 but next time, know what your talking about before you write.
Another thing to say is that some dentists will surgically remove wisdom teeth, technically all are qualified to do so. Some feel they have insufficient experience and/or prefer to refer to a hospital oral surgeon. It depend really on the type of impaction of the wisdom tooth and the risk of nerve damage etc. The NICE guidlines are in place to prevent the prophylactic removal of wisdom teeth and this is why they are usually not removed on a first episode of pain.

[teaweasel]

Hi ktlou, yep both tapped on my teeth and there was no difference in pain - nor was there any extra sensitivity when air was blown on them. Unfortunately I lost faith in my dentist a few years ago as she's been refusing to listen to what I was saying and dismissed stuff I told her. I've been having various issues, asked about my wisdom teeth etc but she's never taken an x-ray of them - she's only ever done invidual x-rays of other teeth. The x-ray of the supposed problem tooth apparently looks just fine.

As for the alcohol thing - it's not an issue as I don't/can't drink because of the pills I'm on for my heart!