Ow ow ow ow...

[Nurian]

My wisdom teeth came in several years ago and have given me nothing but trouble. Yesterday, my teeth were hurting so badly, my wife made an appointment with a dentist for this morning before work. As soon as the hygienist looks in my mouth, she sees the problem. This one's a little squicky, so highlight if you want to read about it.

It turns out my wisdom tooth had such a large cavity, the nerve was exposed. Any time I had something hot or cold, it would set it off.

The dentist ordered the two worst offenders of my mouth out right then and there. A little Novocaine, a twist of the pliers, boom. Done. I didn't feel it at all thanks to the aforementioned Novocaine. The other two, the mandibular ones, need to be pulled by an oral surgeon.
So I go to work, the happy little chihuahua (I work from home now). An hour in....I start to feel it. The office said to use liberal amounts of IB, but it doesn't take all the pain away. It feels like slipped two dull razorblades where the two teeth used to be. The idea that I have 2 more days of this then removal of the other 2 later....someone shoot me now.... preferably before I turn 30....

[BookstoreEscapee]

The very thought of getting any teeth pulled while awake is...... *shudder* And I've had more than my fair share of teeth pulled. I never had much pain with them (though when I was 11 I had 4 teeth out and while my mom was writing the check I passed out, grabbed her arm on my way down, and took her with me...when I was 18 and 3 inches taller than her, and had to have my wisdom teeth out, for some reason she refused to take me by herself and made my dad come, too...).

Oddly enough, we were just discussing teeth pullings in chat.

[Sapphire Silk]

It's actually not so bad as long as the teeth aren't impacted in the jaw. I had a lot of teeth removed (9 to be exact) between the ages of 9 and 14 to make room while I had braces.

When I was 16, I had all four of my wisdom teeth out. None had erupted because they were so badly bone impacted. I had to be sedated. It was a miserable experience.

[trailerparkmedic]

Ouch! Something similar happened to one of my wisdom teeth, though it wasn't bad enough to warrant immediate removal. When they say liberal use of ibuprofen, they mean it--prescription ibuprofen is 800 mg/pill, vs 200 mg in over the counter pills. You can also alternate ibuprofen with another pain killer like naproxen (Aleve) or Tylenol.

Next time you go to the dentist, bug him for better drugs. Dentists can write prescriptions (something I didn't know). My dentist is awesome and gives me Vicodin, especially since I tend to have tooth pain that keeps me up at night.

@Bookstore Escapee... getting a tooth pulled isn't horrible. You feel a lot of pressure but no pain while they're doing it. If you're like me and freak out whenever you go to the dentist, they can sedate you. I just found this out, and it's like a miracle. I thought sedation was only for things like surgical removal of wisdom teeth.

[Cookie]

Ow. As much dental stuff as i've had done, i feel your pain. Tooth removal, including a bad experience with wisdom teeth, is on the list. Milkshakes are your friend, but use a spoon. Straws will make things FAR worse. Nobody told me that and i got dry sockets, so if nobody else told you, now you know!

[iradney]

if you have the facial ice pack, USE IT. I had all 4 yanked at the same time, and I used the ice pack for 3 days straight. Helped keep swelling down as well.

[MaggieTheCat]

You should definitely try to get a script for some stronger painkillers if ibuprofen isn't helping. I had my wisdom teeth out recently and the dentist gave me a script for hydrocodone, but I only used a couple of them and it turned out it wasn't even for the extractions (I also had fillings done at the same time, and one of the fillings had a tiny little high spot that none of us, myself included, realized until a couple of weeks later...and in the meantime, the grinding on the high spot whenever I ate or slept was causing pain in the opposite tooth, which was right next to one of the extraction sites.)

Besides not drinking out of a straw, my dentist also told me not to drink super-hot things (soup, coffee, tea, etc.) for a few days, as it could dissolve the blood clots in the extractions. You can still have coffee or whatever, just let it cool down a bit more than you usually would.

Edit to add: Oh, and as far as ice packs go, small packs of peas or corn work great if you don't have an actual ice pack. You might want to wrap it in cloth, though, so you don't damage your skin with the cold.

[SteeleDragon78]

having had a similar experience as you N, i would suggest oragel or ambesol. just to help cut the pain a bit via numbness

[taxguykarl]

Hang in there, Nurian.
I had impacted wisdoms myself and was so glad to get those cut out. It was done on a Friday afternoon and I spent the rest of the weekend in la-la land. They gave me a scrip for painkillers and antibiotics as well as a contraption that resembled a boxer's sparring helmet. The later was for holding cold packs to keep the swelling down.

[Andara Bledin]

So I go to work, the happy little chihuahua (I work from home now). An hour in....I start to feel it. The office said to use liberal amounts of IB, but it doesn't take all the pain away. It feels like slipped two dull razorblades where the two teeth used to be. The idea that I have 2 more days of this then removal of the other 2 later....someone shoot me now.... preferably before I turn 30....

One of my co-workers had to have some wisdom teeth yanked, and he got dumped with IB, too. It did crap all to help his pain, too. Bosslady told him to go in and demand he get a better painkiller, 'cause he wasn't sleeping.

And remember, straws are not your friends right now.

^-.-^

[Kaylyn]

Also, no smoking. Same vein as straws. The sucking creates pressure inside your mouth and can dislodge the blood clot that's forming. My husband just had a bad tooth pulled and we've been through this. His dentist gave him Vicodin as well, which he barely used, so now we have extras laying around.

[Andara Bledin]

No sucking on other things either.

( minds outta the gutter... you're blockin' my light )

Like hard candy or cough drops.

^-.-^

[Nurian]

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

Today was the first day I didn't have any pain at all. My wife brought me McD's (stressful day. Burgers are one of my comfort foods) and it wasn't until AFTER I finished my soda that I realized I had used a straw. I panicked and checked my mouth: no blood, no oozing, nothing. It's fine. Still, I think I'll give it a few more days before I do that again.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Yay no pain! That's good... I seem to recall mine going out all at once, and chilling on the couch with vicodin and ginger ale and angel food cake.