Not so wise wisdom teeth

Nikki69 · Oct 4, 2005

Make sure he does start those antibiotics though!! That will take the swelling down enough for a dentist/surgeon to see what's going on in there, and will take away some of the pain. I know that from experience!!

Poohsdw · Oct 4, 2005

Hi everyone,
This is kind of an odd thread I'm sure, but was just curious if anyone has had any experience with wisdom teeth gone wrong.. My fiancee has not had insurance for a long time that would cover dental and as such has not had x-rays for a while.. What we do know is that his right wisdom tooth is coming in and it is bad.. He has had intermittent pain, (q month) for about a year but it has never been as bad as this.. His face is extremly swollen on that side and he actually can't open his jaw wide enough to put most food in.. Normally this has subsided in a few days but is taking much longer right now..
Obviously, the only solution is to get the teeth taken out, we know that for sure, but it is way out of the budget right now, and he is still looking for another job (and I am as well) which may/may not have dental benefits.. First question is this: When they see his face or even his x-rays, the insurance will know that this was certainly an existing problem, will they (most) insurance places deal with this if he were to get insurance?
We can't afford to go to urgent care right now either but have access to antibiotics which we'll get for him .. Any home remedies or things that can at least help his discomfort? I'm giving him Ibuprofen, and rinsing with Listerine.. Not medical solutions or anything, just little tricks if you have any from experience or something with this kind of tooth pain..Do any of the oral gels really work for pain at least?
We're saving up to get him some medical attention soon as his jaw might be infected..
Thanks in advance..

I had the same thing happen to me. When I went to the dentist the infection had spread through my entire jaw!! I was in so much pain!! The infection was so bad that I had to go through two rounds of high dose antibiotics. Then i ended up having to have them cut out of course. It wasn't pleasant. He needs to get them out as quickly as possiable! It will only get worse! I hope that you will be able to work out a payment plan with the dentist! Good luck!

TLC RN · Oct 4, 2005

Don't wait. Go to a dental school near your home or find a dentist or oral surgeon who will let you do a payment plan.

checkers · Oct 5, 2005

I am not sure where you live, but here (Washington DC area) I am close to NIH (National Institutes of Health) and I participated in a pain study, and it was FREE. Not to mention waaaay better care than i could imagine anywhere else. Maybe there is something like that near you??? Try their site.... clinicaltrials.gov I'm pretty sure that they have other locations.

Good Luck!!!!

funinsun · Oct 5, 2005

Hi all,

Thank you for replying and suggesting things.. I agree totally that it needs to be taken out-heck all 4 of them if possible ( I didn't mean to seem that I was possibly trivializing the seriousness of this at all with the suggestion for home remedies-it's all I can do at the moment=).. I did get antibiotics for him today, some Flagyl and Amoxcillin so hopefully that will stop/prevent the infection from spreading.. The biggest problem I have is that I don't live in a city with a lot of access to dentists.. They certainly have them but not many schools.. I'm in MT.. I am calling at least the dnetists in the area to see what they can do but no help so far.. It's hard wanting to help the pain and the not being able to eat, but I can really not do much for it.. Thanks for all your thoughts and I'll let you know when we get some help-even if it is going to the ER!

Gompers, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2005

Hi all,
Thank you for replying and suggesting things.. I agree totally that it needs to be taken out-heck all 4 of them if possible ( I didn't mean to seem that I was possibly trivializing the seriousness of this at all with the suggestion for home remedies-it's all I can do at the moment=).. I did get antibiotics for him today, some Flagyl and Amoxcillin so hopefully that will stop/prevent the infection from spreading.. The biggest problem I have is that I don't live in a city with a lot of access to dentists.. They certainly have them but not many schools.. I'm in MT.. I am calling at least the dnetists in the area to see what they can do but no help so far.. It's hard wanting to help the pain and the not being able to eat, but I can really not do much for it.. Thanks for all your thoughts and I'll let you know when we get some help-even if it is going to the ER!

Just wondering how you got the antibiotics for him? I mean, who prescribed them, and is that doctor familiar with this kind of an infection?

Just asking because when I had an infected wisdom tooth, my regular MD ordered one antibiotic, and when it didn't work at all, I went to my dentist a week later. He prescribed a totally different antibiotic, which worked much better for this particular kind of an infection. He said a dentist really needs to handle this kind of case, not a regular MD.

Hope he's doing better. And again, if it doesn't get better, get him to the ER. Hospitals can work out payment plans with you. This already sounds like a VERY out of control infection, and who knows how far it's spread already.

Good luck!

mvsfan · May 17, 2008

Ill tell you my story so hopefully it will hit home for others. First of all, ive NEVER had a filling or a cavity. EVER. and ive always gone to the dentist at least once a year for checkups.

Well, when my wisdom teeth started coming in i decided to ride the wave and keep them. My top two came in fine.

...But were so close to the back of my jawbone that i could not brush them. i did not know this, i thought i was doing a fine job. The first year, they were fine, no cavities, dentist said everything looked good.

the second year, after not being brushed at all for two years, my left top wisdom tooth had a big and i mean big hole in it, and my right top tooth was very, very black though parts of the tooth hadnt started falling away yet.

then, two years later, the bottom teeth came in and were a nightmare. They came in Halfway, were a constant source of headaches, and they had grown into my jaw muscle. Every time i chewed food, i chewed on my jaw muscle too. This is when i started complaining to my dentist and said that he was right. After his checkup was when i got the shocker that my top wisdom teeth were very rotten. I had walked into the office thinking i only needed two pulled.

I got all four pulled and i am not sorry although i have one hel of a headache.

All four of my teeth had cone shaped, fused roots, wich means that the top ones were like popping the cap off of a beer they just slid right out since there was nothing holding them.

my bottoms were growing into my jaw muscle and were only halfway broken through the bone. So the surgeon had to cut some gums and break some bone to get them out. I can feel the missing bone with my tongue, and the stiches.

Hurts like hell, but soon it will all be over.

My advice to anyone, is to get all four of these demons pulled as soon as one starts acting up. you will save yourself a lot of headaches. its better to have one big headache, than four equally bad ones spaced apart. :bow:

handyrn · May 17, 2008

Have you tried calling your local social services office? They deal with medicaid and low income people. Even if you don't qualify for those services, they might know what dentists are good at deferring payment or offer reasonable payment plans. These people hear all the stories from all kinds of people and just may have a solution for you or could at least help you to know which dentists to call first.

Trauma Columnist · May 17, 2008

This thread is over 3 years old so hopefully the original poster got the dental work done by now.