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Concerned about impacted and infected wisdom tooth getting extracted tomorrow

A

anonymous0915

Junior member
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
Messages
7
Concerned about impacted and infected wisdom tooth getting extracted tomorrow

The pain started Friday. My back right wisdom tooth is impacted, and now infected with a few pockets of white on the adjoining cheek and on the gum over the tooth. Earlier this week, I had a mild fever and it was sore to open my mouth all the way. I haven't had a fever since and through self holistic treatment, it isn't as sore anymore, with not much pain. My lymph gland is a little swollen. I saw the dentist twice this week and got an x-ray. I came in on Monday and then again yesterday. She said it looked a little worse yesterday, but that any sort of dire medical events from these type of things are very rare, so I should be ok till Saturday. She didn't push an antibiotic on me.

In the mean time, I have been using:

Clove oil
Garlic
Hydrogen peroxide
Salt
Thieves essential oil
Tea bags


My concerns:

1. I have exactly 24 hours till the tooth gets removed. I'm not expected anything medically to happen, but my anxiety has me a bit on edge about it. My throat is a little sore and when I put a flashlight on it, my airway looks a little smaller than usual, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was my anxiety and at worse, it is just a bit inflamed. I have been getting 3 hrs of sleep a night on average because my tooth keeps poking my cheek and waking me up, so I'm sure that hasn't been great on my immune system. I can deal with pain and discomfort, but it's the infection part that has me a bit unsettled.

2. My appointment is with an oral surgeon. The dentist sad there is a chance I'll need laughing gas if I can't get numb due to the infection. Any type of sedation makes me nervous. Is it possible for the surgeon to simply inject more novocaine instead? I really hope he doesn't cancel the extraction because the infection is still there.

3. My dentist is nationally published and knows her stuff. She said the upside of taking an antibiotic at this stage is not high enough to be worth taking. Being a bit paranoid about infection spreading, I got a prescription for Clindamycin anyway, but I haven't taken it. The last time I took antibiotics was about 7 years ago and it made me very nauseous. Not the way I want to be feeling in a dental chair. The "common" side effects are enough to put me off it, not to mention the damage it does to your good gut flora. Will I be ok with home care post-extraction? I obviously don't want to get an infection after the fact. The dentist said the infection should go away with the tooth removal.

4. With the tooth already far in the back and my main issue with dentists being a choking sensation, I'm worried that I will not be able to open my mouth wide enough.

5. Will I be ok not taking pain meds after? I don't mind some pain and I've had two teeth out before with no pain, but considering they are cutting gum, I'm not sure what to expect. I am very natural and don't like taking any medication unless it is an absolute emergency.

Any thoughts, insight, advice or encouragement is appreciated!
 
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Re: Concerned about impacted and infected wisdom tooth getting extracted tomorrow

Just wanted to leave you some encouragement and tell you that you will be alright. I'm kind of in the same boat as you right now and so me telling you that you'll be alright, is kind of me telling myself too lol. We'll get through this!
 
Re: Concerned about impacted and infected wisdom tooth getting extracted tomorrow

Well, I appreciate that because these boards look like a ghost town to me! :dunno:

Just wanted to leave you some encouragement and tell you that you will be alright. I'm kind of in the same boat as you right now and so me telling you that you'll be alright, is kind of me telling myself too lol. We'll get through this!
 
Re: Concerned about impacted and infected wisdom tooth getting extracted tomorrow

Looking at most other threads from the last week or so, most of them don't have any replies. This forum used to be so active. What happened?
 
Concerned about impacted and infected wisdom tooth getting extracted tomorrow

Hi and welcome. There have been a lot of posts lately and I think that unless someone has had a similar experience, they may not feel like they can be helpful. Also, it's just hard to answer your questions. I know you're looking for some reassurance, and my sense is that you will be fine. It sounds like you have a good dentist who you trust and that you are in good hands. Sending good thoughts your way.
 
Re: Concerned about impacted and infected wisdom tooth getting extracted tomorrow

Got the tooth out with just novocaine. Because of the way it had to come out and because of the presence of infection, there was a dry socket immediately after (the oral surgeon knew) and it made my drive home miserable. They game me a prescription for Norco and Clindamycin, but I am going to use a wait-and-see approach before taking either. I put a tea bag on the site and that reduced the pain about 40%. Life threatening bacterial complications are so rare and the downside to antibiotics are so common and great, that I am not taking them unless absolutely necessary (fever over 101, for eg.). Will be applying clove and coconut oil to a piece of gauze next. Then I will make a few smoothies if I can focus enough to do it. Not fun, but as long as I don't die of infection, I'll consider it a moral victory.
 
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