Scared.. jaw and lymph node pain

[howardh]

Hi, first I'd like to say my family has gone through a lot in the last 3-4 years or so with mental illness and finances - losing a house and jobs etc. My teeth used to be perfect but are now extremely bad through a lot of neglect - such as decay and cavities (very embarrassing, afraid to smile ). I am 23 and I believe one of my wisdom teeth (top right) had come in partially, possibly impacted. Although I can see and feel most of the tooth so perhaps it's only just decaying, but It did come in very crooked. It's growing out sideways towards my cheek.

Anyway, I've had some soreness here and there from it over the past year, but it only lasts a few hours and when I woke up it was gone. This Wednesday out of no where it became very sore and the soreness extended into my jaw and it has become very hard to eat or open my mouth. It hurts to swallow and the lymph node on the side of my neck is painful to the touch. The pain is very odd.. almost like the tooth is broken and just general soreness. I can sleep and it doesn't hurt unless I move my mouth or swallow. I can hopefully make it to the dentist on Tuesday if we can find a dentist that will offer us a payment plan as we have not much money. Should I be worried? A friend of mine told me their mother had an infection that sounded like this and the dentist told her she was lucky that she came in because it could have spread to her heart or brain and now this has become a major concern. Am I in danger? I've tried salt water rinses, but that only seems to make it worse. By next Tuesday I will have had this pain for 7 days - should I get to an urgent care right away instead (since all dentists are closed over the weekend)?

Thank you for any help.

 

[carole]

Hi Howardh, I don't think your problem with the wisdom tooth is going to do anything drastic before Tuesday, I am not a dentist by the way, far from it, but I find things that happen in your mouth tend to happen fairly slowly compared to the rest of the body. There is a connection between bad oral hygiene and heart problems but you are very young so I wouldn't worry. I would think at this point you are at the pain and discomfort is the biggest thing for you to worry about and those wisdom teeth do seem to cause an awful lot of trouble for us all. I had all mine out 20 odd years ago thank goodness.

On to the salt water rinses I swear by them, but the other night while trying to deal with an abscess I thought I'd go and try and relieve my mouth by doing a warm salt water rinse, boy was I wrong my mouth that was throbbing before, just felt like it was on fire and twice as throbby and sore, I discovered that a cool salt water rinse did the trick and a cool hot water bottle or ice cubes in a plastic sandwich bag with a towel wrapped around it and held on my cheek was heaven. Might be worth a try.

I would see the dentist and see what his/her opinion is and what they advise, in the meantime try and manage it the best you can. I am thinking you are not in the UK.

I wish you luck with getting your problem sorted out, I would be interested to hear how you go on if you wouldn't mind telling.