I just has my wisdom teeth pulled. What is the best way for me to prevent pain, swelling, and infection?
468573
Take the prescription your dentist gave you and follow his instructions.
798745
1.  Clove Oil was recommended in the movie Marathon Man.\n2.  Gargling you mouth with warm water and salt is the dentist approved method.\n3.  Xytol is an ingredient in sugarless gums that helps to fight cavities.  Putting a "bandage" of this gum over a open hole in the tooth keeps out cold air, and other problems.  When I used this method I was able to eat hot soup and ice cream with no pain.\n4.  Typical over the counter medications like Aleve will help with the pain.\n5.  Ora Jell is used to treat teething babies.  If you inject Ora Jell into your cavity it will numb up the sensitive tissues.\n\nFrom personal experience Trident gum works the best for me.  I couldn't get an appointment for a while and I went for an entire week with gum bandages.  Of course you want to make sure the area is clean first so have her brush her teeth.  Most of the pain of a cavity comes from external influences, anything from incoming air to food can irritate it.
725049
Sounds like you have a dry socket.  Since it's Sunday night, let me offer the following suggestion for tonight:\n\nBite on a moist piece of gauze exactly the way you did after your tooth was removed.  Keep changing the gauze as needed.  This will keep the air and saliva from getting in there and that is the cause of a lot of the pain.  You COULD get some benzocaine 20% (OraJel, etc) and put a dab on the gauze where it will touch the socket if plain gauze doesn't stop the pain.\n\nOf course, you already know that you need to see the dentist for proper treatment and best relief.
1037997
I used to freeze fruit juice and then rub it on my gums after my app. sometimes it would help with the swelling too. if you don't want that, just buy some popsicles. enjoy and i feel your pain and hope all is well with you!
41513
If your dentist refers you to an oral surgeon, then that is what you should do.\n\nThere are dentists who will knock you out to pull your wisdom teeth.\n\nIt really depends how deeply impacted your wisdom teeth are. i had it done while awake and I recommend serious drugs or twilight sleep because it was a TERRIBLE ordeal for me. They had to break my teeth before they could get them out. Dentists will refer you to an oral surgeon if your wisdom teeth are seriously impacted.
1054109
i just had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed and it wasn't so bad.  i had iv sedation too, i think that is the only way to go.  i was talking and telling them about a trip i went on and the next thing i knew they woke me up.  i must have just fallen asleep right away.  you will feel the needle from the shot, but its only a pinch and will go away right away.  when i woke up i felt like i was drunk, but was ok.  after an hour or so the sedation starts to wear off and you need to take pain killers.  to be honest it did hurt like hell the first day, just take some medicine get an ice pack and go to sleep and you won't feel the pain.  it will hurt for a few days, just keep taking pain medicine and relaxing by your 4th day you should be all good.\n\ni heard that if you tell your doctor you are affraid they might be able to give you a Volume pill before you go in for the surgery to help you calm yourself down.\n\ndon't cancel it, you need to get it done and if you wait it will be even worse.  its good to do it at once because if you do only part you will have to go back and endure the same thing again.  don't do that!\n\nyou will be fine, just relax and get it done with.
267015
800 mg of ibuprofen every eight hours with food. this relieves inflammation as well as relieves pain. you can rotate this with tylenol 1000mg every six hours.\nEXample: at 8am take the ibuprofen. you'll take that again @ 4pm.  in the interim, you can use tylenol say -- @ 12pm then again @ 6pm.\ndon't use aleve (naproxen) and ibuprofen together. they're too close to being the same drug. don't use those on an empty stomach. don't use aspirin in case there is any potential bleeding problem. don't take too much tylenol. don't use tylenol at all if you have a known liver problem.\nYOU CAN ALSO -- use ice on the outside of your face. Even suck on ice. if ice is too large to suck on, put it in a washcloth and crush it with a mallot (or bottom of a HEAVY coffe mug or meat tenderizer or hammer. ha!) and then place the washcloth with the crushed ice enveloped in it, in your mouth. but yes -- DENTIST!\nmost "COUNTY HOSPITALS" have a dental clinic that is free if you don't have health insurance. they usually ONLY do extractions, give antibiotics and pain relievers. it's first come, first served here in phoenix. it opens @ 6 AM here and i would tell my patients to show up @ 530AM to insure they would be seen (the line gets long) and hopefully, they can get in and out sooner than waiting in line all day and not being seen.\nTMJ (jaw joint) problems can SEEM like wisdom teeth problems. if it's TMJ instead, sleep on your back - not sides or stomach, don't chew gum, relax your jaw (keep lips closed but teeth apart. it's hard at first and can make jaw muscles tired -- but it's usually less painful than the pain you're having now & you get used to doing it), and the same ibuprofen / tylenol / ice regimen will help! good luck!
863568
it's normal to "ooze" blood for the first week.  So make sure that you're using an old pillowcase at night.  Another trick you can do is a wet, warm tea (any brand) bag.  Something in the tea coagulates the blood and alleviates any inflammation.  Also remember that when blood mixed with saliva looks like a lot of blood.  Remember that if you were using gauze that if it wasn't wet before placement you could have been taking out the clot with the gauze.  \nOf course I am not a dentist so it doesn't hurt to call the dentist that performed the extraction.
948788
Warm salt water 10 times a day (or more).  Warm tea bags applied to site and gentle pressure to reduce pain and inflammation.  Do not pick at the site or eat anything tiny (like rice or corn).  Eat healthy, take vitamins, get plenty of rest.    Take Advil or alieve around the clock (if able to due to medical issues) even if it doesn't hurt.  This will reduce the swelling and reduce healing time.\n\nHydrogen peroxide is a tool seam dentists use in school to tighten the gums, but it usually causes more problems than benefits, so avoid this old trick.
738182
I recommend all 4 at the same time.  You only have to modify your diet once and you only have to recover once.  Also another aspect is money.  It's cheaper to get all 4 extracted in one session than 4 different surgeries.  You have the same amount of complications/risks/benefits from 4 extraction as you do with one tooth extracted.\n\nShould You Have Your Wisdom Teeth Removed?\n\nJennifer Flach was a college junior when her wisdom teeth started making themselves known.  "My other teeth started moving around," she remembers. "The wisdom teeth were pushing out and undoing some of the orthodontic work I had done in high school."\nAt the same time, her brother — who's two years younger and was also in college — had no symptoms. But the family dentist suggested his wisdom teeth should come out too.\nJen and her brother had back-to-back wisdom tooth extractions and recovered together at home during spring break. "It was quite a week at my parents' house," she says.\nPatrick Grother was 26 when his dentist mentioned that his wisdom teeth might need to be removed. His bottom left wisdom tooth had partially erupted into his mouth and a flap of gum still covered it. "The dentist said food would get trapped there and it could get infected," he says. Patrick then visited a periodontist, who said that the gum flap could be cut away but it would grow back.\n"I put it off for awhile," Patrick said, but he eventually had the wisdom teeth on the left side of his mouth extracted.\nA few people are born without wisdom teeth or have room in their mouths for them, but like Jen and her brother, many of us get our wisdom teeth taken out during our college years. And like Patrick, many of us are first alerted to the problem when our wisdom teeth don't emerge (erupt) into the mouth properly because there is not enough toom for them to fit. \n"A part of the tooth may remain covered by a flap of gum, where food particles and bacteria can get trapped, causing a mild irritation, a low-grade infection called pericoronitis and swelling," says Dr. Donald Sadowsky, professor emeritus of clinical dentistry College of Dental Medicine and the Mailman School of Public Health. This usually happens with the lower wisdom teeth. Pericoronitis and the pain it causes is the most common reason people need their wisdom teeth taken out.\nPericoronitis is just one of the reasons that you may need to have a wisdom tooth or more than one removed. \nIn many people, the wisdom teeth never even partially enter the mouth. Often the teeth are tilted under the gum and blocked from coming in by bone or other teeth. Dentists call these impacted teeth; they may cause pain, but you may feel nothing at all for years. You may not even be aware that you have wisdom teeth until your dentist sees them on an X-ray.\nRegular dental visits are important during your teens and early twenties because this is the time when teeth are most likely to decay. Regular visits allow your dentist to follow the progress of your wisdom teeth with X-rays. \nEven if your wisdom teeth aren't causing any pain or other problems, they may cause problems at some point. The most common problems are decay, infection, and crowding or damage to other teeth. But more serious complications can occur, including the development of a cyst that can cause permanent damage to bone, teeth and nerves. \nHowever, not all wisdom teeth need to be removed.\nIf removing wisdom teeth is necessary, it's easier in younger people because the tooth roots are not fully developed and the bone in which the teeth sit is less dense. Extracting your wisdom teeth before any complications develop also allows for shorter recovery time and less discomfort after the surgery\n\n\nIf you need all four wisdom teeth removed, they usually are taken out at the same time. The top teeth usually are easier to remove than the lower ones.\nHere are the types of wisdom teet
318815
I am a dental assistant.  If you are having a toothache, take some Advil until you can get into the dentist.  If you need to ice it that is OK, but do not put heat on it.  If you have an infection the bacteria will just grow.  But do try to get into the dentist ASAP so you don't end up losing the tooth.
138072
Take 800 mg of Ibuprofen which is prescription strength.  It has an anti-inflammatory in it so it's going to work better than Tylenol or aspirin.  And make an appointment to see your dentist asap.
505198
There are numbing products available over the counter.  ie Ora Gel, etc.  Ask your pharmacist, which is best.\n\nAlso, be sure to take Motrin.  It is the most effective pain killer for bone/teeth pain, that is available over the counter.  The idea about eating ice sounds good, too!  It will help soothe the inflammation.\n\nYou do need to get in touch with your dentist.  Maybe, he could call you in a prescription, that will do you...until you can get to his office.\n\nI really am sorry, that you are in pain.  I would definitely, get the numbing products and take the Motrin...at the same time.  It should, at least, take the edge off.
840262
It depends on how many you are having pulled and if they are impacted or not.  I had four impacted wisdom teeth pulled at once and it was very painful. I had to take double the dosage of pain medication.  And my cheeks were very swollen for two to three days.  But I have heard that is is not as bad when you have less to pull and if they have already come through the gum.  Good luck!
659281
I went to a dentist with minor face swelling from an abscessed third molar emerging incompletely.  He pulled it then and there after some numbing and using some awful terror tactics.  I do believe he thinks he's House from the TV show.  Severe swelling in your face can restrict your neck, thus slowing blood flow to your brain or your esophagus, limiting your airway.  Both of which could be fatal if left untreated, I recommend lots of ice packs, not moving around much and NOT waiting for the pain meds to wear off before taking a new round.  Your tooth did get pulled didn't it?  I wonder why they didn't take it immediately?
947205
most often the oral surgeon that removes the wisdom teeth put you under general anesthesia.\nYou don't feel anything.\nWhen you wake up later you will feel some discomfort, but the oral surgeon will give you pain pills and an anti-biotic for the infection...impacted or erupted wisdom teeth or bony impacted teeth have to be cut out and need stitches\nThe top ones are a piece of cake, but the bottom ones stay sore longer, or on me they did..
724466
I work for an oral surgeon and we pull teeth for a living.  If her procedure is a standard one, the actual process should take less than thirty minutes.  The recovery period for each person is different, but we usually say 3 to 5 days.  If she is a tougher person and a fast healer, it may be even sooner.  Did the doctor put her on antibiotics?  He should have.  If she takes them, her risk of infection will dramatically decrease.  Finally, SHE MAY DRINK THROUGH A STRAW.  People that tell you otherwise have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.  Whether or not your friend gets a dry socket, which depending on how you look at it, do not actually exist, has nothing to do with what she drinks through.  I can back that up with experimental and scientific evidence if you need it.  Use ice for the first two days and then switch to heat for the swelling.  Good. luck.