this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024

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i'm 40 years old and just had ALL my teeth extracted in one go. The pain is excruciating. Any tips for pain relief? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

151 comments fedilink hide all child comments

EDIT; I can't reply to everyone individually but thanks for all the suggestions! Opiates are out of the question, doctors here will only prescribe those in terms of absolutely extreme suffering or end of life care. I also don't particularly feel interested in developing a hard drug habit. Diclofenac and such are available but also only on separate prescriptions, I'd have to visit another doctor for that. I'm well stocked on paracetamol & ibuprofen, and apart from that, lots of ice cream, pudding & soup :)

Also, since a fair few people seem to doubt the veracity of my story, here's the 22 extracted teeth (the other 10 were already gone in previous extractions).

(page 2) 50 comments

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Do what I did as a kid getting my wisdom teeth removed. Have your mother steal the prescription meds and then suffer for two weeks with Tylenol.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Weed

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

If you can get your hands on some old viox that would help. It was amazing for tooth pain.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

I had an infected tooth and the pain was awful. The dentist told me to take four ibuprofen. When I mentioned the instructions said no more than two at a time he said it was okay for a short period of time.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Sorry about that dude! This doesn't help with the pain right now, but they've just started human trials on a new therapy that re-enables your tooth buds, allowing you to grow a new set of adult teeth. Maybe it'll be available soonish 🤞

https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/tooth-regrow-drug-dental-health/

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

I hope this becomes available before my teeth start having problems... Now that I think about it, I think I'll go brush my teeth now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

It once worked magically for me to watch television.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

Not sure what's available where you're at without a prescription, but I recommend Orajel or any equivalent ulcer/tooth ache gel.

In addition to the other things you're already using, you can steep black tea bags in warm water and gently bite on that. The tannins help with bleeding and inflammation.

A mouthwash or spray with Cetylpyridinium Chloride in the ingredients list will help with healing, but don't buy a mouthwash that has alcohol/isopropyl in the ingredients. Dentyl, Oral B Gum detoxify, Parodontax, Biotene Dry Mouth Spray are all good.

I had several teeth removed from my inside my jaw that never came out and had a bone graft placed in the area that had to heal for 6 months before dental implants were placed. The mouthwash definitely helped me heal faster from that surgery than when I had my wisdom teeth out the year before and didn't use any. Just do a gentle rinse dont swish it around hard! You don't want to disturb the blood clots and get dry socket.

I hope you start to feel better soon!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don't know what your dentist is on (he must be high on something) to agree to remove all your teeth at once.

I had all my wisdom teeth pulled and they did that two per side, as otherwise the sedative would relax the tounge muscle, which might cause you to choke. After that I got sent home with a big stack of painkillers (NSAIDS, no opiates).

I'd look for a different dentist tbh, but thats a bit late now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

OP a lot of people are advising you to COMBINE ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

DO NOT MIX THESE TWO DRUGS; INSTEAD, ALTERNATE THEM

You can alternate them, taking ibuprofen, then later taking acetaminophen.

But don’t mix them. I’m sorry for spamming the allcaps throughout this thread but there is very dangerous medical advice being given.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It's perfectly safe to take them at the same time and was the exact advice given to me after having my wisdom teeth extracted. You can even buy medication that has both ingredients, like Excedrin. One is metabolized by the kidneys and the other by the liver.

This combination is actually shown to work better than opiates for dental pain

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago

They sell ibuprofen with acetaminophen at the pharmacy, off the shelf, so that's not an issue.

It is recommended to alternate between the two so that you are always under the effect of either one and it reduces the pain throughout the day, instead of having big spikes of pain/no-pain.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I mean you can combine them, if the pain is expected to be short term, but in OP’s case the pain is likely to be longer term, where alternating may be a better choice. For example Excedrin is a combo of acetaminophen, NSAID (aspirin), and caffeine.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah Combogesic is an example of combined ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Advil also makes a combo of the two as well. The main issue to keep track of what you're taking and take care that you don't exceed the daily dose for each. That's something to watch out for whether you take them separately or in combination with one another.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

This is why I buy drugs individually instead of combined whenever possible—for greater control over what exactly I’m taking.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

ouch. my brother was lucky and the dentist was able to save some including four he said would help a lot with bridge fit.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Alternating the paracetamol and ibuprofen on a schedule is the best recommendation I can give. Severe pain, especially post-operative pain, is best managed by taking the pain meds before the pain sets in. The ibuprofen is also an NSAID and the swelling and inflammation are big contributors to pain.

The schedule that I always recommend is:

0800: 650-1000mg paracetamol (acetaminophen)
1200: 600-800mg ibuprofen
1600: 650-1000mg paracetamol (acetaminophen)
2000: 600-800mg ibuprofen
(and in the first day or two after surgery, set alarms to wake up and take pain meds at 0000 and 0400 on the same pattern if the pain is really bad.)

This pattern keeps you covered on pain control, and you can shorten the intervals to every 3 hours if this isn't enough without exceeding daily dose limits on either medication. If you are an American reading this and you're also taking something like Norco, make sure to account for the acetaminophen/tylenol/paracetamol that's in those because exceeding the recommended dose on that one is bad news for your liver.

Like some other folks have said, warm saline (salt water) rinses and soft or liquid foods are going to help as well.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Wash your mouth out with salt water, worked a treat when had my wisdom teeth removed.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

Just avoid vigorous rinsing, because you don’t want to dislodge the blood clots

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Weed and ibuprofen is how I got through my tooth extraction. Mind you, it wasn't as severe as yours. But I took a large enough (but still reasonable) dose that I kinda just conked out after

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

You probably know this and were referring to gummies or something, but it needs to be said that smoking is not advised after a tooth extraction or pretty much any dental work. Not a great idea before hand either as the weed (in any form) can make the drugs that the dentist gives you less effective and coming down from a large dose of those can be a worse pain than the stitches in your mouth.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Flanders, Belgium

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Y'all got any more of them poppies?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

I also realize that taking so often or much of some medicaments could harm your liver.

So I would recommend to see if you can reduce the dosage after week or so when the pain finally reduces a bit.

I am also unsure how much liver damage you can get, maybe I am just paranoid and its not that severe.

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