Incredible toothache

The Vigilante · Post by **The Vigilante** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 7:18 pm

Last year I had a cavity filled on a wisdom tooth (didn't need to get them extracted apparently). I guess the filling didn't last because I am currently barely able to eat or drink, never mind anything cold or sweet. I have a dentist appointment scheduled on August 25, because when I took it, I didn't mind it so much and didn't want to miss work. Now I don't care if I have to skip a whole day to get there and get it done.

In the meantime, do anybody have any tricks to ease the pain ? For now I have to fill myself up with ibuprofen and acetaminophen and it doesn't change much.

Also, any trick to ease the pain DURING the filling process ? Last time the dentist shot me 5 or 6 times and it didn't work, I ended up telling him to just do it and powered through it. My plan right now is to bring a flask and get hammered (at 9AM) just before going in. Obviously I would prefer a better solution, so any ideas ?

MfA · Post by **MfA** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:17 pm

Rubbing toothpaste on it with your finger can help sometimes.

I don't think your dentist will particularly like the hammered option. You can try to find a dentist which will put you on a morphine/demerol drip I guess (personally I think if it wasn't for all the anti drug hype most of us would all be on morphine during drilling in addition to the local anaesthetic ... because it never blocks all the pain, neither does morphine but you just stop caring).

Count Arioch the 28th · Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:40 pm

If you're drunk the dentist will probably not do anything at all, alcohol is an anti-coagulant.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 10:11 pm

During the worst dental pain of my life, I found that there was some truth to the crazy old wives' tale of holding an ice cube against the webbing between your thumb and forefinger blocking out the pain of a toothache.

It doesn't make any sense, and it doesn't cure anything, but my brain apparently could not process both sensory inputs at the same time. Either my hand would be freezing or my tooth would be aching - but never both at once.

And even if my experience was atypical, it's at least cheap, legal, commonly available and low risk - so give it a try and hope it works in your case.

Edit: See also, The Internet for further suggestions.

Psychic Robot · Post by **Psychic Robot** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 5:27 am

Question. Is it an ongoing, throbbing pain or is pain only present when you expose the tooth to stimuli? If it's the former, then you probably have an abscessed tooth, and if it's the latter, then you probably just have a missing filling. The latter is the preferable situation, as the course of action for the former is to take a hot needle and manually burn through your tooth. (Not kidding here.)

Either way, you can crush up some aspirin and hold it to the tooth. Dentists don't recommend this because it can damage the nerve, but it works nonetheless.

EDIT:

Also, any trick to ease the pain DURING the filling process ? Last time the dentist shot me 5 or 6 times and it didn't work, I ended up telling him to just do it and powered through it. My plan right now is to bring a flask and get hammered (at 9AM) just before going in. Obviously I would prefer a better solution, so any ideas ?

Take ibuprofen about 45 minutes before going in, and tell your dentist not to skimp on the lidocaine. Ask if the office offers sedation dentistry. Getting drunk before any type of medical procedure is only recommended for old Westerns; doing so will probably result in the dentist's office not treating you for fear of medical liability.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:41 am

Firstly, the existence of nerves in teeth is evidence against the idea of intelligent design, though I'd agree to fucking stupid design.

Next, in the meantime what you want is teething gel. I'm not kidding. This stuff is so legal you don't even have to talk to the Pharmacist about it, and when you rub it on, you could take a cruise missile to the area and not feel a thing. It's perfect as a local anaesthetic thing. You can rub it in as much as you want without fear of overdosing - this stuff is designed to be safe for babies.

Most of the -caine drugs should also work (I believe the teething gel might in fact be one of them), and only one of them (that I know of) is actually illegal in America.

In a pinch, opiates in vast quantities.

Now, when getting something done to the tooth, my suggestion is don't go to a dentist. Get it surgically removed in a hospital and they should be happy to either put you under or to at least give you morphine or something similar. In Australia, they seriously rub cocaine into the affected area (especially for children, because what the world needs is more kids hopped up on coke, amirite?) but usually a shot of morphine will see you through. Or a local.

Apparently cane toad venom is also an amazing non-addictive painkiller, so I'm sure if you just chewed on a cane toad for a bit, nothing could possibly go wrong.

MfA · Post by **MfA** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:16 am

An uninsured hospital visit with GA, what would that run you ... 1k?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 1:03 pm

Oh right, America.

The Vigilante · Post by **The Vigilante** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 1:50 pm

I am from Canada, so it would actually be free, but I would have to wait something like 12+ hours, and that's if they agree that it would be an emergency.

I actually managed to coax my way into an emergency dentist appointment this morning, I'm scheduled in a half hour. I'll try and get him to try some more powerful drugs.

Thanks for the advice people, really appreciated.

Psychic Robot · Post by **Psychic Robot** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 3:04 pm

Get it surgically removed in a hospital

Do they routinely do this in Australia? That's insane.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:18 am

The alternative is that people intentionally snap the tooth (thus making it a hospital matter, with hospital-grade painkillers) just so that they go there. So yes. That said, I have a tooth I should get removed one day that I'm saving for if I ever really need a powerful painkiller.

Maybe we just have really long roots for our teeth so that it often takes more than a dentist (when I had some non-Wisdom teeth removed, they put me under because it was very likely the teeth would snap and they'd then have to slice the gum open to remove the roots. Thankfully that didn't happen, but it seems common enough).

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:31 am

They had to slice the gums open and cut the teeth apart to remove my wisdom teeth, alas.

But in the US, we do this as an outpatient thing, which means no hospital.

-Crissa

I'm not crazy, I was totally under sedation for it. Tho I don't recall what movie we went to see afterwards... Which are probably two related facts.

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:50 am

I'm lucky. I've lost several teeth which means my wisdom teeth have room to do their thing. My teeth are in surprisingly good shape (although they are chipped all to hell, several have been knocked out, there was this time when I was 9 when I broke my jaw and didn't tell anyone and it healed funny, etc..)

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:27 am

Get the codeine drip whenever you get your wisdom teeth removed. Highly recommended.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:45 am

...As long as you're not in the US. We have this thing against opiates, which leads to approval of drugs far worse on the human body.

*sigh*

-Crissa

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:59 am

Psychic Robot wrote:
Get it surgically removed in a hospital
Do they routinely do this in Australia? That's insane.

Due to politics of the insane kind, dental treatments aren't covered by the Aus government*. So people without private insurance or other means often get drastic treatment at hospitals.

* There are free clinics and you can get an appointment, if you're willing to wait 6 months. There are other clinics for 'young people' where you can get seen much faster.

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:14 am

Crissa wrote:...As long as you're not in the US. We have this thing against opiates, which leads to approval of drugs far worse on the human body.

*sigh*

-Crissa

I have heard it said that a lot of American approved opiates have tons of acetaminophen in them even though it's been commonly known that it's worthless as a painkiller because it destroys people's livers.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:31 am

A small amount of acetominophen/paracetamol mixed in with opiates can boost the effects of the opiates through the "two drugs are better than one" effect. On its own, you'd be better off with a bottle of vodka for pain relief, and possibly suffer less liver damage as well.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, I just know my painkillers. And they covered it in the Pharmacy course I did, not that that constitutes high-grade medical training or anything.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:54 am

Acetaminophen isn't worthless as a pain reliever; but yes, it is the cause of the most overdose related deaths in the US. People just seem to think they can take as much as they want of anything because it's over the counter. That doesn't mean it isn't very useful as a fever reducer/pain reliever... It just means Americans are stupid.

-Crissa

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:55 am

That might be the case, but I'm talking massive amounts of the crap, put there specifically to fry the livers of pill junkies.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:57 am

No. It's there because it makes the opiate go further.

Pill junkies are moot to the subject. Just one of many crazy things people think... Turning every coincidence into some cause and motive.

-Crissa

Personally, I react poorly to codeine. I do better without it, and get the same or better relief with just acetaminophen.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:58 am

That seems to be how it works in Australia. OTC, the best you can get is 15mg codeine to 500mg paracetamol. I'm guessing the intent is so that, rather than give people effective pain relief, they can just kill off everyone who needs it (and junkies).

Which is one way to boast that you have no addicts and chronic-pain-sufferers, but it's kind of like making a game, then banning its critics from your forum so you can claim there are no complaints.

Oh wait, people did that too.

Count Arioch the 28th · Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:06 am

I've never tried codeine, don't even know where to legally get it and I'm not interested in the other way (Only losers use drugs, kids!)

Acetaminophen does nothing for me. Ibuprofen is likewise useless. Goody's brand powder helps, but that just might be the caffeine making me feel better as I do have a mild addiction to that.

I took some sort of opiate my first migraine and it made me sleep through the process, which was nice. At the hospital they gave me Fentanyl one time and that was literally the only time I felt happy and at peace ever, so I'm making a point to avoid it because that could get real ugly real quick. (Then while I was doped up the doctor talked me into OK'ing about four thousand dollars worth of tests that I wouldn't have agreed to while sober. Looking back, I probably should have fought that instead of paying it up.)

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:17 am

You can't get any opiate OTC in the US. Caffeine is known to boost the effects of acetaminophen, the combination was at one time patented.

If it 'doesn't work for you' that's fine. Apparently you have resistances to many types of analgesics. If that's so, you should probably note this and request not more, but instead a different treatment - the reason for analgesics in dentistry is not just comfort, but to keep the patient still and calm. Muscle contractions or movements during work can result in excessive and even fatal damage. To you or the dentist.

-Crissa

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:29 am

Ibuprofen doesn't work very well for me unless it's pain caused by swelling/inflammation. Because it's a pretty good anti-inflammatory.

And you can't get codeine OTC in the US? Wow. Not even in shitty cough medicines? (Note: it is a treatment for pain, dry coughs, diarrhoea and boredom) It generally shouldn't be too hard to get a script for a low dose of it from a doctor. Over here, most doctors are fine with writing scripts for 30mg codeine to 500mg paracetamol.

And then if you get cancer in Australia, it's as much Oxycodone (~10x as strong as codeine, and you get it in 10mg pills. Do the math here) as you need.