The Devil visiting my jaw!

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Guys,

If you take only one things away from this thread....it's this: take your dental care VERY seriously; brush, floss and see your dentist regularly!!!!!

I've had a lot of dental issues mostly because I was too chicken to have my wisdom teeth removed long ago, I finally had no choice, but that's another story.

This last weekend I started to have some pain under one of my teeth....the upper-right jaw, 3rd from the back. It got worse and I planned on calling the dentist....but then it just went CRAZY one night and I was in utter agony. I took FOUR vicodin and it did nothing! I couldn't sleep and I'm at a total loss of words to describe the pain & agony.

My research and hunch was right: abscessed tooth! A former dentist, in dealing with a cavity, went too far and hit my root. The tooth had died and the root decayed....until the decay rotted into my jawbone and a pocket of infection grew in there. It was all the pressure & gasses from this infection that caused the intense pain. I've had all four of my wisdom teeth removed and they even had to file to the jawbone....the pain from this abscessed tooth was DOUBLE that pain!

When my dentist told me he was able to push his 8am appointment to later that day and that he'd take care of me there and then....I got watery in my eyes just thinking about how I was within minutes of finding relief. I have a fairly high pain threshhold...but this pain was beyond anything I could even begin to describe. He started giving me injections to numb the area; none of his needles even made me flinch, I was so anxious to find relief.

He did an emergency root-canal and sure enough the root was completely rotted-out. He irrigated the whole thing, let it drain and then packed it with medication...a temp-patch went on and I'm going back some time this week to have it filled and crowned. It's taken 2 days for all the drugs to clear my system and I'm still on very strong antibiotics, but I'm using this period as a break from my routine and to go uber-low calories.

Back on topic....spend the 3-4 minutes per day thoroughly flossing, brushing and taking care of your teeth...even if those minutes have to come out of your workout routine!

Abscessed teeth were the cause of more deaths in old times then anything else...I feel so fortunate to live in modern times when we have dentistry like we do. My other Advice is that if you ever have any pain in your mouth, particularly UNDER your teeth....get to a dentist FAST.

 

[L-T]

Wow, Im gonna take a whole lot away from this thread... Sounds like you where in a lot of pain...
Im now going to floss more than usual after reading this...haha

So all is good now?

 

[SKMMAN]

spend the 3-4 minutes per day thoroughly flossing, brushing and taking care of your teeth...even if those minutes have to come out of your workout routine!

Those drugs still seem to be in your system.

My bio teacher one had to spend a few weeks walking around with stitched gums. The dentist had to clean all the plaque and other bacteria that was deep inside his gums(they had cut the gums in order to do that) to cure the problem he was having. After they removed the stitches he went around telling everyone to take care of their teeth.

You should take holy water(Vodka) to get the devil out of your jaw.

 

[NBS 4life]

Tell me about dental care man, I bottomed out the front suspension on my motorbike and crushed the front of my helmet into my mouth. I had around 24 stictches and staples holding my where my bottom lip meets my gum line.

Dentists are horrible things DO WHAT THE MAN SAYS PEOPLE

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Flossing & brushing are your first-lines of dental health...they will dramatically reduce the amount of issues you have, BUT no matter how good we are, over time (similar to getting tickets while driving) we all sooner or later fall prey to an adverse dental situation.

Even with proper care, a tooth can get a cavity where decay is eating the enamel and even down into the dentine. You want to see a dentist often enough so they can clean-out that decay and fill the area (this is a routine cavity). They barely need to get you numb and this is no big deal.....BUT if you wait long enough and the decay gets so deep in the detine that it touches the pulp (root)...then you're done! They can't just clean & fill that...you need the root (all the way down to the jawbone) removed; this routine is the root-canal.

If the pulp/root gets infected with the decay, then you get huge pain...but if you somehow ignore this and just man-up to cope with the pain, then you might be lucky enough that the decay/infection gets to the bottom of the root where it then starts to form a pocket of infection IN YOUR JAWBONE....this is the all-dreaded abscessed tooth; a pocket of infection where the infection drains into your sinuses and a host of huge problems can occur. In old times, more people died from abscessed teeth then anything else.

When the dentist told me he moved his 8am appt so he could work on me, I honestly shed tears of joy when I realized the agony I was experiencing would be over and resolving. I'm telling you guys straight-up, the pain from this one abscessed tooth was several times worse then the pain I experienced when all FOUR of my wisdom teeth were removed and the pain-medication wore off.

It's been 3 days since the pain and even now I can't begin to even relate to the pain....you just have to be there to experience it.

I don't want your sympathy, I want YOU to brush, floss and maintain regular appointments with your dentist. So to the list that starts with "use sunscreen" add to it "maintain great dental care". If this message can stave-off even one of you from experiencing what I just went through, then it's well worth it. Bacterial infections in your skull are the worst and the abscessed tooth is truly the king of the worst thing you can experience!

 

[i_love_muscle]

Excellent advice BSL!!

 

[Chillen]

Big baby!

:animal2

Glad you made it through........


Now get to work.....



Rock-on!


Best wishes


Chillen

 

[tjl]

I'm telling you guys straight-up, the pain from this one abscessed tooth was several times worse then the pain I experienced when all FOUR of my wisdom teeth were removed and the pain-medication wore off.

Pain from molar extractions (after it is done and the anesthetic wears off) is really not that great. The most annoying part of it is trying to eat, and that annoyance can last for a while. Hydrocodone / Vicodin seems to be a routine prescription for that, but it does not seem to be worth the trouble (addictive, may affect driving a car, etc.) compared to just plain acetominophen, if even that is necessary.

Abcesses, yes, I can imagine that being a real pain.

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

LOL...a week after dealing with the abscess....on the other side of my jaw, the rear-most molar had a huge crown/filling break-off. The dentist says the tooth is too far decayed and he really can't rebuild it. Either I just have what's left removed and leave it alone....or I need to get an implant.

My point again: take care of your teeth....you'll dearly regret the consequences that are sure to follow after years of neglect.

 

[tjl]

LOL...a week after dealing with the abscess....on the other side of my jaw, the rear-most molar had a huge crown/filling break-off. The dentist says the tooth is too far decayed and he really can't rebuild it. Either I just have what's left removed and leave it alone....or I need to get an implant.

How much decay or other damage did that tooth have before?

 

[[Focus]]

i will be brushing my teeth IMMEDIATELY

thank you sir

 

[Kraken]

and you call ME a redneck? I have all my teeth. LOL

your NASCAR shirt is in the mail.

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

How much decay or other damage did that tooth have before?

All the tooth is now below the gum-line. He could put in some pins and try to rebuild it, but he doubts it'll go even a year before breaking again. This was the tooth that my former wisdom tooth had been impacting into....so it had to have a root-canal and a large crown.

Oh...and to make matters worse, the tooth that had the emergency root-canal (the abscessed tooth)....it had some temporary cement until the infection was gone and the root-canal perma-filled and then a crown put on top...well, that tooth (while chew with it) cracked into 3 more pieces and he had to do a big re-build along with filling the root.

It's complicated & boring...suffice it to say; TAKE CARE OF YOUR TEETH...cause once things start to go bad, it's not like losing weight or getting back on a program: it's a done deal and you're screwed!

 

[tjl]

All the tooth is now below the gum-line. He could put in some pins and try to rebuild it, but he doubts it'll go even a year before breaking again. This was the tooth that my former wisdom tooth had been impacting into....so it had to have a root-canal and a large crown.

Was this a case where the impacted 3rd molar created a pocket against the 2nd molar so that food got caught in the pocket and promoted decay in the 2nd molar, and the decay was not noticed by x-ray until it was too late to just do a small filling?

 

[BikeSwimLaugh]

Was this a case where the impacted 3rd molar created a pocket against the 2nd molar so that food got caught in the pocket and promoted decay in the 2nd molar, and the decay was not noticed by x-ray until it was too late to just do a small filling?

More like I didn't want to hear a dentist tell me I needed work so I just ignored it. It's so much better to ignore a minor problem today so it can evolve into a major problem later.