Had a tooth extracted today. I hate my pain medicine.

[Lyric]

It was a really complicated, nasty extraction. The tooth had deep roots and my jaw bone was gripping it so tightly that it took 45 effing minutes of drilling, chiseling, yanking, and jerking to get the damned thing out. The dentist had to cut my jaw bone away from it. And it's not even a wisdom tooth or a back molar! It was my lower right first molar. The dentist practically dislocated my lower jaw, and in spite of 5 lidocaine injections which made my heart pound like mad because of the epinephrine, my jaw bone still wasn't fully numb.

He sent me home with instructions to take 800 mg ibuprofen every 8-12 hours, along with one Lortab 7.5 every 4 hours and to ice my jaw. I was careful. I waited until it stopped bleeding, then took the gauze out and ate room-temperature clear soup, yogurt, and mashed potatoes (just a couple of bites) before taking the meds. In spite of my caution, I now feel like I have a 2-lb weight sitting in my stomach, like my chest and shoulders are tense and tight, and my head feels swimmy and stuffed full of cotton. Without the medicine the pain is terrible, but man, I fecking HATE feeling like this.

Ugh. I will never comprehend why some people think this sensation is "fun". I think next time I'll just try taking a half of a Lortab and see if that dulls the pain without making me feel like crap.

Oh well. At least that tooth is finally out, thank god.

Hope your day was better than mine.

:grouphug:

Edit: Nevermind, I take every bit of complaint about my pain meds back. The numbness has now ALL worn off, and oh my effing GOD does this ever hurt. Jesus.

:cry:

[Lindsey]

1. I can't believe he didn't prescribe Vicodine. I would have

insisted. I'm truly sorry for you. Pain is something I just can't handle. I hope you feel better really soon.

[REP]

3. Lortab is another name for Vicodin

[tblue]

2. Awww. I'm sorry, sweetie!

You're not supposed to wait until the pain gets unbearable to take your next dose. So take something! Whatever feels best.

Can you try to sleep this off? In a few days, you'll be you again. You'll see.

:hug:

[Tripper11]

4. Sorry to hear about this...I'm considerin and extraction myself

I have a tooth that needs a crown, but in order to do it right, they need to do a "crown lengthening" which means exposing the tooth, digging into the bone somewhat to create a bigger space to put the corwn in. The "space" is left for 6 weeks to heal before the crown is placed.
The more I think about it the more I think I just want them to pull the damned thing and be done with it.
It's a back molar, so it's not like there would be a visible gap.
The dentist also told me she would give me vicodin for the pain, enough for about a week, and a special brush to get that one exposed spot.
The other issues is cost...for the lengthening, $1300, then the crown another $1300 or so. Still waiting to see what insurance pays for.
I should just have the whole lot pulled and go dentures...seems easier. ugh!

[Deep13]

17. An implant would not be much more ...

...and there might be a better chance of success. I've had that crown lengthening on a tooth near the front. Eventually after root canal, post and crown, it became unstable and now there is a bridge there with a dummy tooth.

[Arugula Latte]

20. I had a tooth extracted in December (back molar).

The plan was to put a post for an implant in yesterday, but when she got in there, she saw I first needed a bone graft.

Anyway, I've lived with a gap in my back teeth for several months and I have to say it is annoying. I'm tired of chewing on one side of my mouth, but I've got several months of that ahead of me. You could get the tooth extracted, let it heal, see how you're doing, and then maybe opt for an implant.

[csziggy]

5. tblue is right - don't wait for the pain to come back before taking the pain meds

When I had oral surgery last fall, the doctor had me taking a half tab of Vicodin every two hours. He wrote up a schedule for every med I was to take for the first 24 hours - and called me that evening to make sure I was doing OK. Sweetest, most caring doctor I have ever had.

Take the pain meds religiously - you might try the half tab more often than prescribed, but call your doctor or pharmacist. Ice it as much as you can. I did good with eating sorbet and pudding for the first several days - nothing warm. Yogurt would have been better but I hate yogurt.

Good luck.

[Lyric]

6. I think we've settled on what works best

Instead of a whole Lortab every 4 hours, I'm taking a half every 2 hours and then 800 mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours after a meal. We're also keep ice packs on it--we had alarms set every 2 hours last night to ice my jaw for 10 minutes. We didn't get a lot of sleep, but the payoff was worth it--the swelling today is not nearly as bad as it would have been without the ice treatment.

Dear god does it ever hurt, though. My jaw quite literally feels like someone broke it with a hammer, which isn't far from the truth. And my right jaw joint is incredibly sore from the extensive tugging and yanking he had to do to get the darned thing out. The dentist told me, "Well young lady, you have the strongest, densest jaw bone I've ever seen. I don't think you need to worry about osteoporosis for a while!" I guess that's good news, even though it wasn't particularly comforting at the time, lol.

I got a good look at the stitches he put into my gums this morning--blech. But at least the clot still appears to be safely in place in the socket.

[csziggy]

14. Oh, good - and good news about the osteoporosis

Mr. csziggy had to get bone grafts in his jaw in January. Because of how much it cost and how little our dental insurance covers, he only got them in one side. Next year, he has to get the other side done. His teeth are good, but his gums and bones are not. I've got him on calcium now and need to get him into the regular doctor for a bone scan.

If they did not give you good gel packs, get frozen black eyed peas for 'ice packs' - they're cheap, they don't thaw and drip, and you can refreeze them nearly indefinitely. If you fall asleep on them and they defrost too many times, they will start to smell a little, but they last through a lot of cycles. I've used them for years for ice packs for all kinds of things and they work great. Throw them out once you don't need them though - you do not want to eat them after they have been thawed and frozen a few times!

[Lyric]

23. I'm using the gel freezer packs from my son's lunch box.

It's working pretty well. I feel like I have a broken jaw today, though. Ugh.

[csziggy]

25. Those work great if you have them

The nice thing about the peas is they can conform the the shape of the area. I first started using frozen veggies when I got kicked at a horse show and the only store in miles had nothing like a gel pack. But they had frozen corn and that worked for the two hour drive home.

It will take time to heal but the pain level will go down a lot in the first week or so. Take care of yourself and it will heal faster. Good luck!

[Crystal Clarity]

7. I feel for ya

I had 3 wisdom teeth pulled back in December. The oral surgeon gave me a percocet script and also advised ibuprofen as needed. I was fully prepared for this with plenty of soup, yogurts and puddings. But stupidly I hadn't thought to make sure I had extra ibuprofen on hand. Or even tylenol for that matter. When I ran out on the 3rd day, I thought, "oh well, at least I have plenty of percocet". >>>>me>>>> :dunce:

I began to feel some serious pain only about 2 to 3 hours after my first missed dose of ibuprofen. My SO was at work and wouldn't be home for another 6 hours, we live 4 miles from the nearest convenience store (who may or may not have had 'the stuff'), there was a nasty ice storm raging outside, and I didn't think I should drive anyway after having taken an extra dose of percocet because of the pain.

To make matters worse, my SO arrived home at 12:30am without the stuff despite my reminding him to pick it up. By then, every store within 12 miles was closed. What an awful night!!! I then realized that it was the ibuprofen, not the percocet that had been most effective at keeping the pain at bay. The whole incident however, was really all my fault.

You, on the other hand seem to have gotten a bit of a raw deal. For one thing, why didn't they put you out for the actual extraction? Was it a matter of them not knowing how involved it was going to be ahead of time? It sounds like it must have been a nightmare. The thought of being awake for all that drilling, yanking, and pulling... Ouch!

I hope the worst of it is over for you by now and that you'll be back to normal asap! :hug:

[Lyric]

10. They don't allow Medicaid patients to have anesthesia.

We are only allowed to have extractions plus one x-ray--no other procedures or expenses are covered for adults. I couldn't afford the anesthesia out-of-pocket, unfortunately, so I had to be awake for the whole thing. Oh well. I'm grateful Medicaid covers extractions at *all*, although it's a shame you can't get a simple filling instead. It sucks to have to lose the whole tooth just because of a small, painful cavity, but that's life when you're low-income. If people ever wondered why so many poor people are toothless so early, that's why. It's not so much about bad oral hygiene--almost everyone gets small cavities unless they are extremely lucky, but better-off people can afford to get fillings and save their teeth. Not so much with us.

However, in my particular case, a filling wouldn't have saved the tooth. It was broken. I'd have had to have a root canal and crown to have saved it, and that was *definitely* out of the question, as they are really expensive.

:hug:

[Deep13]

18. I had something similar years ago....

It was a routine extraction, or would have been had it not been for the decayed condition of the tooth and the fact that it was done by dental students and not an actual dentist. It was a wisdom tooth and they kept trying to grab it but only managed to pull out bits of it. After about half an hour they called the instructor who said to use the Minnesota something-or-other. That thing pried it loose. There was a lot of yanking and pulling an d having my jaw jerked around, but there was no pain. With the novacaine making it painless, there really was no need to be knocked out.

I've also had implant procedures done with novacaine only. Those drill into bone, but they are still painless. That is, they're painless until the novacaine wears off and then they're not so painless anymore. Narcotics, please!

[Enthusiast]

8. You have my sympathy.

I've had several injuries and surgeries that required my use of pain medication. Sometimes my wife would even set the alarm to wake me so I would not miss a dose. This was because the pain was so intense it was hard to get the medication level high enough to deal with it otherwise.

This is why people should never ever take pain medication recreationally. Not only is it addictive but you also build a tolerance for it. When you need pain medication you want it to work and work well.

[Lyric]

12. I agree completely.

Although I honestly cannot fathom WHY anyone would think this stuff is "recreational". I take it because I need it, the pain is truly terrible, but there is nothing even remotely pleasant about the experience. What really sucks is that I'm getting the uncomfortable side effects and it isn't even killing all the pain. Grrrr.

[BlueIris]

9. Call and get a more appropriate prescription. It's fair.

Lortab for that kind of procedure is really cruel.

[Lyric]

11. Wouldn't do me any good.

They don't give anything stronger to Medicaid patients here for oral surgery. I guess they consider us a "risk" because they think people who are poor enough to need Medicaid might be tempted to go sell their pills or something. Ugh. It sucks to be treated that way, but I just keep telling myself that as soon as I'm out of college and working a nice, middle-class job, all of that prejudice and suspicion will be far behind me.

:hug:

[BlueIris]

13. Call and complain, then.

You could mention that you're posting about the quality of your care (or lack thereof) on a website.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Oh, man! I am so sorry! *hugs*

[KamaAina]

16. Dagnabbit, Lyric!!

I've told you before that when I say "I feel your pain", I'm not just quoting the Big Dog! :(

[Arugula Latte]

19. I just saw your post ... I posted this a little while ago.

I've got half a Marlon Brando face going on today due to dental surgery yesterday. The pain for me wasn't/isn't too bad (yet). It's the post-op stuff that's killing me.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9370686

Hang in there ... Hope your pain is better today. :hug:

[huskerlaw]

21. I hear ya!

I had a complicated wisdom tooth extraction last year that was very similar to what you just experienced...complete with the multiple shots of Lidocaine. In fact, the dentist almost gave up. He said he couldn't give me anymore without risking complications. I just sucked it up and let him go about his drilling and yanking with a mouth/jaw that wasn't fully numb. Good times! I was sent home with Extra Strength Vicodin. It made me violently ill. Just be thankful you're not projectile vomiting while trying to keep the gauze in place. Sorry, was that TMI?

Is there any way you can take the ice pack, curl up and sleep it off for a while? You should be feeling *much* better tomorrow. :hug:

[Lyric]

22. I hope so, huskerlaw

I feel so horrible today, though, that my hopes are not terribly high. :(

[huskerlaw]

24. Don't discount the ibuprofin...

I had to give up on the Vicodin, and was taking only Advil. Eventually (by day 2-3) it worked quite well, actually. I totally understand how you feel. I remember sitting on the bathroom floor sobbing because I knew I couldn't take more Vicodin, but I knew the Advil wasn't going to be enough. Thankfully, the mouth heals relatively quickly.

[JNelson6563]

26. Eat yogurt!

That's a great and easy to eat food for coating the stomach. I have been where you are, more than once sadly. After a few doses the pain meds won't make you feel so terrible.

I hope you recover quickly!

Julie