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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?

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 :)

crawancon ,

everyone has answered your pain management stuff.

what about your condition - how does one end up needing all teeth extracted ? (you know, so other can avoid this fate)

are you getting veneers put in?

Kyrgizion OP ,

Bad teeth since my early youth - mostly genetic coupled with insufficient oral hygiene.

I’m not getting veneers or implants since I can’t afford those (I was quoted 34K €, which is just slightly below my annual salary). Once my gums heal, it’ll be the cheapest dentures I can find since nothing is covered until age 50.

crawancon ,

sorry to hear man. I hope getting them removed ends up being better for you overall.

sparky ,
@sparky@lemmy.federate.cc avatar

34k?!, not sure where in EU you are but maybe consider looking at price to have it done in a cheaper country, somewhere in eastern or southern Europe?

RememberTheApollo_ ,

Combined Tylenol and ibuprofen is probably your best bet otc.

Like Motrin.

intensely_human , (edited )

No!

DO NOT MIX ibuprofen and acetaminophen!

You need to alternate these in schedule:

  • Take 600-800 mg ibuprofen
  • Wait six hours
  • Take 500-1000 mg acetaminophen
  • Wait six hours
  • repeat

Note that the upper end doses I mentioned are SHORT TERM dosages. Don’t do that more than a couple of days.

Foreigner ,

Where have you been told this? Are you perhaps confusing acetaminophen for something else? Doctors will tell you that you can take ibuprofen and acetaminophen (paracetamol) together . It’s advised you wait an hour after you take one type before you take the other to see if the first medication works well enough. There are even medications sold as a combination of both. What you shouldn’t take ibuprofen along with other Non-steroidal anti-i inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin.

cheese_greater ,

DXM’s a decent anaesthetic, may be time for a trip

intensely_human ,

jesus christ

tarmac ,

When my wisdom tooth were pulled the only thing that seemed to help was to double up on some otc painkillers and take them together - acetaminophen and ibuprofen together worked the best. Look into it, I’m not a doctor etc etc

intensely_human ,

Just gonna keep repeating this PSA everywhere I see this advise:

DO NOT MIX IBUPROFEN AND ACETAMINOPHEN; INSTEAD ALTERNATE THEM

I_Has_A_Hat ,

No one here recommending Orajel? Literally designed specifically for mouth pain.

MelodiousFunk ,

Just empty the whole tube in there and swish it around. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Poe's LawPlease don’t do this

intensely_human ,

Seriously just don’t even say it. Your Poes Law thing requires an active click to see.

OP is a person in pain, whose head is in a new configuration (which is disorienting, reducing their cognitive capacities until the proprioceptive remapping is complete).

The danger of a misread is just too great.

pigslop ,

I think orajel shouldn’t be put on fresh wounds (not 100% on this but I put it on an open sore in my mouth and the pain was excruciating)

Mothra ,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

+1 wondering why someone in their 40s had to have all teeth extracted. I’m really sorry.

Kyrgizion OP ,

I’ve had issues with my teeth almost since birth. My parents both had full dentures by ages 25 or so. It was definitely a combination of genetics and bad oral hygiene. I was actually glad to get them all out now because I’ve suffered from debilitating pain for weeks at least once or twice every single year of my life.

Mothra ,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Thanks for sharing - I’m glad to know this is an improvement for you in spite of everything. I hope the pain eases soon!

TexasDrunk ,

I feel you. I grew up on well water (no fluoride), have a generic predisposition for terribly crooked teeth, and wasn’t taught basic oral hygiene until I was legally an adult.

I’ve had several extractions but every time it has been either an abscess or an impacted tooth, so just the relief from that pain was almost like a drug itself. About half my teeth are fake at this point and the ones that are left are in pretty good shape because they weren’t too far gone when I actually learned how to properly take care of them.

JoYo ,
@JoYo@lemmy.ml avatar

fluoride in water doesn’t do much to prevent tooth decay.

the fluoride in toothpaste is what does all heavy lifting.

TexasDrunk ,

Fluoride in water can help if you’re not taught proper care and feeding of teeth, but you are right. The fluoride in toothpaste is what should be doing the heavy lifting.

some_guy ,

Similar issues (no floride as a kid, natually crooked). I floated the idea of getting mine replaced all together with my dentist a couple months ago. She advised against it, said it would change the sense of taste / food taste. I dunno if that’s accurate, but it put me off the idea for a bit.

My brother had his removed a few years ago (he spent years dipping tobacco). He looked like he’d been in a car wreck with serious bruising under his eyes. I don’t know how long he had that look as I was visiting and didn’t see the full recovery.

TheRealKuni ,

Are you doing “all on 4”?

lichtmetzger ,

It was definitely a combination of genetics and bad oral hygiene.

I’m in the same boat. 35 and half of them are already gone, my mum had them all removed when she was 40. My dentist is not crazy enough to take them out all at once though, that sounds insanely painful. I hope you’ll get through it soon.

intensely_human , (edited )

I’m so sorry to hear about the pain. Doctors don’t take oral pain seriously enough.

Don’t forget you can ice it too. Alternating ibuprofen/acetominophen thing is your best bet outside of more serious pain meds, but ice is effective for numbing pain.

CascadianGiraffe ,

I’m in a similar situation. Have tried to get where you’re at, but have been quoted in the $30,000 price range. There is no insurance that covers any of that cost, and they all want payment up front.

Any suggestions?

Blizzard ,

Did your dentist not give you that advice?

Kyrgizion OP ,

Actually no, I found the entire process to be incredibly rushed and the communication was bad to nonexistent. But that’s “free healthcare” for you. Even in places where medical issues don’t bankrupt you, the only way to get a truly seamless experience is to go to a private clinic and pay everything out of pocket.

daddyjones , (edited )
@daddyjones@lemmy.world avatar

Just to say - this has not been my experience of free healthcare. Not all of it has been great, but most of it has.

SupraMario ,

Hey, you can come here to the states, pay out the ass for it, even with insurance…and still have the same experience. Long waits, lack of communication, and Doctors that are so booked they give you the once over in 10mins after you have waited on them for hours…

TranscendentalEmpire ,

Dental eugenol, it’s a fairly powerful local analgesic made from clove oil. Some people have adverse reactions to it and so it isn’t used as frequently as it used to. So I would recommend applying it in a small test area before applying it more liberally.

You can buy it online fairly cheaply.

WhyJiffie ,

Are you from Hungary?

intensely_human ,

not any more

geophysicist ,

That’s simply not true, like at all. Classic American

theRealBassist ,

They’re not American??

You do realize that more than one place in the world doesn’t have free healthcare, and that there are legitimate problems with many healthcare systems around the world?

Elitism helps no one.

Dasus ,
@Dasus@lemmy.world avatar

idk man, that’s been my experience in Finland between the public and private healthcare. The public one is completely free, yes, but it’s also sometimes rather shit in some things. It’s usually pretty good for most things, and free cancer care and whatnot. But psychiatry, dentistry, eh… not as great.

Buut… the difference between a public and a private dentist is night and day. I have gotten good care in the public system as well, but I’ve never got bad care from private, whereas I’ve had horrible experiences in the public system. A few good ones, but mostly bad.

I have free healthcare, but I still dropped a grand on dentistry. For one because the public healthcare wouldn’t fix cosmetic issues, and I had a bit of dental calculus in a tooth so it looked like I always had a small piece of oregano stuck on a teeth or something. I was comfortable with money at the time so I payed for laughing gas and to all cavities and whatnot. Good service, pretty expensive. But before that I had avoided the dentist for a few years because of an extremely painful experience with the last public dentist I went to.

feannag ,

Ibuprofen (Advil) and acetaminophen/paracetamol (Tylenol). Take max dosage but alternate them. Read the bottle and don’t quote me, but it’s something like 800mg ibuprofen every 8 hours and 1000mg of paracetamol every 6. So take ibuprofen, 3-4 hours later take paracetamol, then back and forth. Do not exceed 2400/4000 or whatever your bottle says.

That’s the method I was taught to get the most/longest pain relief with OTC.

JoYo ,
@JoYo@lemmy.ml avatar

most people dont develop an addiction to opiods when taken as directed by your doctor.

speaking of, go to urgent care or your PCP if they can fit you in for a perception. a dentist is going to be worthless for anything other than the mouth bones.

TheFriar ,

Weeelllll….

At the end of your bottle, if you’re taking them as prescribed, which is usually every 4-6hrs? Do that for a week and your body would be addicted. A full bottle + a refill, even two? It’s not about taking them recreationally. Your body and brain get addicted when they’re in your system regularly. I would know, got hit by a car, I think I only had one refill, and I was going through withdrawals at the end. I wasn’t even taking them as often as prescribed, mostly “as needed.” That was still regular enough.

intensely_human ,

Dealing with opiate withdrawal can be less damaging than extreme levels of pain.

Pain is not just a feeling. At extreme levels it reprograms the nervous system in ways that are really, really bad long term.

tacosplease ,

If you can’t get pain meds I’d try Kratom.

Start with a low dose and work your way up. If you take too much you will puke which would be awful in your current condition.

Take the right dose and it will significantly relieve the pain. I slowly took increased doses until they started to make me feel a little woozy or get cold sweats. Then I knew my personal dose is a little less than that.

I can’t stress enough though - take less at first and try a little more each time.

Either eat food with it every time or take on an empty stomach every time, but don’t go back and forth unless you know your proper personal dose with and without food. It matters a lot with Kratom.

All that said, do it right and it will bring more relief than anything else I’ve been able to legally acquire. Absolutely do not allow yourself to take it every day once the pain is manageable. Plenty of people do… But don’t do that.

Good luck. No matter what - this is only temporary. You will get through it.

TheFriar ,

Also, CBD.

dharmacurious ,

My mom has chronic pain from disabilities and started taking Kratom a few years back. I tried it first to test things out before she started. We misread the instructions, and steeped about 10x more than we should have in orange juice for several hours.

I have never been so sick. OMG. It was 3 days of pure hell.

But here’s the kicker, doing that with any other medication would’ve killed me. This just made me sick. It’s a weird way to begin saying you swear by something, but I swear by the stuff. It is genuinely helpful, and it has an upper limit, so it’s risk for abuse is low. Stuff is great.

ReakDuck ,

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.

Kyrgizion OP ,

Flanders, Belgium

ThrowawayPermanente ,

Y’all got any more of them poppies?

tiefling , (edited )

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

Wolf314159 ,

You probably know this and we’re 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.

SirArchibald ,

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

intensely_human ,

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

medgremlin ,

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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