I'm miserable. I'm in so much pain I don't know what to do but motrin and tylenol aren't helping!

I saw a dentist in Nov. for a bad tooth that he said was abcessed. I never went back because his behaviour was unprofessional.

I didn't bother to see anyone else about it either. So as luck would have it, in December everything snowballed and I got sick as a dog. I went to my sisters house in MN and saw a dds there and had a cleaning and some scaling done but very, very little scaling. Enough to where it hurt but that's it. I came home and started feeling bad again.

It never occured to me that I felt bad because of my tooth and stuff. I ended up in my MD's office and he couldn't find anything wrong. My sinuses and ears were fine, chest xray was fine, etc but I kept running a high fever and high white blood cell count.

I was off work the entire month of Decemeber and most of January sick. It felt like ( and still does ) a never ending case of the flu.

Today at work I spiked another fever and started to throw up because I hurt so bad. It feels like I've been kicked in the mouth.

My lymph nodes are kind of swollen and I have one along the edge of my jaw that hurts.

My gums don't bleed but they're red, swollen, inflammed like you wouldn't believe and they hurt. There's some pus that comes out from around some of them.

I have that going on and the same tooth that I was told that abcessed is also killing me.

It feels like I've been kicked in the mouth but it makes my entire face and head hurt. I hurt all over.

I'm thinking whatever's going on in my mouth has made me sick and that's probably why I've been feeling so rotten around the clock for so long.

I called and made a dental appointment for Wed. afternoon ( I can't go before then because of my job schedule ) and the girl who answered the phone said it sounds like the abcess has flared up and going by what I said about the gums I probably have a bad gum infection that's made me sick as well.

This hurts so bad. I'm just miserable. My Grandmother had gum disease at a young age and she said she was real, real sick when she had it.

I never thought a bad tooth and bad gums could make you feel like this but I guess it can.

What do you think? I mean, can infected gums and a bad tooth make someone feel this rotten?

Thanks!

poor you!!
infected tooth absess and gums are NO joke!
people with weak hearts are told to take special care of their teeth cos infection can travel down into the body.
your poor body is fighting this infection,(proof of this is in the pus!) so its no wonder you feel lousy, your body is under stress. plus the inflammation has nowhere to go, trapped by yout teeth, so i bet the pressure is agonising!!
i am so sorry for you, i too have suffered cos i put dental work off, i hope that appointment comes quickly for you.
good luck!
p.s i would suggest something for the pain but i have NEVER found anything that works for a BIG toothache. sorry!!!

At this point, they can yank every tooth out that I have if it'll stop this pain. Never, never have I had this much pain. Not one time.

I keep throwing up because it hurts soooo bad. I've cried but it only made me hurt more than I do.

It seems like most of the pain is trying to stay isolated to the upper left molar that was abcessed but the gums are so infected it's hard to say what hurts the most.

I found some perio med that I had from last year and used it, found some ambesol and rubbed my gums with that and my daughter had some lidocaine viscous left over from when she had a bad case of ulcers in her little mouth break out from a virus so I've even rubbed that stuff on my gums.

Parts of the gums almost look crater like or ulcerated in a few spots with ridges or notches in them especially around that upper left side. The gums aren't profusely bleeding though. If I pick at the notched out areas then they bleed a little bit but not bad.

On top of ALL this, my sinuses are really messed up. As if I needed that with this stuff.

I rinsed with warm saltwater too. I'm doing just about anything to keep from going stir crazy.

Sad thing is though, even when I get to the dentist this week they don't do anything when stuff is infected. I'll probably get some antibiotics though, maybe some kind of stronger stuff to rinse my mouth with.

I'm on a medication called Neurontin so I don't get migraine headaches and if it wasn't for that stuff knocking me out at night I wouldn't get any sleep at all.

This is from years and years of neglect. I drink alot of coffee and I'm a smoker so the teeth are also stained up with crud along the gum line so what ever is around the gums is also under the gums.

It's all so swollen and painful. It just never crossed my mind my teeth would make me so sick so fast. Never.

I missed so much work in Decemeber I don't dare call in sick. I need my job. But I've also reached the point with this pain I don't care about anything except getting it fixed so I'll start feeling better.

It's so painful. I'm just miserable. I had the flu last year and I'd rather go thru that again than feel like this.

they can't do anything to an infected tooth, painkillers don't work so they have to wait till the infection is under control,(1 week antibiotics). i just didn't want to depress you any worse!!
whatever you do, DON'T hot compress your jaw it will be a VERY painful mistake. work can actually be a blessing in cases like these, i find that it hurt more when i had nothing to distract me, night time was awful!
the moral of the story is NEVER put dental work off, sadly looks like we all had to learn the hard way.
i feel for you.

Hi there, I have been suffering with this too and today I i just couldn't take it anymore. I called my dentist and he could not fit me in until Feb 21st - well NOWAY would I make it that long without going insane!! I just called another dentist and explained my situation and they got me in this afternoon. YAY!! Maybe if you call around you can get lucky too! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif Oh also, the dentist DID drill it out so it could drain (gross) and it feels 100% better. He can't fill it due to the infection or do a root canal, but at least it is not killing me like it was - just like you with my whole head hurting and I could barely think straight. I told my husband I'd rather go through labor again!! LOL

GOOD LUCK!!!

Even if the infection takes time to treat with antibiotics, opening the tooth often cause a lot of pain relief b/c the compressed gases produced by the bacteria in the tooth get released.

Be careful when using any topical relief that's not liquid. I learned the hard way that it's a good way to increase pain b/c the stuff I used sealed a hole that was on top of my molar, keeping those gases in.

Try rinsing and lightly brushing with hydrogen peroxide a few times a day. Use it straight out of the bottle, don't dilute it, and rinse as aggressively as you can (the pressure of swishing the liquid around your mouth will help push it into the holes, nooks and crannies that need cleaning). Because it bubbles away diseased tissue you don't have to actually brush hard to get into those places.

I have loads of dental problems going on, but not until I stopped using tooth paste and totally became reliant on hydrogen peroxide did I get any relief from the pain.

I too have whole body issues and feel run down, I also frequently have sinus pressure and swelling, (but I've got TMJD, exposed root canals, broken down temporary bridge work, exposed posts, etc...) -- but I swear that since the peroxide, if I stay faithful with it, my mouth feels amazingly better!

Holding ice water in the area of your tooth ache will give you some relief. Be sure not to skip any antibiotics, and ask your dentist if it would be ok to double up on the first 2 doses. This usually helps you feel better a little quicker.

kortney
i hope you are feeling better by now.
tell us what the dentist said, have you worked out a treatment plan yet?

Yes a bad infection anywhere can make you feel like your dying. You need a strong antibiotic now that its this bad one like Cipro its very strong. And a good anti inflammatory/painkiller. Do not skip any pills and take them with plenty of water to flush out the infection. If it get worse before your appt go to the Er they will give you antibiotics there too. How was your dentists behaviour unprofessional and didnt he give you any antibiotics the first time when your white cell count was up? I hope everything goes well at your appt and remember a strong antibiotic is needed now I would ask him for cipro I dont think Amoxicillin will touch it if its as bad as you say.

My teeth have hurt me like what your talking about, for off and on for over a year. sometimes they flame up in pain, but i find a way to deal with it for awhile, until it goes away. then the pain comes back. anyway, you really need to do anything you can to have this taken care of, because it will only get worse!I can't have my teeth fixed due to lack of money, but if i had the money, or had a way to get it, I would do anything! The pain can ruin your life!!! Plus the infection can spread to the other teeth. I want to pull all my teeth out sometimes when they hurt so bad!

I had this happen and believe me my heart goes out to you. I cryed and prayed for days then I talked to my 98 year old neighbor about how bad I hurt. She went to her spice drawer and pulled out a bottle of whole cloves. She said just lay it at the base of the tooth and let it stay there until the pain eases up. Take the stem part off and just use the little round ball part. I'd say in about 3 minutes the pain backed off. I was ok for several hours and when it started back up I just used another clove. Finally the nerve died and it didn't hurt anymore. I had a root canal done and told the dentist what I had used to stop the pain. He laughed and said that is what every dentist used 50 years ago and agreed that it was faster than anything on the market today. Give it a try--could get you through the days until they can fix it. You can buy whole cloves at any grocery store.

I cannot believe that you are all saying that there is nothing the dentist can do until the infection is cleared up! When my toothache became so painful I felt that I would pass out from the pain I went to my dentist. He could not find anything wrong and figured the tooth may have had a small crack in it(me and my darn popcorn!). He gave me the option of having it pulled or a root canal. With the root canal he would remove the pulp, give me antibiotics, and fill the hole in two weeks. Unfortunately when they gave me the cost for this they included the price of a cap and crown(which is not an absolute necessity)and I opted for the cheaper extraction.
Your whole mouth may be sore from the infection as was mine. I was actually afraid I didn't have the right tooth as I couldn't really tell if it was the top or bottom tooth.

the most a dentist can do is drill a hole to allow infection to drain, and give antibiotics.
if they try filling an infected tooth, the filling will be pushed out by the imflammation, and it'll hurt more!
unfortunately, the worst toothache is usually infected.
in other thoughts, always get a second opinion when extraction is an option, after all it is irrereversable.

Kortney, I had an absessed (sp?) tooth and it hurt like hell, made my whole face hurt and I had to take antibiotics for two weeks before my root canal. Then, the dentist did the root canal, but the absess had not cleared up so I still had pain and I was so irritated because you get tired of taking time off work to go sit in a dental chair. Finally, the antibiotics did the job and I'm fine now. You should get some antibiotics and pain pills and get on the road to health. I'd hate to see you lose your job because of your teeth.