To ask for your help dealing with this pain

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I have had a partially erupted wisdom tooth for years now, occasionally it flares up and hurts but it's been a week now where the pain is insane. It's not the actual tooth that's hurting it's that the gum around it on either side is going crazy, it's really tender and sore.

How can I deal with the pain until 6 November when my appointment is?! I dont want to keep hitting up the ibuprofen. Also has anyone had a partially erupted wisdom tooth? The actual tooth doesn't hurt it's the gum is this normal? What is the dentist going to do???

Have you tried oil of cloves? It’s an anaesthetic for dental pain and it absolutely works.

Soak cotton buds in the oil and apply plenty to sore areas. Tastes a bit yuck but - as I know myself all too well - it’s worth it for the pain relief.

Have you tried to get an emergency dental appointment? You can ring 111 for one if your dentist won't do one.

Corsdyl mouth wash? That’s what I was told to use while pg to see if it helped clear up a sore gum around mine, mine wasn’t painful for weeks though so maybe it’ll need something more. Anbesol is also good it numbs your entire face.

Another vote for oil of cloves. Doesn’t work for all kinds of dental pain, but if it works it’s just like magic! I would never be without it again. I hope you’re feeling a bit better - so sorry you’re feeling so bad

Great ideas guys thank you. I will ask about the mouthwash at the pharmacy and will definitely try the clove oil and cotton bud. I would try the emergency appointment solution but that would mean I cant postpone seeing the dentist

Do you think they're going to pull the tooth out :-/

@pusspusslet

Thank you totally giving it a go tomorrow. I have one of those water flossers (if you dont know about these Google them they're amazing and actually make flossing kind of fun). Should I still use it on this tooth?!

If your near London the royal London hospital have an emergency dental clinic and can sort most things. If you ring 111 they should give you an emergency dental appointment locally.

Before l got my impacted wisdom teeth out (many, many moons ago) l used Anbesol on my poor sore gum! lf l didn't have any of that, l used whisky, but l imagine any kind of spirit would work.
Please ring 111 though - you shouldn't have another three weeks of this to cope with. As PP said, you should be able to get an emergency dentist appointment pretty soon.

I've had this around a partially erupted wisdom tooth. Turns out it was an infection around the gum which apparently is quite common as it can be difficult to brush properly around them. The infection the causes the gum to swell slightly which probably makes cleaning it even more difficult. I had to have antibiotics to get rid of it. Occasionally now I'll get a slight flare up which I can get rid of with a good mouthwash for a few days.

The dentist said they would only extract the tooth if I got regular infections which I haven't yet. If it is an infection I would see the dentist sooner rather than later to get it treated.

When I've had this kind of tooth pain I've insisted on an emergency appointment and have never had to wait more than 24 hours. If I tell my dental receptionist I've been in agony and can't sleep or eat (I never lie about this, it's been true) she has always got me seen ASAP.

@WhyDoesItAlways That's interesting, it sounds exactly like what's happening with me. I'll try and get some pharmacy mouthwash tomorrow. I do have some Spiramycin (antibiotics) so I might start taking that.

This is what my dentist recommended:

www.corsodyl.co.uk/products/corsodyl/spray/

Let me know if the clove oil works so I can stock up before my next flare up!

I agree that if you call the surgery and tell them you’re in severe pain they will give you an emergency appointment. If it's an infection you need to get it seen to. I’ve had three months of (now thankfully resolved) terrible tooth pain so am speaking from experience! Hope you feel better soon

Yes definitely use the flosser. I had the exact same thing and for some (looking back weirdly naive) reason I thought it was my tooth trying to grow but being stuck. It’s because bits of food get trapped and then your gum gets infected. Had the tooth out a month ago. Was terrified but it was FINE and now never have to worry about it again. OP, it’s agony when it’s like that. It’ll calm down before your appointment and when you’re there ask to get it out. Mine was less than five minutes, no stitches, nada. If it doesn’t clear up you must go and get antibiotics. The first time it happened I eventually went to the dentist looking like Desperate Dan and she went “yeah take these or die” - it may have been words to that effect.

You can get oragel extra strength over the counter and it worked wonders for me with mine, it's a benzocain anaesthetic you rub on the gum and works almost instantly. Took away the pain whilst I waited for the painkillers to work. I also found heating up a flannel to the hottest you could stand it and holding it to my jaw/cheek helped too, but I would reccoment phoning your dentist, if your in pain they have a duty of care to see you withing 24-48 hours as a tooth infection can turn nasty quite quickly and they would want to rule that out.

Sorry haven't read full thread but I have this problem constantly. Had a reeeeally bad episode a few months ago, worst yet and the usual salt water did nothing to help. I was trying everything on top of this. Dentist gave me amoxycillin and pain went within a day. I hope you can be seen before 6th Nov

You need to get an emergency appointment with your dentist. They should give you one within the next day or two

The gum hurting is quite normal. It's called pericoronitis. Your tooth doesn't need to come out it will just need cleaning, the gum gets inflamed because of trapped food and plaque

In the meantime if you have a water flosser fill it with salt water or corsodyl and flush under the gum, it will be sore and bleed but this should help clean away all the gunk and reduce the inflammation

Don't take the antibiotics, just go to a dentist. Pericpronitis shouldn't need antibiotics straight off the bat

@BlueCornsihPixie Thank you so much, you sound like a real pro!

Just googled pericoronitis and that sounds exactly what it is

Sounds like it could be infected! Difflam was my saviour (it’s normally used as a throat spray) a pharmacist recommended it to me and it’s the best thing I’ve found for killing infection/numbing. Just spray it directly onto the tooth as often as you need (try and hold it on there).

Please don’t take random antibiotics that you have lying around. 🙄 they should be returned to a pharmacy or at least thrown out.

I had this when I was in my early twenties. Christ, it was awful. My whole face swelled up on one side and I couldn’t sleep, eat or think straight. Wisdom teeth grow in stages so rest assured it will stop and in a relatively short time. The only thing I found to touch the pain was cocodamol. Solpadeine to start with (8/500) but then I got stronger 30/500, which were ace but did space me out a bit. And they can be a bit addictive so don’t take for more than three days.
I too, put a shout out for antibacterial mouthwash for the sore gum.
I also quite liked a hot water bottle tied on my face, mainly just To have another sensation other than pain. I looked a bit like Stan Laurel in the poster in Joey and Chandler’s apartment.