Wisdom tooth/gum infection - feel so unwell

[Psm92]

Hello. Saw the dentist yesterday and he prescribed antibiotics. Taken 5 doses now and not noticing a difference. Is this normal? The pain is unreal and I feel so feverish and fatigued as well. Is it normal to feel fatigued and weak while having a tooth infection? I have health anxiety too and I'm worried this is all a bit much for a tooth infection

I felt the same recently with a tooth abscess. I started to feel a lot better by day 3 of antibiotics. It was horrendous, you have my sympathy.

Having my wisdom teeth out where the worst. Got dry socket too. Had nearly a month off work. My face was so swollen for ages. Worse than child birth!!!!

Might need to switch up the antibiotics. Call your dental surgery and get some advice

I hope you are feeling better soon!

Are you taking painkillers too? Paracetamol, or even better cocodamol will help with the pain and the fever too

Thanks all. Will see how I am after another day of antibiotics and call the dental surgery if no improvement. Might try some stronger painkillers too. Pain is horrendous!

As PPs have said, antibiotics take between 36-48 hrs to start working. It's rough waiting

What antibiotics are you taking?
I got told only a certain type would work depending on the infection. I was prescribed standard amoxicillin for one infection and the next I needed a completely different antibiotic.

I was prescribed phenoxymethylpenicillin.

How are you feeling now @Psm92?

These are the kind of complications that puts me off having a tooth out… I need one according to my dentist, both my mum and brother got dry socket and it was horrendous watching them. I just can’t be dealing with that!

Still feeling horrendous. If anything the pain has gotten much worse and I've done 2 full days of antibiotics now. Can barely open my mouth. Will call dentist first thing tomorrow morning. Ibuprofen/cocodamol touches the pain for like 45 mins before it starts thrombin unbearably again...it's the worst!

OK, spoke to the dental receptionist on the phone who spoke to the dentist. I explained the antibiotics aren't working after 48 hours and he basically said they wouldn't work because the infection is probably inside the tooth and not the gum? I'm confused as my gums are all swollen and my face is swollen too. He said I have to get the tooth extracted. I'm really confused as he seems to be suggesting antibiotics aren't going to work, so wtf am I taking them? Should I get a second opinion?

Have you any dentists in your area who are taking on new patients OP, because your dentist appears rubbish?

In the meantime, please buy some Orajel extra strength - 20% - from a pharmacy, and some Bonjela 16+ years of age, and then apply them alternately to all areas of inflammation and any teeth that are hurting as well.

If you have no medical restrictions to taking 'over the counter' medications, then take both paracetamol and Ibuprofen throughout any 24 hr period. while of course following their stated doses. So you should not exceed more than 8 X 500mg Paracetamol per day, and not exceed more than 6 Ibuprofen within the same 24 hour period.

Root abscesses are evil....the antibiotics should be kicking by day 3. They don't offer instant relief unfortunately 😟

How swollen are you? I was advised by my dental surgeon to go to A&E if the swelling didn't go down with antibiotic use as it was dangerously close to airways. The swelling was there the next day so I had to go in to A&E and was seen by ambulatory. It wasn't abscessed so they didn't operate that day, but the moved my GA appointment forward.

TBH if you have lockjaw a standard dental appointment is not going to get that tooth out.

Can barely open my mouth...even eating yoghurt is a struggle so pretty sure it's lockjaw. Oh dear. Got an apptmt at 4 today and pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to open my mouth enough for them to even see what's going on!

If they have the equipment there's a scan they can do of the entire jaw that doesn't require your mouth to be open.

Also, ask them for some better pain meds and get their recommendation on how much and when to take ibruprofen and paracetamol. Not to scare you, but I was on more than has been recommended here while I waited for my tooth to come out as the antibiotics never resolved the infection. I found slow release ibruprofen more effective than the standard variety.

I hope you get this sorted soon OP!

Good idea to go back to the dentist. In the mean time, for the pain go to the pharmacist and ask for a painkiller with codeine in it (more effective than paracetamol or ibuprofen alone), and also try biting down on something very cold or holding ice cold water in your mouth. This will help.

Appointment in 3 hours but I'm starting to seriously freak out. The pain is just so severe and radiating all over my jaw. Literally can barely open my mouth even to get pureed mash potato in. Doesn't help reading horror stories online either about dental infections causing havoc on the body resulting in all sorts of other scary possibilities. I'm so scared the surgery will just send me away and the problem will just get worse.

Good luck @Psm92

The surgery won't send you away so please don't worry.

Genuinely not sure how they're going to be able to look inside my mouth. Can barely open it. Even talking it hurts. It's super painful but also almost as if it's locked.

They will probably prescribe a different antibiotic. I wouldn't have thought that they will try to extract the tooth with that level of infection going on.

Sorry that you are going through this. Dental pain is awful.

@HRPUFF I'm just confused because the previous dentist said antibiotics won't help if the infection is in the root, or something.

I had an infection under the root and was told that the antibiotics would only be a temporary solution and the tooth would need to be extracted. The antibiotics did work for me and I had the tooth extracted a couple of weeks later.

@HRPUFF thanks for the reassurance..anything is helping at this point! Did you have the jaw lock thing?