wisdom tooth agony - really scared.

[louise0501]

hello, since thursday i have been suffering pain in my wisdom tooth. my jaw also hurts and i have a headache and neck ache. im so worried and googled my symptoms and if you have a wisdom tooth infection it can spread to jaw and brain and kill you. my jaw and head hurts so im terrified it spreading. i have a dentist appointment on friday but is a week to late? can it spread that quickly? anyone experienced any of this? im in agony and im really scared.

please reply asap

love louise xxxx

[diane07]

I had all them exact symptoms when my wisdom teeth gave me trouble, its only because thats were all the nerves travel, if you're that worried give dentist a ring.

di x

[SheilaH921]

if the pains that bad can you not ring and get an emergency app and get seen before thursday? Google is always going to tell you something that probably has a 1 in a million chance of happening. Having an infection in the wisdom tooth can def cause pains in your jaw, head etc. Have you took pain killers? x

[louise0501]

Hi i have took pain killers which havn't worked. i might ring dentist tomorrow to try and get in tomorrow or thursday instead of friday. i'm nearly crying, i'm so worried. i now have a sore throat as well so the infection has already spread to my throat. i'm scared its going to get into my blood stream or will spread to my brain. has anyone had a tooth infection before? how long would it take to spread? any advice untill i see dentist?

please reply asap

Love Louise

[Anxious_gal]

Do you have any swelling any where? Is the gum around the tooth yellow?
Rinse with warm salt water to help draw any infection out.
Get antibiotics from your doctor, if the tooth is infected usually you'll need a course of antibiotics to clear it up before the dentist will remove it.

The wisdom tooth can cause jaw, ear and neck pain without there being an infection as well, due to putting pressure on the nerves and there not being enough room for it to fit.

A classic sign of an infection is your temperature either being too high or low.

If the pain is coming from the tooth, try rinsing with a strong mouth wash or alcohol like whiskey, don't drink it though ;) hold it in your mouth, the pain will get worse and it will burn but then it will go numb.
Some times it can really help calm down the nerve and make it stop hurting.

I had solphadol? Codeine based pain killer, you mix it with water, I don't know why but drinking it seemed to calm the tooth down right away, might have been the pain killer getting absorbed into the tooth?

[Pipkin]

Louise,

Wisdom teeth can be really painful because of the nerve pathway they're on. It's highly unlikely to be as serious as you're imagining but I would ring the dentist tomorrow and try to get an appointment. If it's so painful that it's stopping you sleeping, it should be classed as urgent so make sure you tell the receptionist if that's the case.

Pip