Sore tooth - mostly the gum area below

[astrochex]

Glad you got the issue taken care of Baz. A great dentist is more valuable than gold.

[Baz]

Thanks, Paul....and 100% on the dentist comment!

[Baz]

Hey everyone......8 days later and things are going OK. Not really in any pain anymore but when I try to open my mouth past a certain extent it's sore on the same side the tooth was extracted. To the point where I can't really open past a certain point.

Wondering if this is yet another aspect of the surgery that will eventually go away.

I can still eat, drink, talk, and breathe....so not life-threatening or anything.

[fintstone]

I had the exact same tooth break under a crown a few months back. Decided to get an implant post and a crown when pulling the tooth. It is the second one that I have had that done with. The first one was right in the top front. Pricey and it takes a couple months for the jawbone/implant to heal enough to install the porcelain crown, but they do come out nicely and never much pain at all. Looks much better than the old tooth and functions very well. They used local for me as well.

Glad yours came out ok.

[Baz]

Tomorrow I see the dentist again. The original intention was to remove the stitches but those came out the second day so now it will be for him to inform me what's going on with my sore jaw. The soreness is along the gums rearward of where the tooth was extracted.

I really hope he can offer a solution to this problem as it's impacted my lifestyle even worse than before the extraction!

One other note......the cough I had has now gone away. A byproduct (I guess) on getting the cracked tooth (and with it the infection) out. So that's a positive!

[Rot 911]

Baz, have you tried alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen for your toothache? When I had a cracked tooth and was waiting on my root canal, my dentist said this works better than anything else. Turns out, she was right! For whatever reason opioids have no effect on toothaches. You alternate 800 mg of ibuprofen with 1000 mg of Tylenol every four hours. You can Google this and see many dentists make the same recommendation.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

Baz, have you tried alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen for your toothache? When I had a cracked tooth and was waiting on my root canal, my dentist said this works better than anything else. Turns out, she was right! For whatever reason opioids have no effect on toothaches. You alternate 800 mg of ibuprofen with 1000 mg of Tylenol every four hours. You can Google this and see many dentists make the same recommendation.

Thanks, Kurt.

I did that when I still had the tooth. Now that it's out - something else is happening that shouldn't be other than a toothache.

Hopefully will find out more tomorrow!

[Baz]

OK - doc says I have this going on.............

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trismus

(from the linked article)

Trismus is defined as painful restriction in opening the mouth due to a muscle spasm, however it can also refer to limited mouth opening of any cause. Another definition of trismus is simply a limitation of movement.

Oral surgery procedures, as in the extraction of lower molar teeth, may cause trismus as a result either of inflammation to the muscles of mastication or direct trauma to the TMJ.