Oh my God tooth infection not getting better by antibiotics? I am suffering!

[Maraya1969]

Last edited Sun Dec 18, 2022, 09:53 AM - Edit history (1)

I went on Wed. to the dentist and he said I have an infection in my bottom lower 2 teeth. He gave me Clindamycin so I have been taking it since then. I thought it was getting better but today it started getting bad and now it is frigging throbbing!!!

I've been taking vicodins and advils if I can eat something first and I just went out and got a bottle of wine. Oh and I've been taking some mm through a dropper. I am still in horrible pain. Oh yea, generic anbesol

I've put cold on it and it helps. This is probably not the place to talk about this but it is in the middle of the frigging night and besides go to the emergency room I don't know what to do. And the emergency room is not going to be much help anyway.

Why do things like this always happen in the middle of the night??????????????

I know not to ask for medical advise but if anyone has gone through something like this before please commiserate.....

Edit - Someone Said I maybe should put this in health or the Lounge because it may be off topic. I don't know how to move a thread-only cross post one. But I am reading every single one of the posts here and have found some to be very helpful. I've been doing the salt water since last night and I think that is helping a little. I'll try to cross post.

[elleng]

1. Very sorry.

Had a broken tooth removed last week; fortunately avoided infection. Started amoxycillin when I first sensed pain.

[TheBlackAdder]

32. Last time with me, I think it was a higher dose of Cipro.

.

When I was a kid, I went to my dad's parents house and was suffering from an abscess requiring root canal.
Of course it was an extended holiday weekend, like when this shit always happens. They gave me Darvon.

Pain? What pain?


It turned out that later Darvon had come risks to it, but it removed all pain.

.

[fierywoman]

2. Have you tried clove oil to relieve the pain? Or just chew a clove? Or rub ground clove on the gum?

It helps me a lot. Wishing you peace and freedom from pain.

[Maraya1969]

3. I used to have that but I think I used it to keep the lizards away. But thanks maybe I can get some

tomorrow.

[Liberal In Texas]

64. Yeah, the clove oil that comes in drug store toothache kits

works pretty well but I have to make sure I don't get it on my tongue or other places because it also makes that area numb.

[iemanja]

4. In my experience

When a tooth hurts that badly, it needs to be pulled.

[Hekate]

5. Maybe a root canal can save it. Gods know I have a mouthful of them.

[Maraya1969]

6. The dentist said that. But my appointment isn't until the 27th. Maybe they can fit me in as

an emergency before then. Otherwise I feel like pulling the damn thing

[iemanja]

10. You might be able to find someone that can fit you in sooner

an emergency clinic or another dentist.

[XanaDUer2]

69. Please call them and explain

In Miami, my dentist came in on a weekend to help.

Tell them you're in agony and cannot wait

Good luck.

[msongs]

7. antibiotics are not instant, and physical healing will take time too nt

[Hekate]

8. I am SO sorry this has happened. I hope you can get in to see an oral surgeon/your dentist asap...

Looks like you’ll have to survive the weekend on your own — but given how much self-medicating you’re having to do, please get someone else to drive you.

Keep up the antibiotics, for sure.

Cyber hugs

[Ms. Toad]

9. Rewind the clock and don't take clindamycin . . .

But since you can't do that, watch out for GI issues - specifically c. diff. A dentist gave me clindamycin as a prophylactic after oral surgery because I'm allergic to penicillin and cephalosporin (the more common substitute) sometimes also causes allergies in people allergic to penicillin. It doesn't for me, but I was too tired to argue the nurse into talking with the doctor about an alternative. Never again.

I got active c. diff, for 10 months, which nothing stopped for more than a few days. I was able to avoid having a fecal transplant to treat it only by a last ditch attempt to stop it with a complex, carefully timed series of doses of vancomycin. That was in 2016. I still have it, although it is in remisison about 90% of the time. (In case you don't know c. diff is caused by certain antibiotics - clindamycin being a main offender - and it can be deadly. It is what ultimately took my grandmother's life.) And not only did I get c. diff, but I gave it to my father (who was coincidentally visiting my brother the same weekend I was, and was also on clindamycin for a tooth issue . . . guess where I got my penicillin allergy). I used the same bathroom as he did no more than a half-dozen times the weekend and he still got it from me. Likely from touching the faucets or sharing a hand towel.)

Were I in your shoes, I'd start taking s. boulardii (the most common brand name is Florastor) immediately. It's a probiotic which has been shown to be effective against c. diff, and it is the only way I keep mine in remission. At the first hint of a relapse I start taking it. It might help you avoid it in the first place. (I don't use Florastor - way too expensive, but it's what I can find in local drugstores - I buy just enough to last until I can buy Jarrow brand from Amazon.

Sorry to add worry to your misery - but I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through if I can help them avoid it.

As the specific question you asked - unfortunately, I don't have any good solutions. Keep your head elevated (sleep in a recliner if you can to keep your head above your heart). Anti-inflammatories (advil, aspirin). Ice. Aside from elevation, you are already doing that. An ER probably can't do much aside from give you narcotics - but they aren't likely to do that on top of vicodin and wine.

[Maraya1969]

13. Thank you for this. I'm thinking now of stopping the clindamycin but maybe it is helping a tiny bit

idk it is only one more day until I call the dentist. I pulled up that Florastor and will look at it later.

I'm sorry you had to suffer like that.

Oh the head elevation thing does help. Or rather laying down make it hurt more.

[Ms. Toad]

19. Anytime you have an injured body part, getting that body part above your heart

minimizes the throbbing that the added pressure of being below your heart adds.

c. diff isn't a certainty with clindamycin, but it is one of the main culprits which cause it. I don't know what impact stopping it might have on the possibility of c. diff. But antibiotics aren't instant fixes - so now that you're on it, you should at least check in with your doc before stopping it. They may have an emergency line you could call and check. If not - by Monday when you're likely to be able to reach the dentist you'll know whether it kicked in or not.

I had a dentist who was so bad she touched 4 teeth and destroyed 5. The 5th was adjacent an area where her rough techniques caused a massive infection - requiring a root canal to fix. (I only visited her a couple of times, but each time I literally came away bruised - and with teeth worse off than when she started.) As to the infection, I was miserable - and I don't recall if the antibiotics were able to help the infection before I had a root canal done on it or not.

Good luck!

[virgdem]

17. I survived taking Clindamycin for a tooth infection..

this past summer. I took massive amounts of a very good prebiotic and managed to avoid getting c-diff. That was the first and hopefully last time I will ever have to deal with an infected tooth.

[Ms. Toad]

20. Dentists like to use it for teeth.

It's generally appropriate as to reach - and less likely to cause an allergic reaction than penicillin (another drug with equivalent reach).

Since it's been a long while since I had a reaction to penicillin (5 decades), I opted for penicillin after I had a rod implanted in my leg and needed to be pre-treated for dental visits for a year. Fortunately, it had been long enough that my body didn't react to it. But I would have skipped a few dental visits if I had to in order to avoid taking clindamycin again. And s. boulardii really is a miracle drug for me. I'm actually not sure whether it was the complex vancomycin dosing - or the s boulardii - which finally chased it into remission. I started the s. boulardii after research about how to get rid of intransigent c. diff, and after the infectious disease doc I was seeing approved it. It certainly works very quickly to put it back into remission now (without vancomycin) as long as I start it as soon as I notice the first symptoms. For the first couple of years I would start the s. boulardii and call the doc to order a test. Now I just start the probiotic.

[dchill]

11. I had very bad dental pain years ago...

...and a pharmacist told me to take 800 mg of ibuprofen (that's 4 regular 200 mg tablets.) It worked for a few days until I had dental surgery. I know that sounds like a lot, but believe me, for a few days at a time it's not dangerous - and it worked. For what it's worth!

[Tarzanrock]

12. This ancient remedy will work

Take a spoon full of salt. Mix it with 2 or 3 ounces of water. Stir it thoroughly in the glass. Drink a half ounce or so of it and keep it in your mouth around the infected tooth for as long as you can stand it. Then spit it out and repeat the process. Do it over and over and over tonight and tomorrow. The salt will kill the infection. It works. It's been around since ancient times and has worked for thousands of years.

[BWdem4life]

15. Good advice

And welcome to DU!

[Tarzanrock]

22. Thanks

I've followed D.U. since the website launched in 2001. I joined today to pass on that old salt remedy. I learned it from my Mother when I was a small boy a long time ago. She learned it from her Great Grandmother; her Grandmother; and, her Mother.
Here's a You Tube article on it:

[ProfessorGAC]

53. It Helps With Pain For A Different Reason

The high concentration of salt in the water is way above that in the tissues.
Diffusion will cause a move toward equilibrium, meaning salt migrates into the tissue to balance the salt level, while water from the tissues moves out to try to lower the external salt level.
The result is the tissues "dry out" a tiny bit, which reduces the volume. That means swelling is reduced & there's less pressure on the nerve endings.
High salinity, for the same reason, is hard on many bacteria. But, not all. Some bacteria can handle substantial loss of water from its cytoplasm so it will survive well, even in very high concentrations of salt.

[Maraya1969]

36. I started doing that last night after I read your post and I think it has helped. I've got a big

glass of salt water and a Tupperware tin that I have been spitting in so I don't have to keep getting up, (sometimes walking makes it throb more) Anyway right now at 9am I am in not as much pain as I was when I wrote the OP. Thank you so much and welcome to DU!

[Karadeniz]

14. Is this an abscess? If it's visible on the gum, you can drain it... very painful process but worth

the relief. Cloves will reduce pain. Also, go get some teething ointment or anything for mouth psin...ask the pharmacist.

[KS Toronado]

16. Take a swig of Hydrogen Peroxide

Swish it around all your gums, spit it out, rinse with a mouthwash or water.

[Maraya1969]

37. Oh I did that yesterday but thanks. It also helps. I'll put it in the rotation for now

[Rhiannon12866]

18. I can certainly commiserate, I have an infected wisdom tooth.

And I know, the pain was excruciating, I couldn't eat, talk or sleep. Lying down seemed to set it off. My dentist told me to take 4 ibuprofen (Advil), also prescribed an antibiotic and a type of prednisone, said the latter would help with the pain, but it took awhile. When it was at its worst, the only thing that helped was a washcloth soaked in hot water and pressing it against my jaw, which I had to soak again as soon as it cooled off. I sure understand and you have my sympathies. It will let up, but in my experience it took awhile. I'm scheduled for dental surgery on Thursday.

[malaise]

21. Crush about six cloves and mix with a teaspoon of warm water - use cotton and

Rub the area over and over every three hours for about 12 hours.

[Frasier Balzov]

23. You need to irrigate.

Use a dental syringe with hydrogen peroxide and shoot that solution in between the teeth and below the gum line.

Keep squirting and rinsing.

Your body is doing the best it can to fight this infection with your white blood cells and the antibiotic you're taking.

But you really need to power wash into every space and at every angle which can be got at by a syringe.

Hydrogen peroxide at pressure will kick this infection's ass.

[Lucinda]

24. Another vote for swishing with hydrogen peroxide...colloidal silver works too.. Dairy can

interfere with antibiotics...if you have it...try waiting 3 hrs or so after meds

And of course check with doc

[queentonic]

25. Try this

My AMA certified homeopathic doctor recommended 1m Belladona and 200c Hekla Lava and it worked. Never had to have a root canal and the abscess went away. You can get these remedies online. But Big Pharma will not like this message and will try and discredit it.

[eShirl]

26. hold up

the AMA certifies homeopaths now??

[Sgent]

29. No

they don't certify anybody. The state medical board licenses physicians, and almost any of them would have a conniption over prescribing belladona rather than a controlled dose medication. Atropine can kill you and is found in high amounts in that plant.

Individual boards certify physicians, but if they aren't a member of the ABMS (Am. Board of Medical Specialties) then they are likely no better than Rand Paul's Board of Ophthalmology.

[Quakerfriend]

35. Yes, belladonna is amazing for this type of pain.

I always keep it in the house.

[ananda]

27. Try colloidal silver.

It's helped me before

[2naSalit]

28. So...

Ms Toad has good info in her first couple replies.

About 18 months ago I had an abscess under a crown and it decided to happen on the flight I was on to go to my mom's funeral of all things. Fortunately it was a week day and I was able to get int to see my sister's dentist right away. Gave me that same antibiotic, which worked for the first couple days but then turned into a nightmare. My body rejected the drug, not c-diff, and I couldn't eat at all. When I got back home I called my doctor, who was not in but took my call, and after arguing with the PA at the clinic about continuing this particular antibiotic I was able to get a different antibiotic which was not a problem. I had amoxicillin for the same tooth abscessing a couple years prior* and got c-diff so I was apprehensive but it worked as long as I ate yogurt a couple times a day with it. The Dr also gave me something for that too but I can;t remember what it was called.

Call you dentist and/or your GP and get a rescript, you should not be in that much pain after 24hrs. The ER could change the Rx.

*It took five years and three rounds of abscess to be able to find and afford a dentist who could perform the root canal I needed under the crown because I also have to be anesthetized and the kind of drug that I can tolerate is not used in my state so I had to go for a six hour drive to the dentist over several trips but I had free lodging with some dear friends so it was not so bad.

[FeelingBlue]

45. Wow.

That’s a lot of suffering and inconvenience!! Helpful info in here. 👍🏼

[2naSalit]

51. It was...

Worse than it sounds. I was homeless the first two times it abscessed and I got c-diff the second time. Winter was coming on and I was living in my car but a friend who was out of town let me stay at their place for ten days and so I had shelter during that spell but I still ended up in so much pain for a day that all I could do was hold my head and rock back and forth, seriously, I was reduced to that. After a second visit to the ER I was given an alternate antibiotic and probiotics and that took care of it for the time.

I always have problems with the mic, I don't do well with a bunch different meds so I avoid them. I was able to reconnect with my dental group who had installed the crown, in another state, and was able to get all my needed dental issues taken care of, I had to do a lot of driving but it was worth it. And they use the kind of anesthetics that work on me, whatever it is they use in my state doesn't put me out enough and I fight back without realizing it. Sliding scale fee and friends to stay with kept the costs low, by then I had been housed for a couple years.

[Evergreen Emerald]

30. Go back to the doctor

It is dangerous to have infection in the head. Go back to the doctor.

[FeelingBlue]

40. This. Is. True.

The pain is telling you to go get more help. Do it now.

[PCIntern]

31. As a dentist, I'm giving you some advice

Call your dentist’s office immediately. Tell them you are in intractable pain, cannot eat nor sleep. That the pain is 10 out of 10 and that you need to be seen immediately to alleviate it. If they refuse to see you, you find another dentist.

I’ve spent 45 years doing this and no one in my practice is ever allowed to walk around in that kind of pain with my knowledge. Ever.

[enough]

33. Bless you, PCIntern. Seriously.

[Solomon]

39. I was waiting for PC to weigh in.

[2naSalit]

41. ANSWER IN POST ABOVE!!!

^^^THIS^^^!!!

PCI: Thank you for weighing in! She should have been out of the pain zone after 24-30 hours.

[FeelingBlue]

42. ❤️❤️❤️. n/t

[Maraya1969]

54. Thank you! I never thought I could call on the weekend for any doctor nowadays. But I got through

to someone who will call him.

[LeftInTX]

59. Yay! Scream and yell!

[LeftInTX]

55. So totally agree

Here we are with home remedies.
More likely to do harm than good for severe pain.

This isn't just a "little irritation"

In 1976 I had horrible tooth pain. Was out of town.

Went to my grandmother's dentist, "You have an old filling there. Let me fill it again".
Did nothing
Went back. He filled it again.
Gma's Dentist: "I can't see any reason for the pain"

Out came my grandmother's home remedies. "Salt, cloves". They didn't do a thing.

Finally went home to my family dentists and screamed. "Give me a root canal, now!. I don't care what the x-rays show. I'm in intractable pain! It's not going to get better!". Got my root canal on the spot and pain went away immediately. I lost several months of my life over it. However, I was just 19 and young.

[Maraya1969]

56. Just spoke with the other doctor in the office and they are going to call me tomorrow morning to try

and fit me in. He also mentioned taking Advil which I did and it seems to be helping but I know from past experience that I cannot that it for very long or it will rip my stomach up.

Thank you for your comment. I actually didn't think I would get anyone on the weekend. I thought all doctors just went away on the weekends now.

[elleng]

71. Excellent!

[elleng]

72. Thanks for 'chiming in,' PCI.

[Quakerfriend]

34. Not sure you're near one but,

Alpha Dental takes emergency walk-in visits.

Hope u feel better soon.

[FeelingBlue]

38. Many times,

I’ve heard my dentist recommend starting antibiotics with double dosing the first ones to get the infection and pain under control and then backing off to regular dosing.

[RussBLib]

43. Sound like you need a root canal

In my totally unprofessional opinion.

The tech has improved a lot in the last 20 years. They are largely painless and fast.

[womanofthehills]

49. I just had a root canal on a front side tooth

The dentist did it in five minutes- new technology I guess. Very slight pain after - that an Advil totally took away.

[bigtree]

44. get a plastic bag with some ice

Last edited Sun Dec 18, 2022, 12:16 PM - Edit history (2)

...try to get the swelling down and you'll get some pain relief.

http://www.umpah.com/health/toothache/ma1502-ice-and-salt-water-cures-for-a-painful-toothache.php

[HoosierDebbie]

46. I had an abcessed tooth once and an infected one another time.

That abcessed tooth was probably the worst pain I ever had. Unremitting. I don't remember know what treatment I had for the abcessed tooth, because that was so long ago. The infected one, however, was on Thanksgiving week a couple years ago. A molar with a crown over. The pain started on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. On Monday, I called so many dentists, but finally found one who advertised they were available for emergencies and took me in that day. The dentist prescribed clindimycin, and I think hydrocodone. I ended up getting severe heartburn from the Clindimycin. I called the practice on Wednesday and their office was closed, but there was a service answering the phones. That person contacted the dentist, and he called in a prescription for a Z-pack instead, which seemed to do the trick. The hydrocodone helped with the pain, but what also seemed to help was Ora-gel. I soaked a cotton ball with it, put it over the bad tooth and closed down on it. I changed that periodically and got some relief from it.

[DFW]

47. I had that around Thanksgiving.

Throbbing, completely absorbing pain. I went to a local dentist Monday morning. An X-ray showed infections in two teeth, upper and lower molars, that had already been treated by root-canal. I got pain meds (Ibuprofen 400, taken every 8 hours) and penicillin. Usually, when I take an antibiotic, the symptoms start to get better after 36 hours. This time, it took 4 days to START to get better, and after a week, it still wasn't gone. I suspected there was another problem, and went back to the dentist a week later, and asked her to check to see if the upper tooth hadn't pushed down farther than it should have for an even bite. I had something like that 25 years ago, and grinding the upper one down until my bite was even took care of the pain. I asked the dentist to check, and sure enough, it had now happened again. She took a grinding drill, and sanded away most of the uneven-ness of the upper tooth, and that did the rest.

I've had to travel almost every day since my pain started, and that first week with the tooth pain was no joy, let me tell you. I have to travel every day again this next week (except Thursday and Saturday), so I am VERY glad that is gone.

I have used the warm salt water treatment in the past, and it helps, but if the infection is deep, it won't get to all of it.

[PCIntern]

48. The reason the antibiotic may not be working

Is that the nerve may be partially dead, and the pressure from the pus and remnants of the dental pulp within the tooth is exerted against what’s left of the nerve, and it is incredibly painful. The dental pulp/root canal system is a very tiny closed system, and is not amenable to external treatment like antibiotics within the tooth. The tooth either needs a root canal or an extraction, and it needs to be done promptly.

[Kid Berwyn]

57. Thank you!

A member of my family recently experienced this condition.

[yourout]

63. +1...when the dentist opened up my crown it erupted with unpleasantness. He said..

inside was completely dead.
It ended up being a two trip procedure because they had to clean it out and pack it with medicine for several days until they could do the permanent filling of the void.

My other two were one trip procedures because I caught it early.

[yourout]

50. I learned on my first root canal that you do not wait to get it done.

I waited one day too long and woke up with a lump on the side of my jaw the size of a golf ball. Ended up going to the ER to make sure I wasn't going septic.

Got the root canal done later that day and the pain was immediately better but it took a month for the abscess to clear.

The last two I was able to get done the same day the pain arrived and it was so much faster to recover from.

Interesting that after the last one which was the easiest of the bunch he offered me oxycodone which I declined.
A few ibuprofen the next day and I was good as gold.

[judesedit]

52. Last time I was in agony due to toothache and on a weekend

I got liquid Benedryl and Milk of Magnesia. Mix equal parts. Hold it in your mouth near tooth. It will numb the area.

At first, I actually took a Benedryl pill and let it melt next to my tooth cause I didn't have the other stuff yet. Numbed the whole side of my face so I could get some sleep.

Hope it helps you. 🤞🙏

[LeftInTX]

58. Your infection is inside your tooth

Home remedies are topical and won't do anything. Vicodin might be the best quick fix because it goes though nervous system.
Follow PC Interns advice.

[happybird]

60. All of my teeth crumbled and I eventually

had them all pulled and got dentures.

I know tooth pain all too well and it sucks.

If the pain is from an exposed nerve this is the only thing that helped me: Altoids mints and super minty gum (the type with the flavor crystals in it). It sounds crazy but it works.

Chew the gum with good teeth until it’s malleable then pack it around the hurting tooth. The gum seals the air out and the mint is a natural pain killer. Or let a piece of an Altoid mint slowly dissolve on the tooth. That kills the pain for a bit.

I tried everything (Pain killers, ambesol, clove oil, various compresses, etc, etc) and none of them did shit. Discovered the mint thing by accident.

I hope you can find some relief. Tooth pain is the absolute worst. It’s the most pain I have ever felt and I’m pretty damn tough.
Will be thinking of you today.

[werdna]

61. Try Oil Pulling.

An solution to the problem endorsed by many contemporary dentists. I have two teeth whose fillings have departed and have been decaying since and have been oil puling for ten years; infection and pain free. I add a few drops of tea tree and clove oil to the solution. Here's a couple articles on the subject:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/oil-pulling-coconut-oil

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-benefits-of-oil-pulling

[Hotler]

62. Try this, 1-ibuprofen 200mg + 2-acetaminophen 500mg, every 6-hrs.

One is for swelling, and one is for pain. I've had some pounders and this took a lot of the edge off, enough to get some sleep. I saw this online a couple of years ago. There is a new pill out now that is a combination of the two. Advil Dual Action.

Hope you feel better soon.

[ratchiweenie]

65. Actually, the emergency room often has a list of dentists who are on call for dental emgencies.

I had 4 wisdom teeth removed at one time and they became inpacted. Went to the emergeny room and they called a dentist who cleaned them out and repacked them and gave me pain killers. You can call them and ask.

[niyad]

66. Gargle with hydrogen peroxide every few hours. It has worked for me on

a number of occasions. Sage tea also works.

[Sogo]

67. No direct experience, but

I'm aware that clove oil is useful for tooth pain....

[PCIntern]

68. This tooth needs to be opened and the pulp

or what’s left of it, extirpated. Or extraction. Period. Chemotherapeutic intervention will not suffice at this juncture, nor will home remedies.

On edit: 45 years of experience. I also don’t believe in injecting bleach or shining a UV light in the mouth.

[jeffreyi]

74. Thank you.

[mcar]

70. I literally feel your pain. I had a tooth go bad a few years ago in the middle of COVID

I have never felt such pain in my life. Dentist gave me 2 days of Rx pain meds that didn't come close to cutting the pain. Endodontist recommended alternating advil and tylenol - nothing. Neither even mentioned infection.

Dentist made an appt for the extraction for one week later. Seriously. 2 days of pain meds, and we'll see you next week.

Saw my practitioner after a few days of agony. She put me on an antibiotic and Rx strength ibuprofen.

I ended up in the ER the next night because of the pain. PA gave me a stronger dose and a few days more pain meds and a oral numbing rinse that helped a bit. The 20 minute visit was $2500.

Finally the antibiotics kicked in and the pain got more manageable. I've never been so happy to lose a tooth.

All I can offer is to keep on your dentist and contact your regular doc. Don't let them be lackadaisical about your pain.

Good luck.

[Mysterian]

73. Oil of clove on a q-tip

Rub it all around the sore tooth until you can get to the dentist.