My Poor Face

Poor you Hopehope. I have been lucky with my teeth till recently when some have started to remind me how old they are! A few years back I broke one and had to have a crown. Then I had to have a 'one tooth' denture which I absolutely hated!! This was replaced by a bridge which I could ill afford but was a great relief!

I dread the denture stage and like you feel down at the thought. My mother had all her teeth removed and replaced with dentures which seemed to be the 'fashion' at that time. I was almost phobic about that pink plastic when she took them out and still am traumatised about the time I had to take them to a technician when a tooth broke off. It was cheaper for me to take them as I was half fare on the bus but I insisted on them being placed in the bottom of a large carrier bag. I had to hand the technician the bag as I could not touch them.

I hope that your pain and swelling soon subside and that things work out for you. From babies in pain cutting teeth, through losing baby teeth, to pain and crumbling in old age teeth surely have the most design faults! There is a fortune to be made for someone who can genetically engineer new ones.

Good luck.

Wishing you sleep Hopehope .... teeth - they are the devil's work ....??

I do hope you feel better soon ....

Sorry to hear you are suffering such discomfort with your teeth Hopehope and that the painkillers do their job soon.

Oh dear, hopehope, horrid thing to be dealing with. My dentist recommended ibuprofen with a glass of wine to aid sleep. Not sure it's an official approach but it does seem to help. Tooth problems are miserable, hoping it settles today as the antibiotics take effect.

Hope the antibiotics are kicking in this morning.

I was told to use both ibruprofen and paracetamol for the pain when i had an infected tooth once. The pharmasist at Boots told me how to take them safely which i cant remember, so double check at your chemist for this info.

travelsafar - the answer is two hourly intervals. Take a dose of Paracetamol and then two hours later the Ibuprofen. Then two hours after that the Paracetamol again and so on.

Poor you, hopehope, I feel for you. Toothache is one of the nastiest pains. When it comes to having all the teeth out, could you afford to invest in implants instead of a denture? I knew that my mouth just would not tolerate a full denture, having had an orthodontic plate as a child. I just could not speak with it in, and my mouth felt as if it was on fire, so I cashed in some savings for implants. That was many years ago now, and I've never regretted it. The "teeth" look and feel absolutely normal, I can eat anything, even nuts, and all the days of pain are in the past.

Paracetamol is actually very good indeed for toothache - I find it as good as useless for anything else, but it was brilliant when I had toothache - took it away completely and I knew instantly when the time came to take another one, as the pain kicked in again.

Hope you get it all sorted and will be out of pain very soon.

I, too, was absolutely traumatised by my parents' dentures or lack of them. There was an unwritten rule that I never saw my mum and dad after the dentures had been removed - the sight of them gurning really upset this particular special snowflake!
I have had problems with my teeth all my life and the death sentence on them was finally pronounced a couple of years ago. I now have a mouthful of implants and they are wonderful; slightly wonky and a sensible colour - my dentist even said he could have put a filling in one to make it mor lifelike! Yes. Quite a few ££££s but so worth it.

My poor mum was a wartime refugee from East Germany, and her poor diet led her to lose all her teeth. Sadly my brother and I also had dreadful teeth, which used to break off and ulcerate, causing excruciating pain. I had my first dentures at 17, and I was mortified. I've had full dentures for many years now, and my husband has never seen me without them - no-one has. I'm still as self-conscious as I ever was, and when I've had surgical operations (many!) I've had to make the nurse promise faithfully that she will put my teeth back in as soon as I come round. The one and only benefit is that I no longer have that awful toothache, so I do sympathise with Hopehope and all I can remember is that there used to be a toothache tincture which helped a little, on top of the paracetamol.

When my mother was in hospital just before she died I found that often the staff forgot to clean her dentures, so I did it myself every day. I found the job absolutely horrible!

I too have crowns, I've not needed implants yet but would not hesitate to have them if necessary.

My husband has bad teeth as he used to play rugby, and he has had quite a few implants in the last few years which have improved his appearance and dental health immensely. I believe it really is worth the money and trouble, if it is possible for you.

My late mother used to lodge (around 1945!) with an elderly lady who had had all her teeth removed in one session and replaced with implants (which I think then might have been wooden!) - she said it was the most painful experience of her life, but she had no regrets.

Sympathise with you - toothache is just awful. My husband was swilling whisky round in his mouth when he had it a while back which seems to work ( I did make sure he didn't do this before he had to drive though ). I too have been plagued with poor teeth all my life and also opted for implants 3 years ago when bridges and crowns failed and infection set in. Yes it's expensive and I looked like I'd gone 10 rounds with Tyson after the initial op but can also say it's the best money spent. Hope you feel better soon

So sorry I truely sympathise I am just coming out of 6 months of a reoccurring ( we'll never really going) very painful abscess which was on the site of a broken back tooth and it's neighbour which had been removed about 20 years ago but they had kindly left the root behind unbeknown to me .....I had a very complex extraction of both last week which wore the poor dentist and me out and can't wait to get the stitches out next week I truely hope that will be the end of it I ve alternated between a painful gerbil and a lopsided bunny
Good luck and I hope it ll soon be behind you

I would add if I could edit .... I had six lots of anti bitics and none touched the sides of it some were hugely strong 4000mg a day still didn't shift it

I lost my top teeth at various intervals and sometime in my mid thirties I had to have a denture (false teeth in those days!) It was at an awkward time as I was attending a wedding. Now, sixty odd years on, Iam not aware of them. Lower ones cause an occasional problem. I don't like being parted from them as I don't Look my best without them.

I can recommend oil of cloves if you can stand the taste, it makes you dribble a little but takes away the pain Good luck

Thanks All, poor BlueBelle, it sounds as though you are going through the mill too. Someone suggested ibuprofen and wine I am taking Metronidazole, and if you have any alcohol at all with those it makes you violently sick. It even says to wait until 48 hours after finishing the course before having a drink.

I am having the Paracetemol together with the Ibuprofen, which helps a bit. Face still swollen but better than when I woke up. I couldn't see out of one eye this morning it was so swollen on that side that the eye was almost closed .

Regarding Implants. I did ask about those quite some time ago and the Dentist said they wouldn't work for me because the problem is with my Gums. I would much, much rather go for Implants than a denture, but if they are not going to work for me I will just have to accept that, also I don't really know if I can afford them.

Going to look into it a bit more though just to be sure.
I feel like today!!

I did put some asterisks in but they didn't work. meant to say
I feel like shit( sorry for that) today!!

I hate the dentist! Should go, but the wisdom tooth which is a little dodgy a the moment is huge, even the dentist said "that's a brute" which has not helped. I am trying to keep my teeth for as long as I can, hate the idea of going out without my dentures in, as I have rather a lot. Coward that's me.

Hopehope, do not be taking paracetamol and ibuprofen at two hourly intervals!! Ibuprofen only three times daily, paracetamol up to eight daily. Try some over the counter co-codamol every 4-6 hours as necessary and 400mg ibuprofen every eight hours.

Hopehope you have my sympathy, I have had to have several teeth out over the years but worst has been this year. I lost a front tooth but could keep top partial denture in with Fixadent, then disaster, 2 teeth (later attachments to denture) split from denture, no teeth at all at the front, just one canine tooth.

As I moved 2 years ago & hate the Dentist I hadn't signed up with one, frantic call to NHS England but as I wasn't in pain I had to wait for a vacancy, 4 months later I had an NHS Dentist, 6 teeth to be removed (2 at top, 4 at bottom), I had a choice of Dentist or Hospital, as I am terrified of Dentist I opted for Hospital.

More delays as I developed a problem with my blood (risk it would not clot properly), eventually I had them out. Pain for about 3 weeks, I can only take Paracetamol (Oil of Cloves is great). Top partial denture went in same day as extractions, fits perfectly. Bottom partial denture is a different matter, need to persevere.

I wish you all the best & hope pain soon goes

Ouch ! sounds painful ! Hope the advice above has worked ...but just a thought ! One Sunday several years ago now I had terrific pain on one side of my face ..could not eat or drink ...took every painkiller I could find in the house and my neighbour gave me some as well (good thing we never found too many as the pain was so bad I would have taken them all !) so ...first thing Monday morning I sat on the dentist's doorstep and as soon as he opened begged him to take the teeth out ....he examined my teeth and said ..Sorry, nothing wrong with any of them ....go to your Doctor and ask ,,,turned out I have trigeminal neuralgia which recurs now only about once every few years ...extremely painful but luckily only lasts a couple of days ! My doc here gave me epilepsy tablets to alleviate it ...but since they take a few weeks to work its easier just to lie down with a little heat pad on my face ,,,,,SO if the dentist finds no problem with your teeth after all ask him/her about this ! Good luck !