I have an impacted tooth ( molar ) and it is getting bad. It is chipping off in small pieces. The tooth its self doenst hurt, But where the pieces have fallen away , its left sharp edges, and the edges are cutting the inside of my mouth. It is swollen and making it hard to eat... ( like I cant stand to miss a few meals....hehehe). I think it might be infected. My hubbies new job ( ran by Beavis and Butthead ) didnt get the insurance papers filed right so we dont have insurance for the dentist... Do you have any suggestions on how I can survive till I can get some insurance or some money??? All help is greatly appreciated.... Kristean

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002

Answers

Whiskey. Either drink enough so you don't care (and it could be pulled at that point :>) or use a cotton ball soaked in whiskey, vodka or pga and soak the tender places to numb it. Or maybe Oragel or those other otc dental numbing salves. I've tried them all (except having one pulled when I was drunk :>) and they all work.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

Kristean, Until recently I had a really bad wisdom tooth in much the same shape. The best thing I found for it was rinsing with goldenseal and chili powder tea. A 1/16 tsp of each in a cup of warm water should do the trick. This tea carried me through for eight months before we finally got our ducks in a row for surgery. As of february i am pain free. I REALLY feel your pain! By the way it tastes awful, but works great. Make sure you get goldenseal root powder.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit Farm (littlebit@farm.com), March 23, 2002.

Find someone you trust that has a dremel tool and have them smooth it down.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 23, 2002.

Do you have any wax like they use on braces or know anyone that does? Would that help? That is surely miserable! My friend chews on aspirin, but I have heard that makes the tooth worse because of the acidic reaction. Don't know...I know that oil of cloves is supposed to help too. Maybe if you don't have any of that special wax you could use paraffin or something after it has been softened. I know that when my boy's braces hurt them that they put a piece of wax over the sharp points.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), March 23, 2002.

Boy I don't envy you. Been there, done that. If there is a university nearby with a school of dentistry They'll do the job pretty cheap. I took that route once and was real happy with the work done and the price was right.Usually the take emergency cases real fast, sure beats suffering. I can pretty much handle a fair amount of hurting but a toothache does me in. Good luck.

-- JJ Grandits (JJGBDF@aol.com), March 23, 2002.

clove oil and dissolved aspirin work fairly good for toothaches but she said it's not the tooth that's hurting. Aspirin will irritate the lining of the mouth more than it already is. If you can't find someone to grind it down with a dremel, or do it yourself with a nailfile(yeah i know-drastic), try the parafin wax. Cap the whole tooth with it. It'll still be tough to eat but it'll give your mouth time to get the irritation and swelling down. Gum will work too if you don't have any wax.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 23, 2002.

Kristean, JJ has the right idea. The university near us pulled a tooth for me-2 x rays and the extraction was $45. Man I feel for you-I can handle about any pain but a toothache.

-- Terri in WV (mrs_swift_26547@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

I am the toothache queen! I sure wished my father hadn't been so ignorant of the flouride treatments that were done for free at school back in the 1960's. Neither me or my bother were allowed to have this done, he didn't believe in such things. I therefore got soft teeth. By the time I was 15 I had several teeth that needed filling.

Then down the road, about 15 yrs ago I worked for a agency that had a company dentist. He did work for free and so he did crowns, root canals and a bridge. But now after 15 yrs all of thisw ork fell apart. I'm glad i didn't pay for it, would feel worse than I do now.

Anyways, let me mention the importance of trying to get it taken care of. Don't make the mistake and not go to the dentist. I did, wish I ahd sooner. I knew the fillings and crowns fell out on my upper right side. The one tooth is really strange, the dentist yrs ago mentioned I didn't have wisdom teeth, but then a few yrs later another said i did. But this particular tooth is a small tooth bud like tooth. Then next to it are 2 molars that are killing me. I I had awful toothaches til a few weeks ago, then it stopped. So I thought I wa shomefree.

Monday my right cheek swelled up bad, never before experienced that in my life. My best friend warned me it might do that. I went to the dentist tuesday as a ER, he gave me penacallin and pain killers. He said if my eye swelled then get to the ER right away. wow, what an infection. so moral to the story, get thee to the dentist. In the meantime EX PM works great for pain, rinsing with whiskey, or even Listerine, reg kind.

Hope this ehlps. belive me i can relate.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

Rinse your mouth with warm salt water(heavy on the salt) and hold the salt water on the tooth for alittle bit. You can also use peroxide as a mouth rinse. It doesn't taste that great but it works. Either or both rinses should be done several times a day, they will help with the pain and possiblity clear up the infection. I've had alot of experience with teeth problems since I haven't had any medical or dental insurance in 15 years.

If all else fails, you can always take some amoxicillian. It will clear up the infection. The amoxicillian capsules that you get from the vet for your dog is the same that you would get with an expensive prescription. I hope this helps.....

-- Jodie in TX (stanchnmotion@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

Ouch!

Yes, get thee to some university's denistry teaching school, even if you have to drive hundreds of miles. You've got to get that thing fixed before it abscesses and maybe kills you -- not to mention the pain.

Squish a strong mouthwash around on it frequently to kill surface germs and help keep down the infection.

Darvocette is a good pain killer, but that requires a trip to a dentist and a prescription.

As for temporary relief, I've tried every pain killer known to man and concluded the best is Ambesol. It's much easier to apply than Orajel because it's liquid. Comes in a little bottle. Just wet a Q-Tip in the bottle and rub it on liberally. It'll deaden the tooth and everything around it. Fast.

God, I feel for you. I've been fighting rotten teeth for years. Just haven't got up the nerve to go get 'em all pulled and replaced with falsies.

-- Hank in Oklahoma (hbaker@ipa.net), March 23, 2002.

lol, Is Nan and I the only people who read what Kristean said?

" The tooth its self doenst hurt, But where the pieces have fallen away , its left sharp edges, and the edges are cutting the inside of my mouth. "

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 23, 2002.

The wax they use for braces is mainly beeswax, consistency of modeling wax. The other thing you might do is buy an emergency filling kit, that they sell in pharmacies.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), March 24, 2002.

The emergency filling kits work! My nephew had a tooth broken off and he didn't know which was worse ~ the sharp edges or air hitting the root! We patched him up until we could get him to a dentist (in Mexico ~ live anywhere near there? $20 and it'll be gone!). It held up pretty good, but he had to eat soft food. For infection, hold a little whiskey on that side of your mouth for a couple minutes. Might not taste so good, but it'll draw the infection right out! Good luck!

-- Wingnut in Spicewood, TX (wingnut@moment.net), March 24, 2002.

If I read correctly, its the cut area that is swelling, not the tooth. For that I have taken a band aid size strip of fine sandpaper, folded it over for traction and dulled the sharp area. For swelling gums, terriamacin (no one here spells it correctly!)for bees is available at feed stores, just dip a wet finger in the powder and have at it. Chewing tobacco juice deadens the nerve within a few minutes.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), March 24, 2002.

Go to Wally world they sell a patch kit,looks like a concret type paste. Follow the directions and smear it on the sharp points. I ask a dentist about it and he said it was made for the guys in war time and it does work and is easily removed by a dentist. Good luck.

-- renee o'neill (oneillsr3@comcast.net), March 24, 2002.

Call a dentist and explain your situation. Possibly a local dentist will treat you and wait to send in insurance paperwork or give you a cost you can handle in payments. The dentist would be smart to do this in order to obtain a good patient in the near future. Get it fixed...you don't want an infection or abcess to get started and then it would be more money out of pocket. Good Luck !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), March 24, 2002.

The way I look at it is that on a homestead you are your most used tool. Maintain yourself as you would an expensive piece of machinery. You will work harder and longer and more efficiently if running at 100%. Do it yourself solutions will work for the short term, but will be treating the symptoms (cuts, swelling, perhaps infection) not the problem.

I have used university dentistry too. If you can be patient with the time it takes in the chair, they are very affordable. Call around and check with a local dentist who might barter his work for some cash and some goods (eggs/gardening work, etc.). I have a friend who is a local orthodontist and actually bartered some work for artwork from a local painter.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), March 24, 2002.

Use a diamond file (sold in the nail accessories section of discount stores) to file the sharp edges down, then apply clove oil to the edges to help with any pain created by the filing.

Then... start calling around to find a dentist that will allow you to make payments with NO interest charged. Tuesday, I am driving up to where we used to live ( 140 miles away) because Dr. Liff has always allowed us to make payments interest free for the last 21 years, and he still has that same coutesy to his new patients as well, my good friend just started seeing him for that very service too!!! Plus, he has the cheapest prices on dental work in the tri-state area.

Do some legwork and phone work, and you WILL find (you might have to drive a bit) a dentist that you CAN afford.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), March 24, 2002.

I also read its NOT hurting, however, experience has been at least with my teeth that this will eventually turn into a toothache. I think the subject line, tooth is killing me equated with pain. At any rate, get to the dentist.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 24, 2002.

Go to the dentist, insurance or not, and have it taken care of. They always take payments here. My dad was a dentist and they are lovely people to me:)! Infected teeth are poison.

-- Nancy (nannyb@huntel.net), March 24, 2002.

If the culprit tooth isn't infected yet, it will be. That will make you forget about the damage to your tongue. Here's something that will keep the infection at bay until you get to the dentist: Grapefruit-seed extract. For less than ten bucks, you'll have enough of this to last for years. Get it at the healthfood store. It might be called GSE, or Citricidal. NutriBiotic makes the brand I have. Make some mouthwash with about seven drops per ounce of water, and swish with this several times a day, giving it a minute or two each time. I held the dentist off for two years doing this; the stuff's miraculous. It'll also annihilate any bad breath, better and safer than any mouthwash on the market. GrapeFRUIT extract, not grapeSEED.

-- Mike Stoudenmire (zeus@tcsn.net), March 24, 2002.