Great news on the toof front

[sihayadesigns]

Just spoke with a very kind lady at the UMBC dental school in downtown Baltimore.

They offer consults through their Urgent Care clinic (including X-rays) for $45. Any antibiotics that need to be prescribed for infection will be done so then.

If the tooth needs to come out (as I am beginning to suspect that it does) extraction runs $66 - $425, depending on the complications. Still waaaaay cheaper than other oral surgeons in the area. Plus, they may offer payment plans for wisdom teeth.

So. I guess I'll be heading in for an urgent consult when they reopen on Monday. Possibly Wednesday. But, regardless-- there is an affordable end to this agony in sight. It almost makes the excruciating pain somewhat bearable.

In other news, I got clove oil last night. Gee whiz, that is not something you want to use more than a drop of at a time. Holy cow.

Comments

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

Heh. My dad used to have us kids hold a wad of ground cloves in our mouths before getting loose baby teeth yanked. I still chew on cloves as a cough suppressant and prefer them to cough drops. Clove oil? A little strong. Those nerves may never forgive you.

My family is part neanderthal. My brother had extra wisdom teeth in his lower jaw and so had a more difficult extraction than usual.

I hope you feel better soon.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Sucking on the cloves themselves would likely only exacerbate my pain as the gum/tooth/jaw is so sore that any pressure is really sharply uncomfortable.

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sucking on cloves was just to provide a surface level of numbness. Even the pinch of ground cloves as a kid was for teeth that were already loose and not causing pain. I'd imagine that the pure oil would be a heck of a hit to the taste buds, before the sense of taste just shut down entirely.

So swallowing is difficult at the moment? Ow. I'm sorry dear. I hope it resolves soon, one way or another.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

The clove oil IS really strong. But it does work, and so I'm using it in moderation until this finishes.

Swallowing is not particularly difficult, but anything that involves chewing (or even just sucking on a piece of chocolate) is balls because little bits keep getting into the partially-emerged tooth and that stings like hell.

[neopolaris.livejournal.com]

When I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed, I ended up with a dry socket in one. The solution was to clean it out and pack it with gauze soaked in clove oil. A month later I took a printmaking class in a studio that constantly smelled of clove oil (one of the things that can be used to stretch printmaking ink). Horrible.

[raspberrypie.livejournal.com]

my dentist teaches there and recommended that i go there if i needed inexpensive treatment (i was uninsured for a while, and paid him on a payment plan). as he said, "you pay in time there, not money." it is a teaching experience so it's going to take longer for someone there than it would at a regular dentist... however, it is worth it when you can't afford other options. i hope you feel better soon.

[wickercabra.livejournal.com]

Gee whiz, that is not something you want to use more than a drop of at a time.

When my parents were dating, they were down visiting my father's family.

My mother had a nasty cold.

My grandfather (her FIL-to-be) told her the old family remedy - "Take a teaspoon of sugar, add a couple of drops of eucalyptus oil, and swallow it."

What my mother heard was "teaspoon", "eucalyptus oil", and "swallow", so she did.

Apparently, it did, at least, sort out the sniffles. And all she could taste for two weeks was eucalyptus...