My wisdom teeth decided to come in finally, and my gums are so swollen I can't close my mouth. Its painful to talk, chew, and swallow due to how swollen it is. I was seen at our rural dentist, and she said I need to have it removed but she couldn't do it there. I have to wait a month or more for my referral for oral surgery 250 miles away can go through. She gave me antibiotics, I'm on day two of taking them, but thats it.

I'd been managing the pain since yesterday with tylenol and warm saline rinses, but it doesn't seem to be helping and the swelling is pretty bad. I contacted my team to see what else I could possibly take, but they haven't responded yet.

Does anyone here have any recommendations?

Wisdom teeth pain is terrible. Keep ringing your team. I have a sleeve and my surgeon allowed me to have a NSAID occasionally (one at a time & not continuous days) from after my second year. But I believe the no NSAIDS rule is stricter for bypass & you’re only such a short time post surgery.

You could always try a shot of vodka or scotch. I mean, shockingly now, they used to give teething babies a rum soaked cloth to suck until mid the last century. What about freezing a wet cloth & applying it to your gums or freezing fruit. Try googling natural baby teething remedies for other ideas. Your wisdom teeth coming through is really the same experience.

Yeah, as Arabesque said, NSAIDs are a big no no with your bypass, but better tolerated with a sleeve (our doc doesn't even restrict it to occasional use like that, though it's still a good idea to restrict it.) It is definitely a check with your surgeon thing, as they will differ as to what their experience tells them - some are OK with NSAIDs for an occasional day's use and many aren't, but a month would very likely be a big NONO. There are COX2 inhibitors like meloxocam that might help, they tend to be somewhat better than common NSAIDs on the stomach, but not entirely safe. The narcotics are a lot more restricted than they used to be, even at low doses, so those may or may not be appropriate these days.

The warm rinses help with open tissue problems (like recent incisions or cavity) but this is likely more inflammation which tends to respond better to cold - try ice packs (or a bag of frozen peas) around the area for 10-15 minutes at a time in addition to the Tylenol until you can get a reading from your surgeon.

On 4/14/2023 at 10:24 PM, Arabesque said:

Wisdom teeth pain is terrible. Keep ringing your team. I have a sleeve and my surgeon allowed me to have a NSAID occasionally (one at a time & not continuous days) from after my second year. But I believe the no NSAIDS rule is stricter for bypass & you’re only such a short time post surgery.

You could always try a shot of vodka or scotch. I mean, shockingly now, they used to give teething babies a rum soaked cloth to suck until mid the last century. What about freezing a wet cloth & applying it to your gums or freezing fruit. Try googling natural baby teething remedies for other ideas. Your wisdom teeth coming through is really the same experience.

On 4/16/2023 at 8:52 AM, RickM said:

Yeah, as Arabesque said, NSAIDs are a big no no with your bypass, but better tolerated with a sleeve (our doc doesn't even restrict it to occasional use like that, though it's still a good idea to restrict it.) It is definitely a check with your surgeon thing, as they will differ as to what their experience tells them - some are OK with NSAIDs for an occasional day's use and many aren't, but a month would very likely be a big NONO. There are COX2 inhibitors like meloxocam that might help, they tend to be somewhat better than common NSAIDs on the stomach, but not entirely safe. The narcotics are a lot more restricted than they used to be, even at low doses, so those may or may not be appropriate these days.

The warm rinses help with open tissue problems (like recent incisions or cavity) but this is likely more inflammation which tends to respond better to cold - try ice packs (or a bag of frozen peas) around the area for 10-15 minutes at a time in addition to the Tylenol until you can get a reading from your surgeon.

Thank you both for responding! Just an update! My team responded and they recommended curcumin and sucking on ice chips.