I have an infected upper wisdom tooth. It hurts so much that I just want it out, but my dentist is insisting I take some antibiotics first and then come back in a week for the extraction. Why do I have to leave it if he knows that it is going to be removed anyway? I’m in pain. I want to get this tooth out.
Brooke
Dear Brooke,
There is a quote by John Green that says, “Pain demands to be felt.” When you are in pain, nothing else matters. My guess is your infection is pretty substantial and your dentist wants to get that under control before digging in there to take out your wisdom tooth. You didn’t mention your age, but the older you are, the more complicated wisdom tooth extractions are. It is safer for you to have that infection pulled back.
That being said, you don’t have to stay in pain. Along with your antibiotics, your dentist should have prescribed some pain medicine to you. If he hasn’t call him back and let him know how much pain you are in. There is a way to at the very least take an edge off the pain.
What you don’t want to happen when an extraction is delayed is for the antibiotics to be completed and the infection begin to return. Tooth infections are not solved by antibiotics. The infection has to be removed by either an extraction or a root canal treatment. When that doesn’t happen, it becomes life-threatening. This is why tooth infections are considered a dental emergency.
That’s not what your dentist is doing. He’s just trying to give you the safest procedure with your extraction.
This blog is brought to you by Des Moines Dentist Dr. Phelan Thomas.