What can I do for extreme gum pain?

Maybe orajel and a pain reliver that’s supposed to help with swelling such as ibuprofen?

I just went through a similar thing. The dentist gave me a healthy dose of ibuprofen and it helped.

A) Rub some whiskey on your gums.
B) Go to Safeway or something similar and get some topical oral pain re-leaver.
C) Never go to that dentist again. Teeth cleaning should not do that to you.

I, like a fool, took tylenol instead, and you’re really not supposed to mix ibuprofin and acetaminophen, right?

looking for whiskey…

Edit:
How about gin or vodka?

Just drink enough whiskey to help pass the four hours you’ll have to wait to take the ibuprofin. Hopefully that’ll help until then.

Feel better, that sounds horribly painful.

@ andrew ~ you’re OK, a cocktail of ibuprofen and acetaminophen is used to bring down persistent fevers in toddlers.

If you can tolerate it, some crushed ice mixed with water held in your mouth may help (to function like an ice pack).

I take ib and tylenol together; I haven’t died yet. Try tea bags. The swelling is probably the main issue; the tanin will bring the swelling down.

Aren’t you supposed to avoid alcohol and tylenol? The Straight Dope

breedmitch, you’re correct. you should NEVER MIX TYLENOL (generic name acetaminophen) ALCOHOL. they are both processed in the liver. this can send you to the emergency room. i promise, you’ll be in a lot more pain than you were from your teeth.

personally, i’ve never found topical remedies like orajel to help me that much. advil (generic name ibuprofen) always helps my toothaches. my mom is a dentist, and thats what she always gave me.

As to the fact that you said you already took tylenol, if you took one 650 mg caplet, it should leave your system in 4 hours, if you took 2, then 6–8. the tylenol should help. it could take up to an hour to start working. I see you wrote your question an hour ago, so hopefully you’ve found some relief by now.

Best of luck with you gum pain. I’ve gotten some harsh cleanings from my own mother. I’m with you buddy.

Salt Water

Yeah, I was going to say salt water as well, unless of course, there’s a problem with high blood pressure. Flossing correctly and at least once a day (once you are healed) can really help cut down on the misery next time. It makes your gums healthier and the impaler won’t have to mine for plaque as much. But if I were you, as b mentioned, I’d switch dentists as well.

acetaminophen and alcohol are both processed by the liver but there should be no problem in taking the occasional dose at the same time as the odd drink. The real danger with acetaminophen is that the difference between a therapeutic dose and a terminal one is very small. With aspirin for example you may need to take several hundred to be sure of killing your self while with acetaminophen as little as 8–10g can be fatal.

Having said that patients with liver failure are routinely given acetaminophen to control pain so even with a severely compromised liver it can still be used safely.

A small amount of whiskey rubbed onto the gums after taking Tylenol will cause no harm. Chill out guys.

first take a dose of ibuprofen, the rub some oral numbing gel on the affected area. Then when your gums start to hurt again just gently brush your gums and reapply. The reason your gums hurt is that there probably infected from not flossing and brushing good enough and the flouride treatment they use. They floss your gums then flouride that’s why it hurts so… Start flossing if u dont and brush better! Ps. My mom was a dental and orthodantal assistant.

I have a great dental tech, but I started flossing once every single day, no matter how I feel out of self defense. I also use one of those rubber pick thingies as well. If that doesn’t inspire you enough, I had to have implants because of an accident as a small kid. The dentist said that the only reason that they worked so well was because of how I took care of my gums, which in turn keeps the underlying bone healthy.

Once a very senior citizen, 100 years young was asked if they wished they would have done anything differently had they know they’d live to 100.

The answer was: “Yes, I wish I’d taken better care of my teeth”.

Salt and water!

Surely you can find some Sea Salt and Warm Water to swish around here?

;-)

( hope you feel better quickly ) gums and mouth tissue are very quick in healing.

If you have this much pain, either the dentist, and his or her minions are very poor practitioners

OR, your gums are already in terrible shape and diseased.

I would see another dentist for a second opinion.

In the meantime, Biotene is very effective for me for minor gum discomfort. Orajel may be better.