I had my top two wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday and I go in for surgery to pull my bottom ones in a couple of weeks. My lower left wisdom tooth is infected causing severe pain and swelling. I look rather ridiculous.
I’ve been taking antibiotics since Wednesday and taking Norco for pain around the clock. I’ve got a busy weekend coming up and can manage the pain with Meds but what do I do about the swelling? How long does it take for the antibiotics to help with swelling?
Thanks, Darren
Dear Darren,
The antibiotics are for the infected wisdom tooth to help clear up the infection; however antibiotics do not dissipate the swelling completely. Tissue that’s inflamed around a tooth can be reduced by taking 800 mg of Ibuprofen or Advil every six hours. You should also place an ice pack on your check where the infection is. Keep it there for about 15 minutes and repeat several times a day to keep the swelling down. We recommend a salt water solution as well. Take a teaspoon of salt and mix it with 8 ounces of warm water. Swish and spit until the entire glass is empty and repeat a few times a day. If your symptoms are not decreasing over the next several days we advise you to see the oral surgeon sooner to have the tooth extracted because some infections can be more severe than others making it difficult for the swelling to decrease.