Sorry for what you are going through. I can totally relate to your misery, Scary.   Do you like yogurt? (is the antibiotic Clindamycin?) When taking antibiotics it's often a good idea to eat yogurt once a day. After finishing the antibiotics you might want to drink some DanActive for a week to get the good bacteria back into your digestive system. It will keep you from getting a yeast infection or other problems. I'm not a medical professional, but I've been though many root canals and lots of mouth surgery. Just rest and tomorrow you'll feel much better.    (Oh, and don't poke at that hole with your tongue! :-)

Thanks for the response justxploring. Right now I have only been eating pudding and jell-o to take my pills, really I'm really not hungry. I just checked my bottle of antibiotics and it is Clindamycin. I don't like yogurt much, but I will take your advice and I will check out that DanActive after I'm done with the pills. I appreciate all the advice. Thank you.

Scary, I am torn since I certainly don't want to put thoughts in your head. I'm sure you'll be fine. If you aren't getting any side effects, keep taking the Clindamycin. Just make sure you don't take Pepto or any anti-diarrhea medicine if that happens to you after you stop taking it. I was going to send you some links, but I know people here will say "listen to your doctor." I just wish someone had told me about Clindamycin before I took it.

I appreciate any help and appreciate you giving me your experience and take on things. Please post the links. I would very much like to read them. I'd like to get any information you have available. The pharmacist also told me there was a chance of getting diarrhea, but I haven't experienced that yet.

Not to make light of your pain but the last time I went to the dentist the worst pain I felt was in my wallet! Hard to believe how much dentistry costs now. It's gone up way more than an MD visit percentage wise.

Back to pain. I had 4 molars out as a teen because they were too big for my mouth and were pushing my front teeth out of line. I was in bed for several days. Sounds like yours is similar. Get lots of rest and do everything the dentist says. Especially if he's cute and single. ;-)

Oh I meant to add that LiveActive now makes cultured cheese which is supposed to be as effective as yogurt at replenishing the good bacteria in your system. I just had a piece for a snack and it's quite good.   It comes in a bag of individually wrapped servings.

lol. He is cute, but not single.

I also had my wisdom teeth taking out when I was a teen, but at the time I had insurance, but it was still lower in cost. Now, I don't even want to say how much was paid out of pocket. =( I don't have insurance and I am going to be paying for this dental work for a long time. But I really need it. And thanks for the liveactive tip. I will have a look at that along with some other things that justxploring mentioned.

Scary, if you are already taking an antibiotic it's not a good idea to stop. But I'll PM you the links.

Hey TSC - I hear you ... on my second course of azithromycin and every antibiotic I take makes me sick with some type of side effect - for this 1 it's diarrhea, but I can retain it long enough for it to work which I can't with many others. I honestly would rather have diarrhea than the nausea and vomiting.    I had to experiment with eating at different times and different foods to see what would work - sometimes not eating and just drinking was the best.   I was reading through the comments - you are getting good advice - do keep the tongue out of the hole and keep your mouth shut as much as possible to prevent dry socket - wind, cold bad things until you've healed. Gentle swish and spit with warm water and tiny bit of salt after a couple of days should be okay unless dentist said absolutely not. Keep your fluids going to prevent dehydration and don't let the Vicodin get ahead of you - Keep a close count on your doses until the first few days of extreme pain are over. It's easy to take too many pills accidentally.   Cold/heat - I used a heating pad the first few days to sleep on with a low setting, but it's whatever brings you comfort.     Hopefully since they've removed the offender (quite traumatically, it sounds), you will have a couple days of misery and then steady improvement.   One thing, if the pain in the area where the tooth was removed keeps throbbing or bleeding after a couple days, call the dentist's office and make certain that he or she gets the message that it's not letting up.   Some suffering is to be expected, but enough is enough. Take care. Jake     P.S. One more thing, please don't stop the antibiotic without notifying the doc and getting another 1 started - the excision sites and root canal are prime sites for an infection to take hold which would be really not good.

I deleted my post and decided not to send the PM. I don't want to put bad thoughts in your head. If you want, use google to get more info or ask your pharmacist. I almost died from Clindamycin which is why I jumped when I saw your blog and asked you for the name of the drug. I was only trying to help, but I'm not a doctor, just someone who has permanent colon damage and feels an obligation to let people know about what this drug can cause. Chances are if you are healthy, nothing bad will happen. Just be well and smile (that is, when your tooth feels better)

Hope you feel better soon!

Hang in there, Scary-- this too shall pass!

justxploring, Jake, angelm, and Greg thank you all for the kind comments and the advice. I do plan on continuing on taking the antibiotics as recommend, but I still like to read what others have been through and what effects it has had on each of you.

Jake thank you for the very detailed post. I am rinsing my mouth with warm water and salt and I am trying to drink lots of water. I am trying to moderate the amount of Vicodin I allow myself to have as I do not want to get hooked on them. The bleeding stopped a couple of hours ago, so I don't even have to use gauze anymore. It's still a little swollen and tender, but I guess that is too be expected. The dentist even called me today to make sure things were going ok. I was in my procedure for over 3 hours and add to the fact that I had problems with the extraction, they were worried that having all that work done at once may have cause complications, so they want to keep an eye on me which is very nice.

justxploring, please don't feel bad for wanting to give information. I would have read it and took it all into account, but like you said I would follow the doctors orders unless I felt something was wrong then I could address those things with him. I do appreciate the help you were giving me. =)

The dentist even called me today to make sure things were going ok.

Great! I need to fly to Idaho! There aren't many like that left.