Okay, so heres the story. I went to the dentist about a week ago to get 2 fillings. When he went to numb my teeth with a shot in the gums, my cheek swelled. He thinks he either hit a muscle or a blood vessel or possibly both. It has been a week today and it is swollen still but not to much, I have a huge bruise on my cheek and by my eye, it also hurts to open my mouth to far. Now heres the deal, my dentist said to ice it and do not chew any gum and it will get better. A different person (who is kind of a dentist) said to use heat on it and chew as much gum as possible. I do not know who to believe.. what do you think?
Dentist horror story!! What can I do??
You poor dear! Actually, they are both right but at different phases of your recovery. After a dental procedure, it is ice for 48 hours and then heat. The ice is to prevent and minimize swelling. The heat is to encourage blood to rush to the area to speed healing. As to the gum, at this point, I don't see where it will make a difference one way or another. For the first two or three days, gum would definitely be a no-no.
Why would you believe an "kind of dentist"? If he is a "kind of dentist" it means he isn't a dentist.
Your dentist "horror story" is not that unusual. There is no way to see into the gums for vessels and nerves. I endured several painful procedures on my back teeth until we discoverd that my nerves were crossed so numbing the proper nerve numbed the neighboring tooth! Now that we know, the proper nerve can be anesthetised.
Since the instructions on ice and heat would be similar to those after having dental surgery, I will post a link here so you can read about the ice and heat yourself.
http://www.tricountyoms.com/surgical/pos...
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