When I got my root canal I was lucky enough to have some pain meds left over from a prescription I had (ultram in the vicodin class- both prescribed by dentists for this kind of pain but you have to ask), I took them the first week and didn't suffer much at all. What you're experiencing is called dry socket and/or nerve pain/damage, chances are he drilled right down into the nerves slicing a few open- the best thing to do is avoid the same things you would for tinnitus- salt, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, especially aspartame or artificial sweeteners, drink a lot of "warm" water, the body repairs things faster when your completely hydrated, if your dehydrated the body takes longer to repair things thus the pain you feel is it trying but it can't.
I would go to a health food store and purchase some amino acids (complex) too, the body uses these to repair damages, including the teeth. (and it makes you feel good naturally). You likely won't want to eat too much because the hot cold or just hot or just cold can trigger pain- in this case I'd take a good amount of vitamins and an amino acid complex, this won't replace the need for food but it will give your body what it needs to fix the problem faster. Many people are dehydrated and vitamin, mineral, and amino acid deficient so when they do run into this kind of siutation they realize the price for bad health :)
You also have to realize the nerves are provoked in the tissues around where the tooth was drilled- just talking must hurt. Surprisingly the dentist wouldn't prescribe anything for the pain, told me to take aspirin and ibuprofen, a lot of good that did... if the pain persists I'd go back and ask for a pain killer prescription- they don't like to give them out but if you insist often they will.
Well Katie there you go- your next article :)
the tinnitus avoiding/and tooth ache avoiding foods are for good reason, 1. lower blood pressure means teeth hurt less it also tends to help the body process things if you don't have those things in there- I would go on the Paleo diet for a week or two (this diet is basically if it didn't exist or our ancestors didn't eat it, you don't eat it- including sugar, processed foods, soda, etc...- all those items above (caffeine, etc..) raise blood pressure, cause disbalance in the body and inner ear but the tooth is near the inner ear thus an infection there would cause ringing in the ears eventually, do you hear ringing? If the inner ear goes out of balance as it usually does when you have any head or neck/shoulders trauma or infection, you hear ringing, feel like a V8 commercial (before you have your v8) like your leaning or being pushed sideways...
it generally takes a week or two to heal and eliminating these things from your diet will help with the pain,DO NOT USE ANY NUMB-ers like oragel- it will inflame it and could cause infections (especially if food lodges and you can't feel it!), the salt water treatment (swishing not swallowing) will help also with the surface bacteria that tend to get in there. I would swish several times a day with potent salt water in warm water (dissolve the salt as fully as you can).
I would even go so far as to recommend you buy a tube of DR. Collins Restore Toothpaste because it has ingredients in it that work long after you brush and rinse (no mouthwash or you'll remove these qualities) that kill bacteria. If it's not painful I'd get some gum with Xylitol (trident?) and chew it slowly but often on the side where the canal wasn't rooted :) the Xylitol will kill any bacteria that produce the cavity acid I call it- they essentially eat sugar and fart acid, that acid corrodes the teeth sitting there and drilling down acid-ically...
Xylitol will help keep the bacteria at bay so the acids don't produce and push into that painful tooth area... usually this hurts the external gum line (the bacteria) around the tooth causing even more pain, Xylitol is amazing at killing this bacteria... I chew it and let the saliva sit in my mouth (as I chew) because the longer your mouth is exposed to the Xylitol the better. As you chew let your mouth water up, the saliva has healing properties for teeth, especially when mixed with Restore toothpaste (or even home made toothpaste using Bentonite clay (just BC is good) and anything with Novamin in it... the ingredients of the toothpaste and your saliva should help keep your mouth from infecting or inflaming your gums around the tooth (and a side effect is it tends to help remineralize your other teeth).
Hope this helps... I feel for you,
Jerrico
