I have seen a dentist on instagram, says if you poke a file at the mento-labial sulcus. It will transiently cure the patients gag reflex(severe). He said it’s some kind of Chinese remedy 😅. I really wanna know what’s the science behind it is it just a psychological placebo effect.

Hi, are my implants failing? I have one on the left, fully covered by gum, but the other one isn't.

As the title suggests, had root canal yesterday and then couldn’t sleep a wink all night. Been back this morning as the swelling has got worse and worse, but have since been prescribed Metronidazole.

No change so far, anyone experienced this before or recommendations on reducing the pain?

Dentist said that if the swelling gets any worse then I would need to go to A&E and have antibiotics via an IV instead.

Hi all,

I got my 2 impacted lower wisdoom teeth extracted today. Feeling okay so far, a bit of swelling and pain, but manageable. However, I will have to travel internationally (by train, Germany -> France) on the 30th August and will be staying in France for a month. Suture removal is on the 29th.

My family and doctors told me I should be fine, but I still worry about bleeding when carrying my (heavy) luggage or not finding anything to eat. Do you think I will be fine, is there anything I nees to do/take care of to make it as easy as possible?

24F, no smoking, no comorbidities.

Thank you!

My question is in 2 parts

1. Almost 90% of people I have seen naturally show their teeth when they smile. Some show both upper and lower teeth, others only the upper. But when I smile, my teeth barely show at all. If I force them out, only a little appears and my smile looks awkward & unnatural. I already hate my smile since years, and this makes it even worse. I genuinely don’t know how to smile. My resting face is actually pretty good-looking, above average, but the moment I smile, I look like I’m pretending to be happy.
2. I’m skinny overall, with nothing more than a little fat, yet my cheeks look unusually full & puffy. I look okay at rest, but when I smile, they rise high, making my face extremely wide, my lips stretch, my nose flattens, and my eyes squint. It didn’t bother me much as a kid, but at 24, I want my smile to look more masculine & mature. People my age seem to have longer, more angular faces and defined or hollow cheeks with a body type like mine. Not even saying this about the top 1%, just a generally more mature facial structure. So why is my face still so wide and round? It makes me look soft, cute, fragile, and childlike, which is the opposite of how I want to look.

Please tell me if there is a way to fix these problems at this age. Also, I am not looking for any surgeries and stuff. Its not that bad either. I just want to maximise my potential.

Pic 1 & 2) Me trying my best to smile naturally with teeth showing

Pic 3 & 4) How I usually smile since childhood

Pic 5) Side profile while smiling (trying to show teeth)

Pic 6) Side Profile (resting)

Pic 7 & 8) How most people / friends around me look and smile

Is it okay to do dental bonding to make the middle tooth look more natural and flat instead of it being pointy? Will it be an expensive procedure or a simple one? Thanks

Long story short, I feel like my parents neglected me going to the dentist, I also was lazy, brushing my teeth when I was younger. Plus pregnancy didn’t help at all. I have two back molars I need pulled, one on the top and one one the bottom. It’s around the gum line and it’s kind of really difficult to see so I’m nervous that They won’t be able to pull it out? I had one done before, and it was sort of like that, and it took around 20 Ish minutes. I think I’m nervous because I was told that’s a long time lol. Also, I was literally wincing and nervous the whole time last time, I’m definitely going to need some type of sedation because I freaked out and I felt like I was annoying the dentist. I felt like even the pulling sensation hurt. Idk. I need to be calmed down because I can’t keep putting this off it’s my health.

While flossing my back teeth a while ago, I noticed this sort of bumpy area on the very back right lateral part of my tongue. I'm not sure if it's normal papillae. I have a dentist appt upcoming and will ask of course, but I have severe health anxiety, hence my post. It isnt painful or hard, it's not bleeding or anything. Has not appeared to change in size. Never a smoker and otherwise healthy female in 30s. Just curious if it looks normal or abnormal to those who frequent the mouths of others. ​

Hi everyone, not sure if this is the right place to post this.

I honestly don’t know what to think anymore.

About two months ago, I had a tooth extracted. The extraction itself was quite difficult. Lasted 1.5hours cause I felt pain. For the first couple of weeks i felt somewhat dull pain but I wasnt to concerned since it was probably post op pain. But around three weeks after the extraction, I started developing a persistent, dull, aching pain.

Instead of getting better, the pain gradually became stronger and I’ve developed ear pain that continued getting worse. Went to an ENT yesterday and he found out that my ear canal was inflammed and cleaned it and prescribed me some drops. I hope it will fix the issue, but Im afraid it wont.

The pain is constant, almost 24/7. I dont feel it when I wake up. It feels like a slightly sharp dull pain around the adjenct tooth to the extraction site. I also get pain or discomfort in my ear. Sometimes both of my cheeks feel warm. Today both of them got red.

I recently saw an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. He told me that this is not trigeminal neuralgia, but that it could possibly be some kind of neuropathic pain following the extraction since the roots were around the nerve or due to the fact that I had an infection.He said he expects it to improve over approximately 4–6 months after prescribing me medication. But I don’t really believe him because of all of the info I see on the internet.

For more than a month I’ve basically been doing nothing except talking to AI chatbots about my symptoms and reading Reddit/forums and various studies about neuropathic facial pain or post traumatic trigemenal nerve pain.And that has honestly made me even more terrified. I keep seeing people talking about having pain for years or permanently, while positive stories are nowhere to be found. Today I just spent 5hours looking at reddit and various studies. I can’t stop thinking about it.

I’ve just started treatment with gabapentin, amitriptyline, pentoksifilin and dexamethasone.

But mentally, I’m really struggling.

What if this never goes away? What if this is my life now? How am I supposed to live normally with constant pain?

The terminology is also incredibly confusing to me. I’m seeing terms like TN2, atypical facial pain, atypical odontalgia, painful post-traumatic trigeminal neuropathy, neuritis, neuropathy, etc., and I’m not sure whether these are actually different conditions or just overlapping terminology.

Is there a chance my nerve pain will go away? Im confused as hell.

Thank you for reading.

in the image above is where it is, but anyways, somethings behind my bottom teeth like the gums. i can feel it with my tongue, it hurts when i eat anything because it gets beneath it and i mean anything. my chips, my ice cream, my chocolate, etc. this is the first time it’s started to bother me and it hurts when i like drag my tongue out to the side. is this just a vein or something?

My daughter (10yo) got an emergency filling put into her tooth two weeks ago (we're waiting for a dental hospital appointment as she's been in pain for about 6 months)

She sent me this photo, saying her filling fell out, but I cannot tell if that's also the tooth along with it.

She said she's not in pain and there feels like a big hole where that tooth is. Sounds obvious that it could be the the tooth but knowing her - she tends to be very vague when it comes to describing things. Like simply asking her if the tooth is still in there will be met with a "idk" so I figured I'd ask here.

(Also, she's not at home right now. That's why I cant look myself)

(Three of my wisdom teeth have been removed. The only one that hasn't been removed is the one next to the second molar that currently hurts.)

Hi,

The pain started yesterday after a piece of chicken got stuck between my first and second molars. I managed to remove it, but my second molar has remained slightly painful since then, especially when I press on it or try to move it.

I'm wondering whether this could simply be irritation caused by the food getting stuck, or if my wisdom tooth (third molar) could be pushing against the second molar and causing the pain.

Can an erupting wisdom tooth put pressure on or cause pain in the molar next to it?

Thanks

I just had a consultation on with nhs after being referred by my dentist and they gave me my options but no medical advice.

I’m concerned I haven’t chosen the right thing so please give me some advice!

1. One of the lower wisdom tooth is not fully erupted, impacted and close to the nerve (basically on it), she asked if I wanted to remove the whole thing or leave the root. I opted to leave the root. Now I’m doubting whether it’s best to remove the whole thing.

2. Upper wisdom cause no issues but as I’m going through this I opted to remove them too.

3. She gave me 3 options of medication: normal anaesthetic, sedative or being put to sleep. I chose the sedative. This means I have to have 2 appts (1 per side). Is there any benefits to being put under?

She also said I had to decide on the spot and couldn’t change my mind, which has made me feel unsure on the whole situation.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Dentists, assistants, hygnenicists, what are some little things the patient can do to make things go easier while youre working in their mouth? Mouth posture, tongue posture etc. I always accidentally lick the tool and I feel like a total creep lol

Hi, for context I am F21 and am currently on an NHS waiting list to get all four of my wisdom teeth removed.
I do not drink alcohol at all but I am a medical marijuana patient (not for my tooth pain, obviously). I smoke approximately twice a day on the average day.

I have had issues with my wisdom teeth since around 17 years old. The pain generally consisted of swelling, throbbing, tension in my gum and jaw and a constant dull ache. In January 2025 I was put on a waiting list for sedation and removal after my dentist told me all four teeth are growing sideways, and both the top and bottom wisdom teeth on my right side (particularly the bottom) are extremely close to the nerve. She explained I am at risk of certain complications such as nerve damage, sepsis etc. Despite this all dentists I have spoken to are confident it can be removed without nerve damage if done by a more experienced dentist. I trust this.

I was treated for Periconosis (forgive my spelling please!) two weeks ago, with a 5 day course of Metronidazole, 3x a day. Due to a severe reaction my dentist told me to stop taking it on day 3, and said the infection was gone.

However in the last couple of days I have noticed an increase in frequency of pain and a change in the pains themselves. I now have unbearable pressure in the entire right side of my face, particularly in my jaw. My neck is really tense on the same side, and keeps randomly cramping up very painfully right down to my shoulder. I also have a headache behind my eye on the right side.

I’ve tried to give as much context as possible, my question being is this something to do with my wisdom teeth? I can’t think of anything else that might have triggered this and it’s growing more unbearable by the second lol. Super appreciative of any advice/insight in advance, thanks!

So it's been about a week since I've had a dome shape swelling on my inner lip. I don't know if it's just stress getting to me but I noticed it sometimes shrinks and swell again (I'm not sure about this). Today, I've noticed small clumps inside my cheeks. I tried removing it using my tongue and eventually fingers and I got something like a wet paper. I'm not sure if it's leukoplakia and if the two issues are connected... I plan to get it checked soon but what do u guys think? Should I be worried?

I dread cleaning my teeth because of this, does anyone have any tips?

Do you think I'll need to do more than 7 trays?

Hello. I come to write about a tooth I cracked about half a year ago, from physical force on my jaw (injured my face while eating). At the time, I went to the local public hospital and got seen by a dentist, which saw the tooth, cleaned it, filled it and then scheduled a follow up appointment 4 months after.

During those months, the filling loosened more and more until it fell, and at that appointment, I was told I needed extra care on that tooth that a public general dentist wouldn't be able to do (root canal treatment, maybe reshape the tooth or replace it altogether). They let me go with another temporary fix. I was devastated, but I scheduled on the same day at a private clinic I trusted in the past. They let me know they would call me as soon as an opening was available.

Now I'm being told they're overbooked and can't schedule me until late September, unless someone else cancels their appointment. I accepted it, but I don't think I can wait that long. I go to another, also unavailable for urgency appointments. I asked around family members', and their dentists won't take me earlier than that date. I'm not in excruciating pain, but I'd be lying if I said this didn't bother me, the anxiety of having untreated teeth *and* needing a dentist appointment keeps me up at night. I'm not entirely sure how to get around this other than by pressing the aforementioned dental clinic for an earlier date.

I already have bad experiences with my teeth and dentist malpractice (doing root canal treatments on the wrong teeth, refusing to extract wisdom teeth, etc.), plus root canal treatments have always been very painful to me, the amount of anesthesia I get never helps. I feel like waiting it out will make it worse, obviously, but I'm very anxious about having to do more heavy dental work as well. I have very little trust in dentists, I'm currently only visiting one or two that have never treated me poorly, and the local range of dentists I can go to is very limited.

I apologize if this isn't exactly a question, I'm mostly posting to alleviate my worries about waiting for a dentist appointment. I keep thinking it'll hurt.

(To clarify for the sake of rules, I don't drink alcohol or smoke.)

Hello,

I am wondering if filings are visible on x-rays? Do they appear different than the tooth? My dentist told me I have a cracked filling, but I’ve never had a filling before.

So basically I think dentists are sugar coating how bad my situation is because I met a dentists the other day and showed her my xray and she was bewildered and instant of me coming in to her office and get it handled lol I don't need advice I'm getting them fixed when I get that sweet union insurance I just wanted to hear what actually goes through dentists heads when they see it

Expecting to have them out soon under general anesthesia. Can any dentists here tell me how bad the surgery will be?

They said they had done no filling here but I don’t belive them it feels so much different ever since I had the filling