Sorry to bump this question on the EF but considering all alternatives I would like to hear from other members their suggestions and experience. I know, it is not a forum to provide sound medical advice some may say and rightly so. However, before I venture to go to the dentist I would like to know what I can expect "to be served on a plate".

I have been procrastinating from paying a regular visit to the dentist for standard check-up but this slowly escalating pain makes me think again.

Few moths ago I had a minor pain in vicinity of gums where wisdom tooth is located. I have had it for some time already, a tooth, but it has never been a problem until recently. Two days ago I came down with some sort of flu, or rather throat inflammation on the same side where the wisdom tooth is. Any attempt to open up a jaw fully was very painful. I was in so much pain and then I went to the doctor, who made thorough examination i.e. blood test and sample from throat. It happened to be only a very soar throat but because of the pain, he presribed me some antibiotics with pencilline and pain killers. Immediately he noticed that the gums near the wisdom tooth were very swollen and he suggested that I should go to the dentist. I looked it up in the mirror and I saw that my left gum was twice as large as the right one and it is broken because of the wisdom tooth emerging which tries to find its way out. I only hope there is no infection or alike. Swallowing and biting have become painful. As soon as I get better, I will run to the dentist.

So now... staying at home on a sick leave, and being boozed from antibiotics, and in company of the EF, and trying to think about the worst while reading various sources on the topic e.g. this... any take on it from the Effers??? What alternatives do I have except for surgery?

If wisdom tooth has some pores, your dentist will most likely try to fill it temporarily. Within 6 -10 weeks, if you haven't got any irritation, they will close the pore with permanent filling. But if you have irritaion even slightly, then they will remove your wisdom tooth, which will be painful after the procedure.

Source: Opinion of my dentist

I had similar symptoms which turned out to be an infected wisdom tooth. I had dental insurance at the time (U.S.) but heard bad things about complex dental work on that plan i.e. yank 'em and gittem out the door.

So I called around and found the best dental surgeon in the area, and paid cash to have all 4 teeth removed. They were a mess and the doc used general anesthesia.

Infections like that are tricky as your jaw can lock shut. This happened to a friend of mine who was in the Air Force at the time. Lucky for him he had a false tooth near the front of his mouth which they removed and were able to fit a punch in the hole and chip out the bad tooth in the back. This was quite a few years ago and they may have some magic pill to get your jaw working again now. I know mine would only open about halfway when I went in.

Thanks, I already start sweating on thought of it

I say just get it out. One of mine was operated with local anesthesia (it wasn't out yet) and even though it took the dentist about 3 hours to get the stubborn ******* out, it wasn't really that bad. Well, I did look like a hamster for a few days, but still. And a few days of liquids only diet never hurt anybody

Attach it to a remote controlled car and zoooom!!!

You really need to see a dentist but if you are ill, you really need to wait until you are better unless the pain is excruciating.

I highly recommend the Zahnarztzentrum Baden.
http://www.zahnarztzentrum.ch/de/zahnarzt/baden.html

They are open 365 days a year so an emergency visit is also possible.

There are many English speaking dentists and assistants so you don't have to worry about trying to manage in German. Going to the dentist is stressful enough.

Hope you feel better soon and don't do any more research on the internet. It is just going to make you worry more.

Many thanks for the link. You are reading my mind, I wanted to go to the dentist in Baden. Any idea how much might it be?

i had a similar problem and have been putting off extracting wisdom teeth. in fact for about 2 months, i could only half open my mouth as the tooth blocked something in my jaw.

that said, i still resisted and in the end the tooth sorted itself out. it partially erupted but can't come out further. the dentist advised extraction to avoid infection etc. but I'm just more careful about cleaning it.

i might live to regret the decision as i could have had it extracted free of charge by a private maxifacial surgeon. god knows how much it would cost in switzerland...

Awesome dude! You are the first one who suggest other than having it pulled out

Ask when you call to make the appointment. The website is in English. (language selector is at the top right).
The tariff is on the website. There would be a fee for the basic examination, and x rays.
Then the treatment costs...whatever they are. Ask about the payment conditions. You might have to pay at the first visit. I am not sure if they will send an invoice for the first visit.

I can't say what the fees are as I only know the cost of a recall visit and xrays depends on how many. A panoramic xray, if you need one, is very expensive.

I would suggest extracting all 4 wisdom teeth. They say it does not have much use and it is also difficult to clean being remotely situated. If theres an infection the problems can be worse than for a normal molar, does the root of the wisdom tooth go deep into the jaw bones and so a bad infection requires a more complicated surgery?. The older the teeth, more difficult the extraction.
Zahnärzte Zentrum mentioned above by Mrs Doolittle do this under local anethesia, and at nominal charges.

I think it is normally situated and it will be done under local anesthesia. Cannot be sure though until X-ray is taken.

Swollen gums, locked jaw etc. very clearly show it's an infection around the tooth and has nothing to do with a cavity that must be filled as bARRON's dentist kindly suggested (which surely refers to a different case).

In certain cases such a condition can sort itself out, as described by Phil_MCR, but that needs quite a lot of good luck. Waiting too long can be dangerous, in rare cases even life-threatening. See a competent dentist as soon as you can stand on your own feet.

Cost: Extremely difficult to tell. The tariff doesn't leave much wiggling room for the dentist, but the expenses, of course, totally depend on what exactly has to be done. That may be a brief inspection, a bit of local antibiotic rinsing and an ointment, but it can just as well include x-rays and surgery, minor or not so minor, sometimes, as described by ullainga, several hours -- but fortunately that's pretty rare.

Extracting all four wisdom teeth because of a banal gum infection is total overkill. I still have my four wisdom teeth at the tender age of 62 years. Apart from one minor inflammation about 40 years ago I never had a problem with any of them. Still having them doesn't mean I'm any wiser, though...

By the way, I am an oral surgeon and worked at the Clinic of Maxillofacial Surgery at the Uni Hospital in Zurich for quite a few years. That's where those wisdom teeth are taken out that normal dentists are afraid to tackle. Sorry my comments are coming so late, but I was working.

You are right. We are talking about a single wisdom tooth which gives me a problem, not all of them. The symptoms that you are describing are matching the problem and I do not think that extra filling is required. I can tell you that the gum surrounding the tooth is loose and if I use a toothbrush harshly, it will start bleeding more at this particular spot.

Interestingly it looks like abscess's inflammation in my throat only intensified the problem with the wisdom tooth. Why is that? Or are these two separate problems?

Sounds to me like your tooth is severely infected and needs to be seen ASAP. I would go by what Greybeard said, he is - according to his post - a professional in this field.

I, too, had a back molar (not my wisdom teeth, they were impacted and were torn out when I was 20ish) that became so infected I could not open my jaw. The dentist could barely get a mirror in there to see what was going on. I was prescribed antibiotics and was told to basically work on getting my jaw open by using a spring-loaded clothespin to wrench it open further than it was opening naturally. They tried to save the tooth, but eventually it was a lost cause and had to be pulled.

Get it looked at!

I too had immense problems with my wisdom teeth and was in agony. My dentist prescribed antibiotics etc but my condition got worse and in the end I was sent to an orthodontist at the hopsital. It turned out that one of my wisdom teeth had erupted twisted itself around and was growing the wrong way back into the gum. On the x-ray it was clear even to my non medical eyes that if I did not have the tooth removed it would carry on growing into my gum and damage my nerves which would have meant a permanant loss of feeling in my lower lip

Saying that the tooth was no great loss as due to the fact I have a small jaw all my wisdom teeth were due for removal anyway once they had erupted enough to get them all out. Half a day in hospital, a general anesthetic, a swollen face and a few days of not eating and I was right as rain

There are possible connections in several ways. Bacterial discharge from a large infection of the gums can cause a throat infection. In the opposite direction, some very special kinds of throat infection floras can infect the gums (often in the form of a Plaut-Vincent angina). By generally weakening the regional immune system, an local infection can make it easier for bacteria to also infect other tissues in the neighborhood.

I wonder where you got the term "abscess" from in this context. Did your physician say so? I'm asking because an abscess is an enclosed accumulation of pus and usually needs opening and draining unless it's in an area where an incision (cut) could be very dangerous. Antibiotics often cannot get into the center of an abscess, so that a little cut usually is the method of choice. The very old surgical motto goes, "Ubi pus, ibi evacua."

So I can't quite imagine your throat problem was caused by an abscess, because no "evacuation" was done. Your wisdom tooth problem, however, may be an abscess, or it may turn into one. Not sure, but if it does, it really needs action. Soon. The antibiotic may protect you from the worst right now, but I wouldn't count on that. I saw people dying of an untreated wisdom abscess.

Frankly, I just picked this term loosely from my head (not knowing precise medical term). I think it should be called polyp, but I am not sure. Basically as a doctor described to me long ago it is "a thing" which is inside your throat (not malicious though I was convinced in the past) and it gets easily irritated or inflammed with sudden temperature changes, drinking cold fluids and etc. Almost every year I suffer from it for few days. Usually at turn of the season, sometimes the pain is lighter and can be cured with gargling or chewing lozenges but most of the time it is painful and needs stronger medicine. It is kind of the pain that connects with some nerves to ear and you can feel minor sensation in your left ear-drum as well. In this case doctor prescribed me antibiotics. pencilline. However he did not mention term abscess

P.S. Sorry for misunderstanding, I am not medical doctor so my vocabulary in this field can be erroneous and limited. Anyway thanks a million for good advice.

I had similar problems with one of my wisdom teeth. Put it off as long as I could stand it as well, got to the point where I couldn't talk any more. An xray later and it turned out my tooth was growing sideways i.e, into my cheek and they removed it there and then. They also said it the infection was any worse they would have had to treat it wait for it to get better before fixing the tooth so you're better going to get it seen sooner rather than later!