I had a gum graft this morning (just one tooth) and the anesthetic has worn off enough that my mouth hurts, but I still can't feel my lips or my sinuses.
I took Advil as soon as I got home, but I can't more for another few hours, and ice is only helping a little. He gave me an Rx for Vicodin, but I've had a variety of injuries and surgeries where I've been given Vidodin, and I find that ibuprofen works better for me because of it's anti-inflammatory properties. Plus getting it filled means leaving the house again.
Orajel. Trust me. Go get it now before the pain gets worse. (I had skin grafted onto my gums from the roof of my mouth 4 years ago).
Is it OK to do that? The part that hurts is on the graft, which is covered in stiches. He did some procedure where he's pulling the gum down (rather than a graft taken from my palate) and he told me not to mess with pulling my lip up because it could mess with the site.
Orajel. Trust me. Go get it now before the pain gets worse. (I had skin grafted onto my gums from the roof of my mouth 4 years ago).
Is it OK to do that? The part that hurts is on the graft, which is covered in stiches. He did some procedure where he's pulling the gum down (rather than a graft taken from my palate) and he told me not to mess with pulling my lip up because it could mess with the site.
I guess it depends on if your pain is generalized or localized. If it's generalized, they should have given you a scrip for vicodin or something, and they would have told you to take it so many hours apart and to not get off the schedule.
If it's localized (like actually on the site of the surgery), I can't imagine why it wouldn't be safe there - when I used it on my grafted site (the palate), it was completely exposed (and I actually developed a cold sore ON the site and had an emergency appointment with the periodontist to dx it). I had to use Orajel regularly for more than a week until it went away.
Call your doctor and ask, but that's the kind of thing it was made for.
My experience, and experience of a bunch of other people I know, is that mouth/dental pain is about the worst kind there is (compared to other surgeries). I really hope not, but you might be regretting not filling the vicodin scrip in a few hours. ::cringe:: I also learned from that experience WHY they tell you to take it on a schedule and not deviate - it's effective when you take it before the pain kicks in, but if you take it after, it's much less effective.
Again, why don't you just call and ask them if you can put Orajel on it? I'm stumped as to why they didn't give you all this information beforehand.