Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Trumpcard]

mid sat afternoon, my gum began hurting which got worse. between 8pm and 12am took 3 aspirins and 2 ibprofins to not much effect. went to sleep woke up 2ish and the pain quickly returned. Not sure if I've pulled out some or all or none of my only filling, but I cant seem to localize the pain. Think it's more in my gum/jaw between 2 molars one of which has/had the filling. Have flossed, gargled with mouthwash, brushed away using elec. toothbrush.

I doubt any dentists are open on Sunday and not sure about Monday. Should I contact my worthless directors later today? Regarding insurance, I've been here 2 months and not seen or heard any mention of it let alone an insurance card... There's some small hospital near here, (an area of Shihung City, near Bucheon,) whether they have a dentistry dept. I don't know.

I don't really wanna be spaced out for 2 days on a soju/painkiller mix

[Trumpcard]

at least can someone inform me as to what the strongest over the counter pain relief medications I can buy here? Anything a lot stronger than aspirin? And I mean from a pharmacy, not liquor store.

[jangsalgida]

There might be something you can get at a pharmacy(depending on the pharmacy) which covers a tooth temporarily for emergency situations like yours.

I'm not sure if a past post mentioned this type of thing was purchased overseas or not?

[rednblack]

Happened to me a couple of years ago. I went to the local hospital at 4 on a Sunday morning. They gave me a pain killing injection and some good pills. Did the trick until I could get to the dentist. Get someone who speaks Korean to go with you. My sympathies.

[PimpofKorea]

You ever had a spinal tap????? goddamn that hurts..never want that again in my life....

[captain kirk]

If it hurts that much, and you need a root canal, novocaine needle freezing won't work (the nerve when inflamed like that doesn't respond to novocaine freezing).

I just had a tooth paining me like yours is, and for a couple of days.The dentist, an emergency treatment, went down to the nerve and put some drug in that stops the inflamation. The pain went away immediately upon application of the drug. A temporary filling then plastered overtop.

A week later, the next appointment, the nerve was still too inflamed to allow 'drilling out' so I halted the dentist (who was about to do so). He said that in the 'old days' application of the drug to kill the nerve was the standard procedure, but now it's different.

I said that the nerve is going to die, anyway, by being chemically treated or by being drilled out. And there was no way I was going to allow him to drill out the irate nerve.

So, if this info pertains to your case, you have a choice. You can go slow and get the nerve killing drug applied, which he did, and a week later he filed out the root canals painlessly.

[Dazed and Confused]

Our local Homever, formally Carrefour, has a dental clinic that is open 7 days a week. I'm not sure if the dentist is available for each and everyday but it might be worth a try. If nothing else, then go to the emergency room for painkillers, they might have a dentist on call that could do some emergency work on you as well.
My sympathies are with you.

[swetepete]

You hopefully have gotten the rotten basterd drilled out by now, but if you are still suffering, I recommend Ibuprofin. It's an antinflammatory painkiller, and particularly effective for tooth pain. Cheap as chips here in Korea, too. Almost every yakshop has it, but some don't.

I don't have any teeth left myself, so I just use it for hangovers now, but back in 'the day' I was a regular vitamin"i" junkie. If it hadn't worked so well, maybe I'd've gone to the dentist, and maybe I'd not be gumming my food today.

[Trumpcard]

thanks people for all the great replies, much appreciated! the pain has gone away considerably but the area concerned is still a little tender/strange, found that ibuprofin and wine worked well over xmas, but going to try and get one of the k teachers to take me to a local dentist over next day or so.