what if I don't take this medication?

[esolo]

I just had a molar extracted.

The doctor prescribed a certain antibiotic for me. However, I don't like taking medication unless I actually HAVE an infection. He said that it was to prevent one...but that the choice is up to me. I may be OK without it...but maybe not.

What if I DON'T take this medication?

46 unchanging.

Successful progress
Great success
Fear not

It's certainly doesn't sound like a negative answer. I understood it to mean that I'll be OK not taking the medication.

Any other ideas?

If I don't have an infection why take a potentially dangerous drug? If I get an infection...that's another story. However, right now...I don't have one.

Btw, I asked what I need to know about taking the medication and I got 25.4

 

[pocossin]

What if I DON'T take this medication?
46 unchanging

Take it. 46 is appropriate for a tooth extraction. You have a hole (☷) in your gum, and it is seriously important that you do not develop an infection. In my experience, antibiotics are not harmful when taken for a short period of time. I have done so repeatedly with no ill effect. Prevention is better than cure.

 

[Trojina]

I agree there is no point taking the antibiotic if you have no infection. I had a large molar removed and didn't need antibiotics although I had had them prior to extraction to get rid of the abcess so the tooth could be removed so probably I had enough in my system. If he's giving you a choice then I don't think the readings say 'take these antibiotics'.. The point is did he have reason to think you'd need them ?

I guess you could leave it a day or two and see how it goes. I think that's what 25.4 says here 'see how it goes'. Not sure about 46 here other than the idea of going beyond the need for them. Rinsing gently with salt water after the blood clot has formed should kill off the bugs.

Any I guess it's totally up to how you feel. I found the hole heals very quickly by itself.

 

[esolo]

The point is did he have reason to think you'd need them ?

No, he prescribes them for all extraction patients. It's routine. My tooth wasn't infected when I went in. It had just been broken for quite some time and recently another piece broke off.

People here have a bad habit of taking/prescribing antibiotics at the drop of a hat. You can even buy antibiotics over the counter.

I did a bit of Googling and found a study that showed antibiotics after impacted molar extraction didn't appear to be of any real benefit.

I'm going to wait a day or two and see how I feel.

 

[goddessliss]

Hex 46 in answer to you question sounds positive to me - don't take it, no need to worry things will go well. The antibiotics are there as a safeguard for just in case.

 

[esolo]

Thank you to everyone who responded.

I have less pain and jaw stiffness today than I did yesterday.

Let's see how it goes....

 

[esolo]

Here's an update on what happened with the tooth extraction.

I did not take the prescribed medication and I was fine.

 

[Trojina]

Thank you for updating. It's really helpful :bows:

 

[FlyingFish]

I appreciate that you updated us on this, esolo!

I think follow-ups (complete pictures of the entire story) are the most helpful thing for those of us just getting started interpreting!!

 

[wind]

Gah! This is one of those situations that I must interject from a medical standpoint.

Yes, there are plenty of doctors that tend to prescribe medications as if it is going out of style. However, with an open wound into subcutaneous tissue at the site of bone (your jaw)- Take the antibiotics.

As someone in the medical profession and a not so firm believer in always turning to medicine; I would say this is one of those times you just take it and let it heal up nice and clean.

 

[wind]

And I'm not so fashionably late! LOL

 

[esolo]

Gah! This is one of those situations that I must interject from a medical standpoint.

Yes, there are plenty of doctors that tend to prescribe medications as if it is going out of style. However, with an open wound into subcutaneous tissue at the site of bone (your jaw)- Take the antibiotics.

As someone in the medical profession and a not so firm believer in always turning to medicine; I would say this is one of those times you just take it and let it heal up nice and clean.

Apart from the reading I did a bit of research on the issue and I found that not all dentists prescribe antibiotics in these cases and that there's even research suggesting that it doesn't make that much difference.

Antibiotics are strong medications. Why take one if you don't have an infection?

 

[Trojina]

Gah! This is one of those situations that I must interject from a medical standpoint.

Yes, there are plenty of doctors that tend to prescribe medications as if it is going out of style. However, with an open wound into subcutaneous tissue at the site of bone (your jaw)- Take the antibiotics.

As someone in the medical profession and a not so firm believer in always turning to medicine; I would say this is one of those times you just take it and let it heal up nice and clean.

Well if her mouth has already healed she isn't going to need them now. I have had a tooth out with no need for antibiotics and so have many others I know. Dentists will often give antibiotics as a standby in case there an infection develops but they don't say you have to take them if you don't need them.

She doesn't have an open wound anyway...this thread is months old. It's already healed. Mine healed by itself too....a few years ago, within a few days...do you think I should start taking antibiotics for it now .............

As dentists themselves here advise only to take antibiotics after extraction if you need them then I don't see that you are advising from a 'medical standpoint;.


As this thread is from February you must have figured out the wound would have healed by now. If you imagine it is necessary to take antibiotics months after the mouth has healed...then you actually aren't in a greater position to give 'medical' advice than a dentist or any one of the thousands of people who have extractions without antibiotics.

 

[pocossin]

Gah! However, with an open wound into subcutaneous tissue at the site of bone (your jaw)- Take the antibiotics.

Good point. Prevention is better than cure.

 

[wind]

My apologies. I should have read the dates.

I do agree with Pocossin on this though. Most extractions are left to heal from the inside- out and more rarely are those open sockets stitched closed. Contrary to the fact mouths heal relatively fast; mouths are also filthy. And in the case of patients with diabetes, healing time is always prolonged. All sorts of bacterium can enter the extraction site during the healing time, causing infection.

If any of you unfortunately ever experienced a "Dry Socket", you would understand the amount of pain caused by bone exposure to oxygen. I assure you, if you spoke with a DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) versus an MD (Medical Doctor), they would express to you in great detail how infections in bones are dangerous and life threatening- and unbelievably painful! A DO believes in the principle that all diseases originate from within the bones. Which makes sense being blood is produced within the bones. Might seems like a harmless little infection that one is willing to gamble with... Until it becomes a major catastrophe that impacts the patient's health.

That's all I got for you. I'm in the field of Geriology and Endocrinology, not Dentistry.

 

[Trojina]

I think Esolo's own experience speaks for itself.



Like I said and Esolo said before dentists give you a choice. You take antibiotics if you need them. If Esolo's healed itself months ago what are you agreeing with ? You aren't making any sense .

Everyone knows how painful an infection would be but she didn't have one.


I don't get how months after someone's mouth healed you come and say she should have taken antibiotics...





I guess dentists do know best here yes. She didn't have 'dried socket' and neither did I after extraction and neither did anyone I know who has had an extraction need antibiotics.


Anyway I think Esolo made the right choice based on the reading and her symptoms and more importantly so does she or she wouldn't come back to tell us how it went.

 

[pocossin]

She didn't have 'dried socket' and neither did I after extraction and neither did anyone I know who has had an extraction need antibiotics.

You know me. I did. You have no idea how bad it can get.

 

[wind]

What I had said was that I should have read the dates.

I am glad she didn't end up with an infection.

My commentary was to be informative as to why antibiotics should be taken in situations that there is an open wound in the mouth- or any part of the body for that matter- as a means to prevent what could become a horrifying infection.

If it hadn't been studied and documented; the universal course of treatment would not be standard to prescribe antibiotics.

And I have had a dry socket with infection after having one of my wisdom teeth pulled. It happens more than any of us think.

 

[Trojina]

My commentary was to be informative as to why antibiotics should be taken in situations that there is an open wound in the mouth- or any part of the body for that matter- as a means to prevent what could become a horrifying infection.

Antibiotics do not always need to be taken following tooth extraction. So you are incorrect and misinformed to state that everyone should take antibiotics following an open wound in the mouth.

Sometimes it is necessary, if the dentist really thinks so...but often if enough precautions are taken, in straight forward extractions ie the dentists cleans out the wound and one uses salt washes, there is no need for anti biotics.

Yes it can be a 'horrifying infection' but one will not always be at risk from that. Also you are wrong to say antibiotics are needed where there is any open wound. People often have open wounds with no antibiotics. If they aren't kept clean enough or are too deep or there are complications then yes they would have antibiotics but for ordinary cuts and grazes of course they don't.


You are over generalising...way over generalising. I know of many who have had extractions with no antibiotics, (like I already said) so I don't know how you can claim to know more than actual dentists who do actual extraction or the millions who have had extraction with no antibiotics. Of course infections can develop but that doesn't mean everyone always has to take antibiotics without even thinking about it.

If it hadn't been studied and documented; the universal course of treatment would not be standard to prescribe antibiotics.

It isn't 'standard' except where you are by the sounds of it. Millions of extractions occur everyday without antibiotics. You are over generalising without knowing. It certainly is not a 'universal course of treatment' either. Are you claiming to know what happens in every dental practise in the world ? I have told you that I and many I know of have had extractions without antibiotics and yet you don't believe it and claim there is a 'universal course of treatment'.




Anyway I think we are well off topic of I Ching now so I think we are going to have to agree to differ. Apart from that 25.4 didn't exactly shout 'use antibiotics' although Esolo was also wisely following how the symptoms went.

 

[wind]

I disagree. I am hardly misinformed. I have spent enough years working in the ER to know first handed how many infections walk through the door at ungodly hours. While every single extraction may not require antibiotics, it is indeed prescribe to prevent infection- Or they wouldn't be given. Surely it is up to the patient whether they follow a course of antibiotics or not.

Standard- yes it is. Don't know where you got the information that it is not, but organizations such a WHO and AMA (among others) have documentation from doctors all over the world that collaborate their studies and compile text and papers that define diseases, infections and surgical procedures and standardize courses of treatment- GLOBALLY.

Further proof of such- We all code every known illness,disease, injury and causes of injury the same exact way. ICD-9 is the current standard. As of October 2015, the entire globe will be using ICD-10. ICD is the International Classification of Diseases.

I'm not going to argue or defend what I spent over a decade of studying and what I do for a living. Again, I am not a dentist; but I am a medical practitioner.

 

[Trojina]

I disagree. I am hardly misinformed. I have spent enough years working in the ER to know first handed how many infections walk through the door at ungodly hours. While every single extraction may not require antibiotics, it is indeed prescribe to prevent infection- Or they wouldn't be given. Surely it is up to the patient whether they follow a course of antibiotics or not.

Exactly of course not every extraction requires antibiotics. As I said it is given as a back up if needed or if the dentist has reason to prescribe

Standard- yes it is. Don't know where you got the information that it is not, but organizations such a WHO and AMA (among others) have documentation from doctors all over the world that collaborate their studies and compile text and papers that define diseases, infections and surgical procedures and standardize courses of treatment- GLOBALLY.

We are speaking of whether antibiotics are always prescribed following tooth extraction. Of course not. I can find innumerable links where the use of antibiotics are discussed like this one

http://www.simplestepsdental.com/SS/ihtSSPrint/r.==/st.32226/t.31933/pr.3/c.354241.html

I disagree. I am hardly misinformed. I have spent enough years working in the ER to know first handed how many infections walk through the door at ungodly hours. While every single extraction may not require antibiotics, it is indeed prescribe to prevent infection- Or they wouldn't be given. Surely it is up to the patient whether they follow a course of antibiotics or not.

at last you finally recognise not every extraction needs antibiotics. You are now saying it's up to the patient which is what I said in the first place. I have already said they can be used to prevent infection......of course they can. That doesn't mean they are always used even if there is no infection. Yes it is up to the patient to see how symptoms develop. So it was up to esolo, that is why she asked the question here, to decide whether to take them. She had no symptoms and decided not to and has been fine ever since.

Standard- yes it is. Don't know where you got the information that it is not, but organizations such a WHO and AMA (among others) have documentation from doctors all over the world that collaborate their studies and compile text and papers that define diseases, infections and surgical procedures and standardize courses of treatment- GLOBALLY

.

We are talking about whether antibiotics are always given for tooth extraction. Of course not. You ask where I get the information ? Well like I already said I have my own personal experience and many others. Also it doesn't take much Googling to find that use of antibiotics following extractions is not routine, it's considered. Also over use of anti biotics when the person doesn't need them can compromise the immune systems.

Here is one link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0049712/ which gives a more nuanced view of the use of antibiotics following oral surgery. It is not a blanket procedure as you imagine

I could post more but it's an I Ching forum not a dental practise forum

Further proof of such- We all code every known illness,disease, injury and causes of injury the same exact way. ICD-9 is the current standard. As of October 2015, the entire globe will be using ICD-10. ICD is the International Classification of Diseases.

I'm not going to argue or defend what I spent over a decade of studying and what I do for a living. Again, I am not a dentist; but I am a medical practitioner.

And I'm not going to argue or defend my own experience in dentists with my own teeth. and other's I know here in the UK. You can believe what you want but you are completely wrong in thinking all extractions are given antibiotics'...oh hang on in the last paragraph you acknowledged they weren't.

Further proof of such- We all code every known illness,disease, injury and causes of injury the same exact way. ICD-9 is the current standard. As of October 2015, the entire globe will be using ICD-10. ICD is the International Classification of Diseases.

I'm not going to argue or defend what I spent over a decade of studying and what I do for a living. Again, I am not a dentist; but I am a medical practitioner.

We aren't discussing diseases ...we are discussing antibiotics following tooth extraction. You now are saying preventative antibiotics might be given, earlier you were saying they must always be taken. So you have changed what you are saying.

I could find you some more links that say yes sometimes antibiotics are used but not always...but it's off topic.

I would suggest we simply agree to disagree in certain areas but if you have more to say feel free to PM me because we are way off topic and this must be my last post on this.