Hi all, I am going to try to make this quick because for some reason when I type to long I lose all my stuff because I get logged out here at work. So yesterday I went to the dentist.. Basically she tells me my wisdom teeth need to go and that they won't treat me with a narcotic for pain because I am in the suboxone program.. She made me feel so small yesterday that when she was working on a filling I had tears rolling down my eyes. My feelings were hurt.. I am ashamed of the choices I have made to be where I am today.. I just could of went without the rude comments. So she tells me this and now I am a nervous wreck. Does anyone really know if that's true? I am going to have four teeth cut out of my mouth and a regular person would get an opiate but I can't because I tried to make a change in my life for the better? Also.. I have to schedule this soon because one of my teeth have already ruptured. So I obviously cannot be on bupe and go under and come out on pain meds either so I am going to speed up my taper and try to get to 1 mg in a month. I am at 2 right now.. Do you guys think being off for five days is long enough? I'm so afraid of something happening to me when I go under from the bupe being in my system.. Idk guys.. I feel very discouraged and alone right now. I could use some advice. Thanks

hey B days, well im sorry a "pro" made you feel this way..try to forget about it..anyway maybe you could hold off on having the work done. Or you could go to a different dr.. However i would go to Dr J'S blog and look up a post of his on pain management an subs. This will be of great help to you coming from a REAL PRO!!! Hope this helps and in sure others will come aloug with suggestions too..good luck and uno what,your doing great,your in recovery,so to hell with these people outside of our recovery world... raz...

Hi Brighty,

My goodness...some people are incredibly insensitive. There is no reason for anyone to make you feel bad about mistakes you have made. It seems as if some people think it's ok to look down on us because of our addiction. But nobody is perfect. I'm sure this woman has things from her past she isn't proud of, it just happens that our mistakes will forever be a part of our medical history and everyone will know it. You have nothing to feel bad about Brighty, you have done something that alot of addicts will never do. Admit that you had a problem and took steps to fix it. The guilt is overwhelming sometimes and it doesn't help when people make you feel worse...I wish they would take a step back and think about it before making broad assumptions about our moral failings. It really bugs the crap outta me!

As for whether you can take narcotic pain meds while on bupe...I might be wrong but I think she CAN write them for you, it would just be whether or not they feel comfortable prescribing to an ORT patient. I think if it were me I would try to find another dentist that isn't so biased about patients with addiction issues. I understand that most dental procedures can be endured without pain meds, but having wisdom teeth cut out wouldn't be one of them as far as I'm concerned. I had mine done a few years ago, and the first few days sucked pretty bad. If you can find another dentist and just make it clear to them that you are an addict who is in treatment, and you are concerned about having NOTHING for pain for at least the first couple days. Ask them if they can at least write you enough to get through maybe two days and no more. If you make it clear that you only want enough to get through the worst of the pain they should see things differently. Maybe you could contact your sub doctor and get them to write you a letter of recommendation or let the dentist call them so they can see that you have been doing well with your treatment and won't suspect that you are drug-seeking.

Don't let them make you feel like you are not worthy of being treated kindly. I know it's hard, but you should feel proud of yourself and realize that you have the right to great medical care and pain relief when it is necessary. Advocate for yourself!

I wish you the best of luck!

When I had my wisdom teeth out I was given tramadol for the pain and it worked really well. Maybe you could ask them if that would be alright for you also ibuprofen 800 works really well along with the tramadol.

I agree with the others if you are going to be treated like a second class citizen I would find another dentist. There are plenty of others out there who won't treat you like crap!

_________________
"always be at war with your vices, and at peace with your neighbors."

ya, screw that dentist. Thats crap. I had my wisdom teeth out and I tapered down from Suboxone. They gave me tramadol. And I even got Vicodin which I gave to my husband to give me as needed. The tramadol should be fine to work for the pain. Sorry the dentist was trying to drug shame you. That just makes it that much more difficult for someone who is addicted to reach out for help.

It is because I feel that so many people are not educated about Suboxone and if they are educated they will shame you for taking it. I call Bullshit on that. Your dentist's bedside manner needs some help.

I hope you find another dentist. And I hope your surgery goes well.

Hey brighterdays, i feel for you i really do! I 100 percent agree with the others. If i were on your situation i would find a more understanding dentist (can you give a dentist a bad rating on that angies list website thing?) I got my wisdom teeth extracted when i was 18 years old, and it hurt bad!!! Like freddy crugor took his knife hand and went apeshit in my mouth LOL. Not litterally i was just trying to cheer you up with that, but it was still VERY painfull, my cheeks were swollen up (like a chipmunk) for two days and then it gradually went down. I lived off soup and yogurt for about a week. I wad not an addict at the time of my surgery, and i honestly dont think the first 2 or 3 days would have been bearable for me without the pain meds. I do wish you the best of luck with you situation! Let us know how things turn out for you!

Thanks guys for the replys and always.. The support! When I was with my ex and he had all four of his cut out he was on pain meds for five days before he felt good enough to not take them. My Oral surgeon is different than my dentist that was so nasty but THIS was my biggest fear and why I stayed away from getting myself care for so long.. The judgement.. If the surgeon bullshits me I will not do it.. I just cannot. I have an amazing Fiancee who will give me my meds as needed. I am proud of myself because before I even went to the dentist I knew that they were coming in from the pressure and I made a plan, I made sure that I had someone supportive that will not let me faulter or take more pills after surgery, I decided to be 100% honest, Printed out the information from this website about sugery while on subs. I am really putting this all together. Is it true that our pain tolerence is different, so like for instantce, If a non addict had the surgery and needed perc five mg. for five days than person who has been an addict would need something stronger? I hate asking these questons to doc. because than I feel like they think I am drug seeking when all I want at the end of the day is to not be miserable. I am trying to keep my spirits up here.. I know enough to know that I won't settle and be so miserable just because someone thinks a certain way.. I will just keep moving down the line. Thanks guys again!!! You are all the very best!

One more question... What do you guys think about me jumping 4-5 days before surgery? Is that even safe to be in w/d while going under? This was my ultamate goal anyways I would just be speeding up the process a bit. I have no idea if this is safe or not and of course I will ask and get the information needed. I just wasn't sure if anyone else has done this before? I was thinking it maybe safer for the bupe to be out of my body first. Thanks!

Hi again brighterdays,

Im gonna try to answer your questions to the best of knowledge, and hopefully someone who knows for sure can answer your questions for sure (maybe try posting you questions in the suboxonr and surgery section, or just browse that section and maybe someone already asked a similar question) Yes i think your right that someone who is an addict will have a higher tolorance and need a stronger med to get the same relief as a person who is not an addict would, but again i am not positive it would make sense that it would be that way though

and your second question about jumping before the surgery, im not sure about this either. Maybe you could stop the bupe for just a day or two, so the pain meds would provide some relief after your surgery but it wont be so long that your in serious wd. Thats a good question. I read somewhere that for some reason bupe dosent block the effects of tramadol, and that they actually have some synergy when taken together( meaning they work together for pain relief) But again you would have to confirm this because i do not know for sure. I also remember reading somewhere that doses less than 2mg of bupe do not have the same blocking effects as higher doses do, so you might still be able to get pain relief if your dose is low enough. Hopefully someone who knows for sure or is expirienced in this area will come along and provide some answers soon. I hope everything works out for you!

Oh yeah, about the safty of being in wd for surgery, i do know that many people expirience high blood pressure during wd, so i dont kniw if that would nake it unsafe or not. but then i also thought abour the fact that people go under anesthesia(sp) for those rapid detox procedures. So, again idk just something i thought about

Bdays, you can not take pain meds while on subs, for the simple reason that they won't do anything to you!! Please do some research on your own, it seems to me that you are making all kind of mistakes! I stopped subs 5 months ago, and let me tell you, there is no such a thing as a "fast taper" without consequences.Good Luck!

Low doses of bupe not have the same blocking effect as higher doses do. People who are on bupe for pain management often get a narcotic prescribe alongside the bupe for breakthrough pain.

I just want to share this thread with you,,,,,,

it's one I made after having ALL MY TEETH pulled,,, and another member here added in his story, as well...

I was scared to death to take any opiates, because my teeth were bad because my drug use/abuse was soooo bad.

does that make sense???

basically,,, I did well with motrin/Tylenol and my suboxone.....

I wasn't put to sleep or anything, and all my molars were broken AT or below the gumline....

they pulled all the bottom teeth but four,,, then three months later......ALL My top ones,, all my molars.....
(so I have four left on bottom, in the center, and a full denture, on top)

and now I have dentures...

hope this helps, and good luck.

Surgery & Suboxone---------"for anyone needing dentures"
http://suboxforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=6 ... sc&start=0

_________________
anyone can give up,
its the easiest thing in the world to do, but to
hold it together, when everyone would understand if you fell apart
That's TRUE STRENGTH
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