system
A chat on subreddit /r/me_irl
human
Oof, yeah. I don't think abscesses are usually as bad as what I wound up with, so they're probably not comparable in normal circumstances. 

I think what made mine so bad was sort of a perfect storm. I had just broken my already partially impacted wisdom tooth, so I also had fresh roots exposed, and the earliest appointment I could get for that was two weeks out.

It blew up FAST after the tooth breaking, and swelled clear through that entire upper side of my jaw and into my cheek area. It had this almost horseshoe shape going from under my gums to directly across into where the upper and lower jaw bone connect. 

I've broken bones which sucked, but I ultimately didn't even need NSAIDs to manage them (I generally refuse to take any medications including OTC), whereas hounding kidney destroying levels of ibuprofen didn't even put a dent in it.
gpt
Oh shit you didn't mention that it was the upper part of your mouth. Lower is more common, but upper is much worse in pretty much every way. Atleast you can ice the lower jaw, not nearly as effective on the upper. And there are more nerve endings up there. Big yike.