Dry socket question?!
Question: Thurs 12/20 i had 4 wisdom teeth out, the bottom 2 were impacted, i have stitches there, and the top ones werent. At night on the upper right side i get a sharp shooting pain up the side of my face, hope its not a dry socket. I havent smoked or used a straw and all ive eaten is mashed potatoes. About how long after having the wisdom teeth out am i out of the clear of having to worry about dry sockets, like a week, or so? I am a smoker, so how much longer should i wait? I havent been able to contact my dentist cuz they been closed for two days. Please help me
Answers: Thurs 12/20 i had 4 wisdom teeth out, the bottom 2 were impacted, i have stitches there, and the top ones werent. At night on the upper right side i get a sharp shooting pain up the side of my face, hope its not a dry socket. I havent smoked or used a straw and all ive eaten is mashed potatoes. About how long after having the wisdom teeth out am i out of the clear of having to worry about dry sockets, like a week, or so? I am a smoker, so how much longer should i wait? I havent been able to contact my dentist cuz they been closed for two days. Please help me
Dry socket is a hit and miss kind of thing. You can do everything right and still end up with it. It's caused from either the blood clot not forming properly or becoming dislodged too early. The symptoms that you are describing sound like you have one. I would keep with the Ibuprofen or the Rx pain medications that you received from the doctor. Call the office asap in the morning, you need to be evaluated and probably have a medicated packing placed in there. Did you receive an irrigating syringe to use on the sockets about 3-4 days after the surgery? If so start using that. You could have a food build up and that will also cause quite a bit of discomfort. If you are a smoker, I would keep waiting until the sockets are completely healed over, but if you have waited all this time to smoke since your surgery then maybe now would be a good time to attempt to quit :). Best of luck!
If you have a dry socket the pain will be so intense you will "know" it is a dry socket. I have had them before.
When did this pain start? If it is a dry socket it generally starts in the first day or two. Beyond that it should not.
You get a dry socket from loosing the blood clot where the tooth was. You can get a dry socket, besides from smoking or drinking from a straw, if the root of your tooth was interfering with your sinuses. That is how I got a dry socket. However, with mine, it was so bad I could feel the air coming down through my socket from my sinuses.
Typically what they do is pack the socket and give medication to alieviate the pain.
If it is dry socket pain it will just get worse until the dentist can repack the socket. If it is just residual pain from the extraction it will come and go. Five days after the surgery I would not think you have to worry about getting a dry socket at that time.
Hope this helps.
Have a great day,
Ro
www.RoLashua.com/health.htm
I just had a tooth pulled too. Here are some sites with info on after care for tooth extractions.
http://www.dentalgentlecare.com/extracti...
http://www.oralcareshop.com/after-tooth-...
http://www.softdental.com/houston_dentis...