Can I "pack" my dry socket myself at home?!
Question: I had my wisdom teeth out early last week. Now, I guess I have a dry socket. I went back to my dentist and he put this brown goo in there (tasted like burnt rubber). I no longer have faith in my dentist (for a number of reasons I won't go into) so I really don't want to go back to him for more brown goo. I've read here that other people's dentists have packed their dry sockets with some kind of medicated gauze or something like that. Is there any way I can treat this dry socket myself?
Answers: I had my wisdom teeth out early last week. Now, I guess I have a dry socket. I went back to my dentist and he put this brown goo in there (tasted like burnt rubber). I no longer have faith in my dentist (for a number of reasons I won't go into) so I really don't want to go back to him for more brown goo. I've read here that other people's dentists have packed their dry sockets with some kind of medicated gauze or something like that. Is there any way I can treat this dry socket myself?
It's best to have your dentist/oral surgeon do it. I actually had a similar experience, the oral surgeon who did mine was the stupidest man I ever met, I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him, and my dry socet lasted about 2 weeks and I had to see him at least 3 times a week, I made someone go with my everytime, I had such bad anxiety if I knew he was who would be treating me, but eventually it healed, and needless to say I've given him bad reviews to just about anyone. But he used the gauze once, and the stuff that you got several times, it's more like a grassy substance and tastes HORRIBLE.. but it usually needs to get packed pretty far in there, so you're better off just letting him do it. If there's another dentist in the office though, see if you can get in with him/her instead. Good luck.. but don't mess with it yourself!
Wisdoom Tooth Dry Socket Treatment
The dentists at the Atlanta Dental Group, PC believe that the wisdom tooth dry socket should be left alone and that we should support the wisdom tooth dry socket patient nutritionally and with pain medications to ease the wisdom tooth dry socket pain. Fortunately, like a cold, a wisdom tooth dry socket pain almost always goes away by itself after several days.
Over the counter pain medications such as Tylenol, Motrin, or Alleve do not help a patient with a wisdom tooth dry socket. In most cases a narcotic pain reliever is needed and can be used with over the counter medications.
(My Comment is seek another dentist if you feel the one you went to is not up to grade )
Getting a dry socket is fairly common after removal of wisdom teeth. If you have other issues with the dentist, find a new one, but don't try to treat this yourself.
You should have been instructed to rinse with a bulb syringe after eating anything. However, even taking that precaution, many people still end up with a dry socket.
Please, see another dentist until this condition is resolved. There are over the counter packing materials, but you probably need something medicated properly to avoid infection that can only be provided by a dentist. Don't risk your health.
Medicated gauze isn't a good idea. A socket, following an extraction, heals from the bottom up, that's one reason it's good to keep the blood clot as long as possible. Of course you have no doubt already found that loosing the blood clot has exposed the raw tissue lining the interior of the socket to air and that's painful. There are a few over the counter medications you can use., one is called Surgi-Gel and another Ora-Jel. Ask the pharmacist what he has he can recommend. If the extractions are really recent, do not smoke or drink from straws or small mouth bottles for at least ten day's. Suction created by those practices will only irritate the sockets and dislodge any remaining clots.
My dentist never packed mine.