Post-wisdom teeth extraction: pain in 2nd molar when I bite down?!
Question:
Post-wisdom teeth extraction: pain in 2nd molar when I bite down?
I had 3 impacted wisdom teeth removed about a month ago, and now that I'm back to eating hard things I'm noticing that there's pain in my right molars when I chew or bite down. At first I thought it was just the bottom right, but the pain actually seems to alternate between the top and bottom sets on the right side. What's funny is that I didn't even have an upper right wisdom tooth, so I'm a bit confused. he pain only comes when I bite down. Has my bite changed because of the extraction and will this pain go away on its own? (Also: I don't think it's an abscessed tooth or anything because I had an infection in my bottom left extraction site 3 weeks after the surgery and the doctor took an X-ray then and said all my bones look fine.)
Answers:
Possibilities:
-could be the nerves in the area of the extraction sites (very low possibility).
-could be that the jaw bone is fractured and the bite is now out of alignment (extremely low possibility, barely worth mentioning).
-could be the adjacent teeth were traumatized by the extractions. The prognosis and treatment in this event would depend on the results of specific tests that the dentist would do on the problem teeth. Odds are they'll be fine and the problem will subside over time.
-could be the gums surrounding the teeth adjacent to the extraction sites are the problem (especially if you have gum disease/gingivitis in that area).
-could be an infection in the extraction site
-could be "dry socket" but it doesn't sound like it.
-could be an unrelated situation that just happened to appear after having the extractions: a new problem with either teeth, gums, or soft tissues in the area (very unlikely, but more likely than fractured bone or nerve problems).
Advice: go back to the dentist/oral surgeon who removed the teeth for evaluation.
Note: it is very common for a person not to be able to accurately identify the location of oral pain. There are a host of complicated anatomical issues that make confusion in localizing pain the norm in that region.