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Does dry socket heal itself?

B

babyblue

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
86
a couple days after I had a front upper premolar extracted I felt burning next to the extraction site. I have gone to the oral surgeon 2 times, he never takes xrays, just says it is healing. He does check it and says it is not dry socket. I don't know if that can be determined without an xray. I even went to my dentist, who said it was healing, again not taking an xray. Anyways, I am on an antibiotic for a sinus infection, after 5 weeks this site still is sentitive. If I did have dry socket, and because they never took an xray....will if go away by itself? I thought I read that it just delayed healing time.
 
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A dentist can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I know.

Dry sockets are basically a glitch in the healing. They don't prevent recovery or really cause major problems except, of course, the excruciating pain that having one creates. So yes, they'll go away on their own.

However, getting treatment does two things: first, it helps you to get stuff to make it heal faster (antibiotics, if I remember correctly), and second, you get a prescription for something to help out with the pain.

I've got extraction sites that are 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks old. The oldest ones aren't painful, but they're certainly not something I want to really bite down on, either. Gums are just a lot more sensitive than teeth. My 4 and 6 week old sites are sensitive enough that if I bite down on my tongue in those spots the extraction sites hurt before my tongue does. From what I've heard it can take a few months before things stabilize to where you wouldn't consider that part "sensitive".

However, you'll adapt to it long before then, so that you don't aggravate the tender spots much.


One other thing - dry sockets are pretty rare, and even more so on upper extractions (the "most common" spot is a lower molar extraction, and it's still under 5% or something like that.)

If you're not sure if you have a dry socket, you don't. The level of pain involved is extreme. You'll know it, your dentist will know it, it's not a subtle thing. And as far as I know, x-rays don't really have anything to do with the diagnosis of a dry socket.
 
Thank you....that was really informative. :)
I hate the sensitivity after so long, I guess the sinus infection is not helping matters either. I have had this extaction checked out so many times, I just didn't realize that sensitivity had its own time table.
 
Quick question for you. You say you have burning beside the extraction site. Do you have a tooth next to the site? I ask because the last Dentist I saw mentioned I may be having pain from the gum pulling away on the tooth remaining next to the extraction site. My extraction site is a few months old. I know that when I brush I do have sensitivity there.
 
Quick question for you. You say you have burning beside the extraction site. Do you have a tooth next to the site? I ask because the last Dentist I saw mentioned I may be having pain from the gum pulling away on the tooth remaining next to the extraction site. My extraction site is a few months old. I know that when I brush I do have sensitivity there.

Yes I do, I have the canine tooth there. what happened to your tooth next to the extraction site, did the gum calm down or did you need the tooth extracted?
 
My tooth next to the extraction site is hurting off and on right now. Maybe ask your Dentist if the gum might have pulled away a bit from the tooth next to the site and if desensitizing varnish or toothpaste would help you. I'm still trying to get mine to settle down.
 
My tooth next to the extraction site is hurting off and on right now. Maybe ask your Dentist if the gum might have pulled away a bit from the tooth next to the site and if desensitizing varnish or toothpaste would help you. I'm still trying to get mine to settle down.

Thank you so much for your help. i was so concerned that my dentists were missing something. You have been more helpful than my dentists.
 
I'm going through Dentist frustration myself at the moment. Since my "Regular" Dentist left and left me with issues, I can't get a straight answer on anything.
 
I'm going through Dentist frustration myself at the moment. Since my "Regular" Dentist left and left me with issues, I can't get a straight answer on anything.

i hear ya'. I have been to my dentist who now won't deal with my oral surgeon's extraction. I have even been to a my physican. I am just so frustrated that no one can give me an answer besides "your healing"
Like I said you have been more helpful than any of them. I really appreciate it. I just need to relax and guess let healing take it course.
 
It's normal not to take an xray if a dry socket is suspected. There just isn't much point as all you end up seeing is an empty socket area as infection does not show up on an xray. If there was a suspicion of a remaining root or a persisting problem then an xray might be taken to examine the area. 5 weeks is a fairly long time for an extraction area to heal up, but the sensitivity might be related to an adjacent tooth as mentioned or something else.
 
It's normal not to take an xray if a dry socket is suspected. There just isn't much point as all you end up seeing is an empty socket area as infection does not show up on an xray. If there was a suspicion of a remaining root or a persisting problem then an xray might be taken to examine the area. 5 weeks is a fairly long time for an extraction area to heal up, but the sensitivity might be related to an adjacent tooth as mentioned or something else.

Help I am going crazy. I don't know why my dentist put me on an antibiotic for a irritated tooth. Anyways, he gave me climadin(sp) I woke up and was having an allergic reaction to it. Puffy eyes and lips. The pain i feel seems to come from that extraction site and travel into my sinuses. My doctor gave me an antibiotic weeks ago for sinus infection and I felt worse instead of better. I don't know why he gave it to me since throbbing up the side of your nose is not a symptom of sinus infection nor do I have any dicharge.
It has been quite a few weeks for this extraction site to be healing just that small area between the extraction site and the next tooth....i have felt this area since the extraction, it is a nerve that dopped down into that site....will it die out eventually? it is just this gum area that is irritated.
 
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It's difficult to say what's going on without taking a look, but if a problem is persisting that long, then an xray might be a good idea to see whether there is something else going on. When I said that xrays aren't normally taken or useful to diagnose a dry socket within a week or so of an extraction, that is not to say that one shouldn't take one in your case especially if a problem has gone on for 5 weeks.

If there's an issue with an adjacent tooth or perhaps a fragment of tooth or bone remaining in the extraction area, an xray might reveal something useful. Your dentist may have suspected an infection in the area and gave you the antibiotics to try to clear it up.
 
It's difficult to say what's going on without taking a look, but if a problem is persisting that long, then an xray might be a good idea to see whether there is something else going on. When I said that xrays aren't normally taken or useful to diagnose a dry socket within a week or so of an extraction, that is not to say that one shouldn't take one in your case especially if a problem has gone on for 5 weeks.

If there's an issue with an adjacent tooth or perhaps a fragment of tooth or bone remaining in the extraction area, an xray might reveal something useful. Your dentist may have suspected an infection in the area and gave you the antibiotics to try to clear it up.

Allergy to Antibiotics. When I had thought I had dry socket last month I called and they put me on an antibiotic. I was allergic to it, that is where all my facial swelling came from. When I had the facial sweiiling I went to my primary care and without looking, he told me I had a sinus infection. the antibiotic he put me on was in the same family as the antibiotic as the oral surgeon put me on, except this one would be better for sinus infections. Again allergy and facial swelling. All that swelling is causing all my gums to hurt on the top and that extraction site not to heal as soon as it should have. I went to a clinic today because I was so frustrasted and they put me on Benadryl. great doctors I have here. anyways, who would have thought an allergy to an antibiotic would effect the gums and healing? so frustrating.
 
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