24hrs after extraction - freaking out about procedure, recovery

[mcaulfield23]

Hi,

I suffer from dental phobia and just had my final wisdom tooth extracted about 24hrs ago, and I've been so triggered and uncomfortable.

The procedure was done by I think a newer dentist or student of some sort with a resident dentist supervising for the most part. The resident had to be the one to actually get the tooth out, but the student did my two stitches and seemed to have trouble with them, which triggered my phobia and left me paranoid about the stitches.

With my other three wisdom tooth extractions, I put in new gauze every 30min until there was almost no blood on the gauze. This time, the gauze seemed to be staying redder longer, so I called and they told me to keep the gauze out to give the area a better chance to clot. This freaked me out because it was different from what I'd done before, and I kept tasting blood, but I did what they told me to do.

When I lay down to try to sleep, it feels like I can't calm my heart rate. It reminds me a little of the reaction I have to epinephrine, where my heart stays pounding for a day or two, but feels a little different this time, so I don't know if it's a reaction to the mepivicaine or just my phobia causing me so much anxiety that I can't get comfortable.

It's been about 24hrs since my procedure and I'm still tasting blood. Not a ton, but enough that it's noticeable, particularly when I swallow. It's making me worry about the stitches because my other extractions weren't like this, even the last one which also had one stitch. I don't want to look at the extraction site because it freaks me out so much, so I'm just going off of what I'm feeling and tasting.

Is everything I'm experiencing normal? Should I be worried that I can't calm down? Do I need to call and see if I can get the extraction site looked at? Please help, I need to be able to sleep.

Thank you,

M. C.

 

[Gordon]

Any local in your system will be well broken down and gone by 8 hrs, never mind 24.
It doesn't really matter about tasting blood, your brain can play tricks on you when you get very anxious. if you spit into a tissue, is there blood present? If yes, try the teabag trick. Moisten a regular tea bag, apply it to the socket and gently bite down on it for 15 minutes or so.

 

[mcaulfield23]

@Gordon Thank you for the reply and reassurance. I ended up calling and they said the same thing pretty much. I have a new concern, now, though - Any time I lean back on my pillows, my head starts gently twitching. It happens a lot more consistently when my mouth is closed than when it is open. It happens occasionally when I'm not leaned back, but it's mostly when I'm leaned back and particularly with my mouth closed. I'm a little freaked out that this could be a nerve damage issue. Does that sound like it could be? Obviously I knew nerve damage was a risk of the procedure, but I'm still freaked out. They said when they saw my x-rays that my risk for nerve damage was pretty low because of the placement but the less experienced dentist who worked on me pressed really hard on the tooth when he was trying to extract it - so hard that the resident had to hold my head in place, much harder than any of the other times I've had a tooth extracted and harder than the resident did when he took over.

 

[Gordon]

I'm a little freaked out that this could be a nerve damage issue. Does that sound like it could be?

No. Absolutely not. Nerve damage would manifest as loss of sensation in the area, like if the local didn't wear off.