6 days post op. Need advice please.

[kessler85]

Hi all,

I had my two lower wisdom teeth extracted almost 6 days ago to the hour. The major swelling has gone down, but I am still bruised on my left side with some swelling, and I've a little tough swelling on my right side.

The pain is not as severe as it was on Day 2/3, but there is still pain. I usually get woken up with it early in the morning and it comes and goes through the day; I can handle the pain with a Nurofen. Over the last couple days I've moved from my prescribed painkillers to Nurofen for the pain, but sometimes I'll take one of my prescribed painkillers if the pain gets quite bad.

I rinse my mouth with hot salt water about 4-5 times a day.

On Friday, I was trying to clean some of my teeth near the back with a dental brush and when I moved my left cheek a little (where the heavy swelling is), blood started to pour down into my gum (Not sure where the blood was coming from). Not a massive amount, I guess mixed with saliva it makes it look like a lot more. But as soon as I let my cheek go, the blood stopped coming. Last night, I tried the same again and that area was still bleeding.

Is this normal? I've taken all my antibiotics course, kept on soft foods and been rinsing with salt water. I don't think I have any infections, because people have said you feel the pain 24/7 with an infection? Right now as I'm typing, I have no pain. But it will come back later.

(Btw, my surgeon said my teeth were real tough work to remove, so I guess my mouth had it rough)

 

[tabatha7]

This might be a question you want to ask our dentists. If its not bleeding too bad but just a little I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing the right things. I would not mess with it too much either. If you get concerned about it you really should go back and let the dentist/os look at it. Have you put ice packs on your cheeks to help with the swelling?

 

[kessler85]

This might be a question you want to ask our dentists. If its not bleeding too bad but just a little I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are doing the right things. I would not mess with it too much either. If you get concerned about it you really should go back and let the dentist/os look at it. Have you put ice packs on your cheeks to help with the swelling?

Thanks for your reply! I had the ice packs on originally, but I read on a lot of sites that the ice becomes useless after the first couple days and you need to switch to heat packs, which is what I've been using.

I can't open my mouth wide enough to even look at the surgical sites yet lol I was just hoping I didn't have the dreaded dry socket.

I have a follow up with the surgeon in a week. But I may consider trying to see him before then.

Is it normal for me to still be experiencing pain at this stage?

Edit: I may ask this question to the Dentists. Is it OK for me to repost there?

 

[tabatha7]

Yes, it's ok to repost there. I really think you would know if you had dry socket. How bad is your pain? Is it on both sides? Depending on how difficult the surgery was it might not be unusual to still be experiencing some pain especially if you are still having swelling and difficulty opening your mouth. Definitely keep doing warm salt water rinses and brush if you can open enough to get the toothbrush in your mouth but stay away from the extraction sites. You will want to keep your mouth as clean as possible. This will help prevent dry socket and/or infection. You could try ice packs again and see if it helps with the swelling. Sorry you are still having trouble. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[kessler85]

Yes, it's ok to repost there. I really think you would know if you had dry socket. How bad is your pain? Is it on both sides? Depending on how difficult the surgery was it might not be unusual to still be experiencing some pain especially if you are still having swelling and difficulty opening your mouth. Definitely keep doing warm salt water rinses and brush if you can open enough to get the toothbrush in your mouth but stay away from the extraction sites. You will want to keep your mouth as clean as possible. This will help prevent dry socket and/or infection. You could try ice packs again and see if it helps with the swelling. Sorry you are still having trouble. Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks! The pain is not tremendous. It's manageable. But very annoying. Gets me in a mood lol Like a hard ache on both sides. It can come and go. I last took a painkiller about 7 hours ago and am dealing with the pain at the moment, as it's not terrible.