Blood clot fallen out, day 3

[Beckmae]

I’ve gotten one of my lower teeth extracted which was already infected. (About three away from my front teeth) I was on medication for weeks to clear it up and despite being in pain my dentist decided to remove it on Thursday at 7:00AM. The procedure went fine and I made sure to get a blood clot. I’ve been really careful to just eat liquid or soft things. No straws. No smoking. No exessive rinsing. I noticed the white granulation the second and third day and was pleased that it seemed to be healing as it should. Today I woke up in a panic when I noticed that the white/grey tissue was gone completely. It’s just the hole in the gum now. I’m terrified I’ve somehow given myself a dry socket over night. Is the white and grey stuff meant to just dissapear? How soon will I know if it’s a dry socket? I figured actually losing your blood clot would need to have been done PRE white granulation phase. I still have pain but I’ve been feeling pain for weeks now due to the abscess. Any information or personal experience would be helpful.

 

[Enarete]

Hi Beckmae,

sorry to read about your worries. I would say you cannot give yourself dry socket, it's more a complication that in rare cases can happen. The only thing to take care of is following the instructions which you seen to do. For now I would encourage you not to analyze the appearance of the extraction sites too much - your body will know how to deal with it. The main symptom of dry socket is excruciating pain, which cannot be stopped even with painkillers. So if you notice your pain getting worse, give your dentist a call and he/she can treat it easily. As always, if this worries you too much, see your dentist as soon as you can, just to have the reassurance.

All the best wishes

 

[Beckmae]

Hi Beckmae,

sorry to read about your worries. I would say you cannot give yourself dry socket, it's more a complication that in rare cases can happen. The only thing to take care of is following the instructions which you seen to do. For now I would encourage you not to analyze the appearance of the extraction sites too much - your body will know how to deal with it. The main symptom of dry socket is excruciating pain, which cannot be stopped even with painkillers. So if you notice your pain getting worse, give your dentist a call and he/she can treat it easily. As always, if this worries you too much, see your dentist as soon as you can, just to have the reassurance.

All the best wishes

Thank you so much, I know it’s rare. I keep reading that it’s a 2-4% chance of occurring and I know I’ve been careful. But I also see tons of posts about dry sockets and I just know with my dental health and luck that if it were to happen it would be to me. It’s been a few hours since I’ve noticed the white film ove the extraction site to be missing and there’s no major pain so far. Just the same ache that I’ve had since day 1. If it persists I’ll go see my dentist tomorrow.
I wish there was some sort of image guideline to follow when looking at the actual wound but as I’m seeing it’s different for everyone. The more I research, the more I freak out.

 

[Enarete]

The problem with this is that everyone who experienced a dental complication will make sure to talk about it, but if all went well, you won't find any notice. So reading all those stories you might get the feeling that it's something to be really afraid of. By the way, even if you would get dry socket - your dentist can deal with it immediately and easily so the only point is to see a dentist as soon as possible if you feel something is not right.
Hope you will be fine soon.