Facial twitching Day 7 Two Molar Extractions

[INFJ]

I woke up with the weirdest symptom… My upper left lip is twitching. No pain near the extraction sites, just this weird upper left lip twitching. The other day I also noticed my nose was sort of crinkling like slightly twitching. The only thing I can connect this to is the extractions. Obviously I had difficulty opening my mouth due to the oral surgery (2 lower molars each side), that has gotten better. But could I be having the facial twitching due to the extractions and my muscles reacting due to tension and fatigue?

 

[Gordon]

It's possible I suppose. Can't see an obvious connection between lower molars and upper lip, the nerve supply is totally different.

 

[INFJ]

Thank you! It went away completely.

One question... the one lower molar, lower left... it feels like the edges of the extraction site feel pointy? You can see the pointy around the darkest part of the clot. Does that make sense? The other site is smooth all around but the lower left is pointy in the two spots across from each other. No pain unless I press on them, then slightly tender. I’m on day 12.

 

[Gordon]

The pointy bit is the bony crest at the back of the tooth socket, perfectly normal.

 

[INFJ]

^ Thank you so much!

 

[INFJ]

Another weird (maybe?) thing popped up... on the lower right extraction site (day 14) there is like a little bubble of gum tissue? near the back of the site? Like a bump of tissue? Doesn’t not hurt at all, wouldn’t even know I had it if I didn’t look closely. What is that? Could it be due to the wisdom tooth so close to the site? The wisdom tooth does feel slightly sore when biting down at times. What is the gum bump though?

 

[Gordon]

OK, apologies if I've dumbed it down to an insulting level, trying to avoid too much jargon...

When you have an extraction done, it makes quite a big hole in your mouth. (No sh*t Sherlock!) As a result your body pours reconstructive cells into the area to, well, mend it

There will be little areas like this where some of these cells congregate in higher numbers. It's part of the normal healing process. If you sliced one of them open and had a look under a microscope (DON'T ACTUALLY DO THIS) then you'd find it was full of epithelial cells, some bone generating cells and lots of white blood cells (to munch away superfluous bits) to make room for the new bits to put it all back together again.

If you keep watching, you'll see the little little lumps and bumps come and go, it's actually a fairly interesting process (if you're a sad geek like me anyway).

The hole will gradually fill up from the bottom, you can see the highly specialised granulation tissue already forming in the hole, (the sort of greyish/yellow stuff), and then epithelial cells will spread over the top from the edges to seal it all up.

The posh name for it is "Healing by secondary intention" you can find out more details from Google if you're interested.

 

[INFJ]

Thank you so much for the explanation! It makes so much sense. I wish I had you for a dentist.

The wisdom tooth sitting on top of it... it is a bit sore when I bite down at times. Is that due to being so close to the extraction site?

 

[krlovesherkids777]

@Gordon This really is an awesome way to explain.! love it!

 

[Gordon]

Re. the wisdom tooth, yes, it'll have had a bit of extra pressure put on it during the extraction, quite often causes a bit of discomfort. It's not the tooth itself grumbling, it's the wee ligaments that hold it in place.

 

[INFJ]

Thank you! It almost looks like the wisdom tooth is inside the extraction site. I know it’s not but it is so close. I had the oral surgery two weeks ago. It does not hurt when I just sit here. It just hurts when there’s pressure on it whether I take my finger and press on the tooth or with food.

Can this last a while? I’m really hoping that somehow he didn’t crack it. I know that this wisdom tooth was perfectly fine before the oral surgery.

Thank you so much!

 

[INFJ]

@Gordon This really is an awesome way to explain.! love it!

He is brilliant.

 

[Scared all the time]

He is brilliant.

I second and third that! He has a wonderful way of explaining things!

 

[Gordon]

Stop it, I'll get big headed

INFJ, it can take a few weeks, depends on how much it got leaned on, how big the root surface is (spreads the load around more with bigger roots) and so on.

No, he pretty certainly hasn't cracked it, it would take an extremely cack handed idiot to do that and I'm sure that your surgeon wasn't one of those.

 

[INFJ]

Stop it, I'll get big headed

INFJ, it can take a few weeks, depends on how much it got leaned on, how big the root surface is (spreads the load around more with bigger roots) and so on.

No, he pretty certainly hasn't cracked it, it would take an extremely cack handed idiot to do that and I'm sure that your surgeon wasn't one of those.

Thank you so much! You have relieved my fears and provided clear understanding. You truly are brilliant and I wish you took care of my teeth. I can’t thank you enough!

 

[INFJ]

Tomorrow will be three weeks since both extractions. I was eating a BLT last night and didn’t even realize the bacon was super hard. It was takeout so I didn’t make it myself. Piece of bacon practically stabbed a part of the gum around the lower left extraction site. It hurt. There wasn’t any bleeding and outside of the area looking ever so slightly irritated it doesn’t look any different.

I assume I just bruised a part of the gum due to the sharp piece of bacon? Also… Is it normal at three weeks to still feel tender touching the gums around the site? My lower right doesn’t even hurt anymore when I apply any pressure to the area. But my lower left still feels tender when my tongue or finger will slightly touch the area.

 

[INFJ]

I forgot to ask one more question... When can you stop worrying about an infection? No dry sockets happen typically 1 to 3 days after the extraction but what about infection?

Thanks!

 

[FearfulInMA]

I’m pretty sure I still had some tenderness a few weeks out. I do think infection is super unlikely at this point.

 

[Gordon]

Actual infections of sockets are vanishingly rare, (apart from dry socket which isn't actually an infection...) I think I saw about 3 cases in over 40 years of doing a lot of extractions. Oral bacteria are delicate wee beasties and a healthy host can deal with them very easily.
Stabbing your gum with a sharp bit of food be quite a common issue, some crisps/chips/corn flakes are vicious!

 

[INFJ]

Thanks so much!