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Freaking out & scared and squeamish after wisdom tooth removal

J

josefa

Junior member
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
3
Hi. I have been reading this site and the forum for weeks before my wisdom tooth extraction. Reading everything made me a lot calmer and a lot of the advice was so helpful to me, so I wanted to thank you for that.

I have now had all my wisdom teeth removed - in 3 separate goes! I am 44. One in Belgium 22 years ago which was traumatic and gave me my dental phobia; 2 more in the US 15 years ago which was such a pleasant experience I suspect I was sedated, and the last one Monday this week in France. I was absolutely petrified not only because of my extreme fear of the dentist but also not knowing who to go to or to express myself adequately.

In the end the extraction was simple and quick (literally one minute for the extraction; 15 minutes total in the room). Thinking back to the actual procedure brings on a mild panic attack even though it was over fast and was painless - a local into the tooth - no sedation.

Even tho the oral surgeon was lovely - I was given ZERO after care advice apart from don't use mouth wash. He even said I could eat what I wanted the same night!

Being paranoid, I've read many, many, many articles on the internet and scared myself to death, naturally! however, I've taken it upon myself to rinse with salt water after 26 hours after every meal, I brushed my teeth very gently with toothpaste today. I slept upright the last two nights. I've rested. I've taken arnica; I'm taking ketoprofen. i've eaten only yoghurt, mashed vegetables and soup. I've eaten on one side only.

Today is day two and I am suffering from throbbing pain in the tooth adjacent to the empty socket. I'm pretty sure that's where it is! This morning I felt much better and my severe headache had gone - I even reduced the number of pain pills from 4 to 3. But during the course of today my throbbing tooth has got worse. I'm scared. I'm too scared to even look in my mouth. I did today for the first time and saw a bit of white on my jawline and freaked out. I now know this is normal so I'm less scared of that.

But is this throbbing in the other tooth normal? I'm scared it's dry socket and being in France where they seem very laid back about this sort of thing scares me. I also seem to have developed a cold today and am trying not to blow my nose. It is not a fever - just a cold. So, this is 48 hours after the extraction - is it normal? Please help. I didn't have any bleeding after the first 12 hours. Would you know if you'd lost the blood clot?

so sorry for long post.
 
Hi :) - congratulations for going through with your wizzie removal and it's great to hear that it went so quickly and smoothly :jump:!

Apparently, sometimes the tooth next to an extraction site gets a bit traumatised during the process and it can take time to settle down. This may be what's happening here. If the pain is bad despite taking painkillers though, don't hesitate to go back to your surgeon or dentist (not sure how the system works in France) to let them have a look. Dry socket is fairly rare, but when it does occur it can be treated with a dressing which brings almost immediate relief.

Please let us know how you get on :)
 
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