How long do I have to wait after smoking with a dry socket?

[Mieniets]

I had all of my wisdom teeth removed 10 days ago. I didn’t smoke at all, like the doctor had said, because I didn’t want to get dry socket. I still took my BCP, and was told I was already at risk for dry socket, then ended up getting it anyways in my bottom left side. I felt no pain for the first two days after my wisdom teeth surgery, but believe I developed my dry socket 7 days ago, I didn’t end up seeking treatment till Monday. The pain is definitely tolerable and even sometimes completely gone. i have returned to work however and my normal life activities other than smoking. I am very stressed and need to smoke, wondering what will happen if I do or if it’s probably okay to smoke.

 

[Enarete]

Hi Mieniets,

wow, so you stopped smoking for the whole 10 days to make sure your socket would heal properly, that's great, I sometimes see people who do not manage to go without a cigarette even half an hour after an extraction so this is impressive. After 10 days your healing should be stable enough for a cigarette not to cause any harm, I am however not sure what the effects are if you actually have dry socket. My only idea to this would be to call your practice and ask them..

Here is a link abut smoking after a tooth removal, it also contains an advice about how to protect the extraction site during smoking so you might try that to be sure..

Smoking after tooth extraction

The first 24 hours are the most critical. The first 72 are very important. The NHS advice is to not smoke for at least 24-72 hours. Realistically, if you can leave off the cigarettes for a couple of hours, then the worst of the clotting problems will be over with. However, the smoking will...

www.dentalfearcentral.org

All the best wishes

 

[Dr. Daniel]

Hi,

I can ensure you 100% that you don't have any dry socket because dry socket is very very painful and no painkillers can really deal with it. It sounds like you are going through rather a longer healing than desired. The pain/discomfort should lessen over time.