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Infection After Molar Removal?

D

Dominea

Junior member
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
4
Hello, Dominic here:

My number 3 molar was extracted 5 days ago and was partially fused into the bone with a fourth root growing up toward the sinus membrane. The extraction was long and somewhat painful, but was a success with no fracture of the surrounding bone and no pieces left behind. Afterward, my dentist packed the area with gelfoam to promote clotting and sent me home, telling me to check back every day for the next three days. I was prescribed Hydrocodone and Amoxicillin. The Hydrocodone has no effect on me at all, so my dentist said I can replace it with Ibuprofen. I have only eaten raspberry sherbet since the extraction and had three cappuccinos and only water to drink other than that.

On the second day, I noticed there was a white bubble protruding from the hole, which when pressed gently produced a foul tasting discharge. The third day, I sneezed involuntarily and the bubble burst and came out along with the surface of the clot. I went back to my clinic an hour later but my dentist was busy doing an emergency extraction, so I was seen by his assistant, who removed the rest of the clot and inserted a medicated piece of fabric. I wasn't told much about it, but was sent home after that and told that I should be especially careful to make sure my mouth was clean.

The fourth day, my gums had inflamed around the site and there was intense shooting pain coming from the hole where the fabric was. I had suspicions of an allergic reaction, so I took an allergy pilll and the pain and swelling mostly went away. It started up again and eventually got so bad that I took the fabric out and noticed it was very foul smelling (almost exactly like a root that had started rotting out before extraction when I was a child). I believe that I did definately have an allergic reaction to the medicated piece of fabric, because after I took it out, the majority of the pain and swelling calmed down. I have been using a salt water rinse, diluted clove oil solution, diluted tea tree oil solution (both oils separately and not inside the hole) and 600mg of ibuprofen (8 hours apart) since this time. Later that night, the pain got so intense that I could not sleep, but drinking water didn't bother me. After a few salt water rinses, using a 600mg ibuprofen (though it was only 4 hours apart from the last one I took) and the oil rinses, the pain and swelling finally subsided enough for me to get a few hours of sleep.

I have just awoken to the fifth day after the extraction and woke up to a mild pain that became intense when I lifted my head up. I noticed a bad tasting and smelling discharge had been coming from the hole and was covering my tongue. The pain has not spread, but feels much more aggressive than yesterday. It got so bad that none of the other methods I used get rid of it very much. I combined all methods this morning and thatt reduced the pain by about 50%, but it is still too bad to fall back asleep. In my desperation to find a way to reduce the pain, I took some sterile gauze and put a drop of 20% anbesol inside of the hole where the pain was coming from. When I was done dabbing the anbesol onto the source of pain, I noticed that there was a white/red rotten smelling thick fluid on the gauze. The anbesol, as it does, burned initially and then numbed the pain almost entirely for about 10 minutes and is still reducing the pain by a fair amount one hour later.

My clinic is only open on week days and today is sunday. I am asking two things:

A) Does it sound like I have an infection and if so, how bad?

B) Should I wait until tomorrow then see my dentist as a walk-in, or should I go see an emergency dentist in the nearby town today? I live out of town and my clinic is on a reservation near here. Keep in mind that I see my dentist for free because of tribal enrollment, and I don't have any money to pay for an emergency dentists bill, but health is more important than money.
 
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Update*

The swelling seems to have gone down drastically in the past few hours, but the hole is now filled with that same fluid that was on the gauze before and there is a very bad taste in my mouth. The pain seems to be dying down as well, but is being replaced by a strange stinging/itching sensation that comes in quick and strong bursts that last about a half a second at a rate of about three times a minute. I have never heard of that before and would like to know if that is a good sign or not.
 
Is there an on call doctor you can get a message to? Just to check?

My oral surgeon had a pager for after hours
 
Hello and welcome.

Hope you are well.

Its definitely something I would go and get checked out with your dentist/surgeon just to be on the safe side;)

Hope all goes well
 
I went in today and he told me that it does look like it could be infected, but that the antibiotics I'm on should at least stop it from spreading if not get rid of it. The main priority is that the healing process continues at a good pace.
 
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