One week post-extraction....

[polychrome]

I really appreciate reading everything on this forum. It has helped answer many questions I've had over the past week. I do, however, have a few specific questions about my situation.

I just had my lower-right wisdom tooth extracted on 3/13. Thankfully, it's the only wisdom tooth I developed, I guess the other 3 never formed. It wasn't causing me any trouble, but it just started coming through the surface and based on my xrays, my dentist said it wouldn't come in any further and advised me to get it extracted as infection and decay would eventually occur.

So, I opted for local anesthetic with my normal dentist rather than an oral surgeon. The procedure was painless and it took just a few minutes to actually get the tooth out. He did have to section the tooth into 2 pieces to get it out. No sutures, no antibiotics, biting on gauze and I was sent on my way. He gave me a script for Vicodin, but said I probably wouldn't need it, but thought Motrin 800mg q8h PRN would suffice.

So, about 72 hrs out, I could hardly stand the gosh-awful taste in my mouth and my breath smelled like something died. I could also see a white layer of 'something' in the bottom of the socket. I was still taking 800mg of Motrin around the clock and had no breakthrough pain. I called the dentist and he said the smell and taste were normal and to continue rinsing with warm salt water after every meal and before bed. I increased the rinses to every 2 hours and by the next day the smell and taste had subsided.

Now I'm a week out and I find it odd that I still need the Motrin every 8 hrs. The throbbing breaks through by about 1 or 2 hours before I can take my next dose. Also, the socket it temperature sensitive. I've Googled these symptoms to death and can't find any information. The only thing that comes up for post-extraction pain is dry socket. No where does it say that pain 1 week out is normal. Everyone tells me I should have been pain free by 3 days post-extraction. My gums around the extraction feel inflammed when I bite and the two molars next to the empty socket feel so sore as well. It looks as though the socket is getting smaller, but maybe it's just because of the swelling. My jaw is also stiff...like it's hard to open my mouth wide enough to bite a sandwich or eat a banana.

I'm really nervous to call him...I work in healthcare and am far too familiar with the "annoying patient" syndrome. I just don't know why my experience isn't like EVERYONE said it should be. I mean I've given birth 3 times with no drugs, but come-on, this is getting rediculous.

Wow, this got really long! Thank you if you made it to the end. Ha-ha...I hope someone has some insight for me.

 

[letsconnect]

Hi there ,

if you don't run a fever, it's probably nothing to worry about and you're just healing more slowly than average. However, I would give your dentist a call and ask. He'd be in a much better position to tell if this would be normal in your particular case. I take it you're in the US (as removal of wisdom teeth for the reasons you described is not generally done in the UK). As far as I know, a lot of US dentists will actually make follow-up calls to check how their patient is healing, so I wouldn't worry about "annoying patient syndrome". If you're concerned or worried, you should call him, if only to put your mind at rest. Being stressed out about this certainly won't do anything to help with the healing process ! He might want to take a quick look and see if healing is progressing as expected, or if there is any sort of inflammation that should be treated.

I hope this helps - let us know how you get on!