Please, please help me. Kind of freaked out here...

[Wanda67]

I posted before about a difficult molar removal, on June 30. I had to go back for what we thought was a dry socket on July 5, only to return the next day to have multiple shards of bone removed.

I thought that was the end of it, but in the weeks since, I have removed other shards of bone, ranging in size from a sesame seed to quite larger. Here is a picture of the most recent one, that was sticking out from my gum. I was able to remove it with sterilized tweezers, and then rinsed my mouth with salt water.


Over the last 4 days I have been tasting pus. I don't know what more to do. I've been on two rounds of antibiotics (first round for 5 days, second for 10 days), have been rinsing my mouth with tepid salt water, all to no avail, it seems.

Now I am able to feel 2 more pieces of bone sticking out of my gum, and I am panicked.

I'm scheduled to have 5 more teeth removed (this time by an oral surgeon, instead of my general dentist), and I am unsure if I should proceed.

I don't trust my general dentist anymore.

What could possibly have happened with the removal of the molar? It was difficult to remove, with a lot of tugging and pulling. Could the jaw bone have been damaged?

I'm in constant pain, and unable to eat anything more than soft food (yogurt, refried beans).

What do I do?

 

[carole]

I would have a word with the oral surgeon and explain how you are feeling and ask his advice on the best way to proceed.

We can get bone shards coming through after extraction, it is quite common. What has your dentist said about the infection and do you need to return to see them. You could continue to rinse with salt water to try and help but you really need to see a dentist and have this looked at again.

 

[Wanda67]

I would have a word with the oral surgeon and explain how you are feeling and ask his advice on the best way to proceed.

We can get bone shards coming through after extraction, it is quite common. What has your dentist said about the infection and do you need to return to see them. You could continue to rinse with salt water to try and help but you really need to see a dentist and have this looked at again.

I understand shard of bone here or there after an extraction, especially considering the difficulty of this one in particular (it took him 35 minutes to remove it, only after multiple shots to numb the area, and LOTS of tugging, twisting, pulling, followed by one of the 3 roots breaking, which he had to dig out), but in the weeks since, I have pulled 10 more bone splinters/shards out. That's of course, in addition to the multiple pieces the general dentist removed....he had to open my gum up, remove everything, then drill the bone down so my gum would close over it.

I'm certainly no dentist, but this seems extreme, not to mention the infection, daily pain for one month and 15 days of antibiotics.

He hasn't said anything further. I haven't been back to see him since July 6. The first round of antibiotics he prescribed; the second round was prescribed by my family physician, because the dentist office was closed and I had an obvious infection. The oral surgeon, whom I saw on July 11, didn't say anything about the molar extraction and other problems with it. He only discussed the other (5) extractions I have to have done.

 

[carole]

Could you see another dentist about this extraction site as it is going on a bit longer than it should be. I don't think I would be feeling very trusting of your dentist either after this amount of time. I thought your dentist had given you the second course of antibiotics. I do think you need to see someone before having the other extractions and get this taken care of first if it is still infected. It sounds as if it is.

I am not a dentist but even a dentist would need to see you in order to be able to treat you. This does need looking at.

I would still contact the OS and explain the condition you are in and ask if you could postpone the appointment until you can get your mouth infection free. Is there someone you could see today?

Are there any other dentists at the practice you went to, if so you could see one of the others and get a second opinion. I am in the UK so if you are elsewhere I don't know the procedures. Here we could ring an emergency number that should be on a message if the dentist is closed so that you can be seen by someone in the case of emergencies.

 

[Wanda67]

Could you see another dentist about this extraction site as it is going on a bit longer than it should be. I don't think I would be feeling very trusting of your dentist either after this amount of time. I thought your dentist had given you the second course of antibiotics. I do think you need to see someone before having the other extractions and get this taken care of first if it is still infected. It sounds as if it is.

I am not a dentist but even a dentist would need to see you in order to be able to treat you. This does need looking at.

I would still contact the OS and explain the condition you are in and ask if you could postpone the appointment until you can get your mouth infection free. Is there someone you could see today?

Are there any other dentists at the practice you went to, if so you could see one of the others and get a second opinion. I am in the UK so if you are elsewhere I don't know the procedures. Here we could ring an emergency number that should be on a message if the dentist is closed so that you can be seen by someone in the case of emergencies.

I'll definitely call first thing Monday morning and have the site looked at. Unfortunately, my general dentist does not have an after hours emergency call service. One they close on Thursday, that's it until they re-open normal business hours, on Monday a.m.

After posting earlier today, I was able to remove 2 tiny pieces of bone (about the size of slivers), using my tweezers. About 15 minutes ago, my husband was able to remove a bigger piece that I could feel sticking out from the bottom, but was unable to see myself.

This now makes 13 pieces I've removed at home, ranging in size from slivers, to quite a bit larger.

Here's the one from moments ago.