post wisdom extraction gum swelling panic

[McGonicle]

Hi guys,

I had my right lower wisdom tooth extracted yesterday. Apparently it was a really hard toot h to remove, and they gave me antibiotics as infection may have got into my blood. There was not much swelling until the evening, but by about 4am it had really swelled up. I got up and slept upright with a bottle of frozen water wrapped in a towel at my mouth, but it was still very swollen, as can be expected.

However what has worried me is that I've just got to the point where I can open my jaw enough to have a look at the site and get a tooth brush in to clean the teeth away from the extraction site. Whats is worrying is that the second lower molar on the right, the tooth adjacent to the removed tooth, have an extremely swollen part of its gum... which almost appears to be on top of the tooth. The gum looks gum a little inflamed from the part nearest the mouth way until about half way along where it shears up to almost on top of the tooth.

I'm conncered that tehre is some long term damage being done here, and possibly that the seal between the gum and tooth is being broken and that the exact same problems that caused the preceeding wisdom could be sown during this period of swelling, as I'll never be able to clean out bacteria trapped as teh swelling recedes. Should I be panicing? Do I need some anti inflamatory medication? Or is it normal for the teeth next to other teeth to have very swollen gums like that? Is the gum damaged? It worried me as I've become aware that this is the main part of even above the site of the extraction where I'm feeling any discomfort and I was having pain swallowing and I think it could be because there is friction around that area when I try.

Any help?

Cheers

Paniced Rob

 

[Gordon]

Don't panic. I know, it's much too late for that now...

Anyway, the swelling is more likely to be a bit of blood clot over the tooth than anything else. Gums are amazingly resilient things and even if you really provoke them they generally stay nicely attached to their adjacent tooth with very little drama.

 

[McGonicle]

Cheers Gordo that alleivates som more worry. I called nhs direct as well and they seemed morew concerned about the #facial swelling as its been going up an down a bit, and now it seems to be gopoing a bit crazy. Anyway, I'll be sleepiny downstairs tonight and takening a dose of antibiotics because I sleep so ho9pefully it will reduce a bit by then. is it better to keep the head elevated?

I'm bloody glad I didn't have all three out at once, I would have been in real troulbe with eating. I'm having trouble typing as it is!

Thanks again!

Rob,

 

[Gordon]

All well now? I had my wizzies done 2 at a time so I could eat

 

[McGonicle]

Hi Gordon,

Sorry I only just got back to this thread. The swelling in my face went a couple of days ago more or less, but there is still a tiny bit, but that particular gum is still really swollen, maybe even a little more so now. I can still feel a little swelling in the gum around my jaw directly below that gum on the second molar. But is bothers me that the tooth still seems to be nearly submerged in gum on that side. Maybe I should wait a couple of more days. Still giving it a good old bathe in the saltwater, but because it is likely to caught and bleed, I can't really brush that second molar properly, and it is getting hard to stop it getting scungey. The actually site of the extraction itself seem a lot more calm, so I'm a little concerned there might be some infection in that 2nd molar gum, even though I had a 5 day course of Amoxicillin at 1500mgs a day.

I do feel pretty thoroughly exhausted still, It has certainly been more like a surgical operation rather than having a filling done. Although I'm glad I had one done, unfortunately, it may have been wiser to have two done, bottom and top, because the two remaining are both on the top. Seeing as I had such a bad reaction to the first one, maybe I'll have to consider having them done one at a time otherwise I might find I'm in really trouble with eating. Having said that, one is fully erupted and the other is partially erupted so maybe they will not be as bad. Because I'm prone to depression, I have to really regulate my routines, particularly eating and I found the whole thing really traumatic. This week it has felt like I've been recovering from a really bad depressive episode, and I had one day a few days after the op where I completely went to pieces and my blood pressure went through the roof and everything started bleeding again. So that was rubbish

Anyway, I really appreciate the support I've been getting from this site, and my business in in video production so I thought to occupy myself, and maybe give a little bit back to those who might be scared of the unknown, I shot a little video diary covering my recovery. It's not exactly pretty, but I'm fiddling about putting it together today, should be live later on... if anybody is interested that is

Cheers!

Rob Wheeler

 

[Gordon]

I'll be really interested to see it Rob, thanks for making the effort.

I don't suppose you know if there were self dissolving stitches placed anywhere near the second molar? Sometimes they don't dissolve fast enough and you get some local swelling and tenderness. Just a thought...

The upper ones should be an awful lot less trouble, especially if one's fully through, it'll be just a normal extraction rather than surgical one then.

 

[McGonicle]

Hi Gordon,

Yes they were self dissolving stitches around there, I think (threaded with a hook that looked like it could pull in a shark ). That did cross my mind because there did seem to be a little tension around there, and there still is a tiny bit of tension around there, although the piece of loose looped stitch that was flapping around there seems to have disappeared now.

Actually the other tooth has completely broken through the gum as well I think. Does that make it harder to stitch up the hole? One of the things I dread is having a great bloomin hole in my head for chunks of food to get stuck in

Just trying to add a little interval for levity in the video as it suddenly got a bit dark It runs a bit long as well. Should appear sometime this weekend...

Cheers

Rob,

 

[Gordon]

The hook bit doesn't stay in, it's actually a curved needle.

If there's a wee bit of stitch that hasn't dissolved yet than that's pretty irritant and will probably be doing some of the damage.

The stitching isn't really affected by whether or not there's a tooth there.

I'll be away most of the weekend, so I look forward to seeing your video on Monday.