Pressure/discomfort 10 days after wisdom tooth removal

[jamag83]

Hey all. I had my lower right wisdom tooth pulled last Wednesday. It wasn't impacted and the procedure went much better than when I had the lower left removed last Summer (it came in sideways and took about an hour and half to remove). I think I did everything right in the days after the surgery - I don't smoke anymore, I ate soft foods, didn't drink through a straw, got plenty of rest, didn't swish vigorously or bother the extraction site. But the Monday following the extraction the blood clot came out and I have an open socket that is really irritating me right now. I don't think it's a dry socket because I've not had any severe pain and it looks like there's still some clotting at the bottom of the hole. The problem I'm having now is that I'm feeling constant pressure in my jaw/mouth and it feels basically like someone is jamming their finger into the socket and pressing down ALL OF THE TIME. I wouldn't say that it is very painful, just extremely irritating and it's pretty uncomfortable to eat, drink, talk, yawn, basically anything having to do with my mouth. It's been 10 days now since it was taken out and I have no idea whether I'm improving or staying in limbo. I have an appointment to see my dentist this coming Wednesday and I know that the only thing that will make this any better is time but I'm extremely impatient and I really want to know what's going on with this. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing before or have any advice about what I can do to aid the healing process or just feel better in general? I swish salt water 5-10 times a day, I'm still eating soft foods and trying my best to keep any food debris from the socket, I apply heat or ice depending on which one makes me feel better at the time, and if I have any pain I take Ibuprofen. I've been searching the web for days about this and this forum seems to have knowledgeable posters, so any advice/information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[carole]

Hi jamag83 to the forum.

You could have an infection in it, your dentist might put a dressing in there to help it and give you some antibiotics.

I am not a dentist but from experience this seems to be the most common thing after dry socket. You are usually safe from dry socket after the first 72 hours after extraction but someone on here did suffer from this after that time.

I don't think you could do any more than you are doing at the moment, hopefully the dentist will be able to do something to help on Wednesday. As long as you stay away from the site you should be fine to eat what ever you fancy now though.

Please let us know how you get on, good luck