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Still in pain 12 days post extraction

I

IdSmash

Junior member
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
5
I had my left lower wisdom tooth and the first molar on my right side removed on Friday the 12th. The molar was really hard to get out. It took about 45 minutes because the roots were so long. The wisdom tooth took about 5 minutes. However, I had an infection so they had to scrape and "clean" out the socket. I also had a cyst they had to remove. All in all it took about an hour total. Since the 3rd day I've had tremendous jaw and throat pain. I saw the oral surgeon for a follow up 6 days later and was told everything was healing fine but I did have some nerve damage and TMJ. I have another appointment with him on March 1st.

Right now I am still having a good amount of pain in my jaw as well as some ear pain and pain when swallowing. I do not have dry socket. I am 32 years old. Is this "normal" to still be in pain? I sleep fine but as soon as I wake up it starts to hurt. I do get relief from taking Ibuprofen & Tylenol but after 6 hours the pain comes right back. It's not a throbbing pain but a sharp pain. I don't know how to describe it. I am afraid of a secondary infection even though I've been on antibiotics.
 
The pain you are describing sounds like typical nerve damage. This can take months to completely heal if it ever fully recovers. That really is the problem with wisdom tooth removal or any type of tooth extraction. There are a bunch of nerves that run just below the root apex of your teeth. These nerves can easily be hit or nicked by a dentist's bone bur or saw and result in permanent damage. For this reason I did quite a bit of research regarding minimally invasive extraction procedures, as I know that I could not live with constant pain. From what I could find there is this dental device called Piezosurgery that basically cut only bone. Its pretty amazing, you can even touch the tip while it is on and nothing happens to your skin. This makes sure that no nerve damage occurs with extractions. Its kinda like how doctors can cut off a cast with one of those weird saw things but not cut your skin! I found a local oral surgeon who used the device and my extraction was a breeze, I would recommend it to anyone thinking about getting an extraction. I really hope that the pain has begun to subsided for you!!
 
Hello IdSmash

Hope you're feeling better.
I also had a nerve damage (my oral surgeon called it nerve bruise), and another dentist said I had TMJ after my lower wisdom tooth removal six months ago. My ear pain started as soon as I finished the pain killers, and I didn't know why. Even the surgeon did not tell me why I have ear pains. My pain has gotten better over time, but I still have throbbing ear pressure from time to time every day. I guess it takes more time than I expected to heal completely. But my senses came back normal, which I am really grateful, and I am trying to be patient.
Hopefully you're doing much better by now.

DF
 
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