Tooth ache after extraction

[sharon]

I had a back molar extracted two days ago and had almost no pain after the anesthesia wore off. Yesterday it started hurting, and the pain continues today; it feels like a bad toothache deep down. I have no swelling, bleeding, gum pain or redness and as far as I can see the area looks good. Lymph nodes aren't swollen or tender. I don't think it's the tooth next to it as that tooth isn't sensitive to heat, cold, tapping or biting. Even before the tooth was extracted it didn't hurt like this, in fact it barely hurt at all. What could possibly be going on?

 

[drhirst]

Sounds to me like you have something called a "dry socket". This is where the blood clot that sealed the extraction site has been lost. The socket does eventually heal but take a couple of weeks or so and is very painful. If you go back to your dentist he can place some medication into the socket to make it more comfortable while it is healing.

 

[sharon]

Yikes!! I never thought of that, I hope that's not the problem. Is the clot something that can be seen? I don't know what the extraction site is supposed to look like, but it looks okay to me, it's not inflammed. All I see back there are stitches. And I was so relieved when I initially had very little pain.

Can the dentist tell just by looking at it if it's a dry socket or does he have to remove the stitches and go digging in there? Is it the kind of thing that needs novacaine to treat?

 

[sharon]

I was up most of the night in pain so called the oral surgeon this morning. He took a look and said everything looks good, it's healing as it's supposed to and gave me some ora-gel to use as needed and said to keep up with the ibuprofen (can take double what I've been taking). He didn't want to open it up and pack it, said that would aggravate it more and would take longer to heal. It may take a few days to get better. I asked him if I had a dry socket and he said that's just a term dentists use to describe post operative pain. Is that true? So I have no idea if I have a "dry socked" or not. I've had two other extractions in the last 4ish years and I've never had pain like this. It's like a toothache deep in my bone.

 

[Gordon]

I asked him if I had a dry socket and he said that's just a term dentists use to describe post operative pain. Is that true?

No, it's utter rubbish. There is a more technical name (alveolar osteitis) but it's a well recognised condition.

 

[sharon]

I don’t understand why he would say something so ignorant. Unless he possibly thought if I heard I had a dry socket that would scare me. When actually just the opposite is true. If I knew I had a dry socket I would think, “Good, at least I know what is wrong and there will be an end to this pain in a few days.” Instead I am thinking, “what is wrong? Did a piece of one of his instruments break off and it’s lodged in the socket area? Is it the tooth next to the extracted one? Did he leave a root tip in there and it’s infected? Will I need more surgery? Will the pain ever end? What am I supposed to do with this pain? Do I go back to him or someone else? How will I pay for more surgery?”

Is there a way for me to tell if I do or don’t have a dry socket? I’ve seen online pictures and what I have doesn’t look like a big gaping hole the size of the molar. It doesn’t look bad at all, no redness or inflammation but there is one tiny area that looks like it could be an open hole about 2-3 mm’s. My mouth is tiny and the area is next to the adjacent tooth so it’s hard to see and I can’t tell for sure if it’s a hole or a blood clot (and I’m not going to poke it to try to figure it out). All I can see is that it’s a dark spot. Would a blood clot even be visible? Isn’t that under the stitches? If I did have a blood clot that was dislodged would I be aware of that happening? I had very little bleeding. Once I got home and removed the gauze there was no bleeding after that.

All I know for sure is that the pain started the day after the removal and has only gotten worse after that. It feels like it’s down in the bone. Ibuprofen helped at first and now is barely touching it. I’ve had more than my fair share of tooth work and have never had pain like this (except for the one time when the dentist did a rc on the wrong tooth ).

 

[gumdisease]

I'm sorry Miss sharon, maybe you can call your dentist and ask him to take an x-ray, it will show in the x-ray if there a bone left in there or something.
But if you didn't hear anything breaking during the extraction, I doubt a bone break, molars are tougher than you think. It the strongest teeth, usually 3 big roots, and up to 4 (my first molar is 4 big roots, confirmed on x-ray).

May I ask, was the dentist extract your molars is a general dentist or oral surgeon?

I have 2 big back molars to be extract coming up soon, and I'm terrified as hell, but it abscess, and advanced gum disease (I have), I want the abscess out of my mouth.

I wish you heal soon. Give it couple more days and see if the pain get better.