Worried about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

[littlemit]

I'm a 20 yr old girl..

On Monday at 10am I had to have my bottom left second from the back molar removed (#19?) because it had a bad infection and had started abscessing- the tooth had chipped like a peice of pie from the center out. They got me good and numb and the tooth came right out in a few seconds and I felt nothing. So I listened to what the nurse had to say about caring for it and she didn't put a lot of emphasis on the dry socket thing. I went home and kept the gauze in for like 2 hours and rinsed a little bit when the bleeding wasn't so bad and I'm worried that might have been a bad thing to do?? I left the gauze in most of the day because it was still bleeding a bit at night. (I worried it was bleeding too much but when I called the dentist they told me some people just bleed more then others and such)

I started googling stuff about tooth extractions and I really shouldn't have because that's what got me paranoid.

So now its about 60hours after extraction and I'm worried and I look in my mouth every so often at it- I just want to know what its supposed to look like? The hole seems really deep but I know I saw the dark red yesterday (it was kind of two dark red spots with a pink bridge in between) but today I cant see it so clearly and its kind of becoming whitish? I feel NO pain except a bit of discomfort in my jaw/swollen area. Its just that the hole seems so big.

Its thanksgiving tomorrow and Im really worried Im going to start having intense pain in the middle of dinner or something and not be able to drive home.

I need someone to calm my fears if I'm obsessing over nothing. I am so anxious about this and I know if I get one I'll know or whatever but I want to Prevent it >_< There are SO MANY dry socket stories and so few (if none) good stories.

 

[tabatha7]

Re: Paranoid about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

Hi Littlemit.... I'm not a dentist but I don't think you can tell by just looking. It can be very deceiving. If you are not in any pain I wouldn't worry about it. It seems like someone said after 60hrs or 72hrs you are past having to worry about dry socket. Just relax and enjoy your Thanksgiving.

 

[Judit]

Re: Paranoid about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

Hey,

I just had an upper molar wizzie extracted 3 weeks ago.

I couldn`t see what`s left behind my extarcted tooth as it was the last tooth on the right side.
I had less and less pain day by day and my boyfriend couldn`t see anything not even with the flashlight.
Mine was bleeding a lot, the dentist was shcoked a bit and told me to chnage the gauze every 20 mins but she didn`t tell me how long I need to do it.
I read it later that I need to make the gauze wet and put it my my mouth like that,but I didn`t know as noone told me.
It was ok, just felt I bothered a bit the wound with it. Then I stopped it 3 hrs after the extraction as I remember other extracted teeth healed nicely with keeping the gauze for 20 mins when pinkish blood came out of the wound.
So I was ok, started to rinse with salty water the second day then started to brush my teeth (only one side of the mouth). I think the 4th day a whitish round flat skin kind of thing came out of my mouth, it`s just like a wound whe it`s healing. The dried blood on your knee is gonna be brown if it gets wet , like you go to swim it will get white or yellow. I also had these white coating on my gum and they fell day by day by rinsing and brushing my teeth around the extraction site very carefully. This seems to be the blood which became white just like the upper layer of the blood socket. It protects also the blood socket. Don`t bother it. It will fall out by itslef when it`s ready, just rinse very carefully , don`t swish around the area too much, just gently.
Then the second time an other white thing came out of my mouth when I was rinsing with the warm salty water. That was maybe around the 10th day after extraction.
I never put my tongue there and ws very careful and was eating only mac and cheese , mashed poataoes and lots of fruit purees, my favourite was hummus, lots of iron in it and VItamin C tablet I crushed it and dissolved it in vanilla pudding so I didn`t put any acid or sour liquid in my mouth, it s not really good for healing the wound and as it ws nto so liquid but smooth and dense I could move into the healthy side of my mouth so it didn`t touch the wound.

When you see things just think about a wound on your knee and how it is if you make it wet. That` s what it goes in your mouth just like a wound on your skin. If the extraction was easy, they didn`t twist and turn dig and cut your teeth out so long your wound will heal easier and faster.
Deep wound has more time to heal.
Your body is very intelligent and gets into the protective mode when it`s needed. That`s why it`s good to eat well even if you just eat soft food as your body will heal faster. Even thhough I know sometime we need antibiotics, btu try to avoid them when I can as I know the healthy immune system is the best cure for everything than no needs for antibiotics. It`s your best protection.
Your tooth seems to be healing nicely though I know eveyr situation is different.

Take care

Judit

 

[littlemit]

Re: Paranoid about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

Thanks for your replies it really calms me down. Its nice to hear someone who has a good recovery story. I will let you all know how my recovery goes.

 

[coolin]

Re: Paranoid about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

Over the past 30 years I have had 5 teeth extracted. I never had any problems with any of them. In fact I had never heard of dry socket until I started reading this forum and I have never met anyone who suffered from a dry socket.
Enjoy your thanksgiving and stop looking at your extraction site

 

[littlemit]

Re: Paranoid about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

I just wanted to let people who replied (and possible google-ers of future) know that I am now about 84 hours post extraction and still fine - I have been rinsing with salt water and I am not so worried at all anymore about the dry socket after the replies and talking to people. I'm still being careful! When I checked the extraction site tonight everything looks the same as it did mostly. I'm still in no pain at all, just soreness where my cheek was swollen.

Thanks everyone who has replied- I really do appreciate it

 

[Gill0510]

Re: Paranoid about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

I just wanted to let people who replied (and possible google-ers of future) know that I am now about 84 hours post extraction and still fine - I have been rinsing with salt water and I am not so worried at all anymore about the dry socket after the replies and talking to people. I'm still being careful! When I checked the extraction site tonight everything looks the same as it did mostly. I'm still in no pain at all, just soreness where my cheek was swollen.

Thanks everyone who has replied- I really do appreciate it

Well I am a few years on from this post and I want to thank you for posting it and coming back to tell us it was ok...I am 57 hours post terrible molar extraction where one part has been left in. Had a dry socket 5 years ago and have checked this one every hour I think LOL...I am panicking about the white thinking oh no!! But this has reassured me...I just keep wanting to make it to 72 hours to know its not going to happen. For anyone googling by the way I know why I go a dry socket - first of all I used a straw to drink 1 hr post extraction and secondly I was swilling it out with salt water from 5 hours so as not to get an infection - I did everything wrong! This time I sat for 24 hours, biting on the gauze, I lived on yoghurt since having it done and today I have whitey yellow on the top, no smell etc but some discomfort due to the trauma I think. Fingers crossed for tomorrow xxx

 

[sarryyy]

Re: Paranoid about dry socket approx 60hours post extraction

Hey! I hope this helps someone. I had my tooth extracted (#18, back left molar) 13 days ago now. I was overly paranoid about dry socket. I was checking that sucker every single hour, I swear. I followed very very strict guidelines out of paranoia as well.

I decided to document the first couple days of my healing, because I had never seen anyone do it before. And trust me, I googled and googled for pictures to make sure mine looked ok! Please, do not use my picture as a 100% guideline for what YOUR mouth should look like. Everyone heals differently. But here is a combined image of how my mouth healed. Just because yours does not look like mine means nothing!




1) Day of extraction.
2) 24 hours post extraction (1 day)
3) 48 hours post extraction (2 days)
4) 72 hours post extraction (3 days)
5) 96 hours post extraction (4 days)
6) 120 hours post extraction (5 days)

I stopped documenting after this. My stitches fell out on day 9. Today (day 13) the hole is basically non existent. It's amazing how fast the body heals