# Wisdom teeth removal and dry socket



## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

I got my wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday. All went well except i woke up afterwards with pain on the right side. The pain on the right has persisted, even though the left side feels fine. I called the doctor this morning to get more pain pills and she thinks it's dry socket. Wants me to come in on Monday. In the meantime, I'm on acetaminophen with codeine plus advil every 4 hours around the clock. Ugh. 

I'm not convinced this is dry socket, unless it occurred immediately after surgery...the pain is persistent but its not really getting worse or better. I originally thought the pain might be because the doctor had a more difficult time removing that tooth. When I mentioned my concern about getting dry socket prior to the surgery, my surgeon was very dismissive and said it was very unlikely given I'm only getting the top teeth out.

Is this typical for dry socket? The doctor seeing me on Monday is not the surgeon, nor did she have access to my chart...At least it didn't sound like she did when i was on the phone. 

I have acetaminophen with oxycodone as well. Just hoping i don't need it. The meds I'm currently on only last about 4 hours which is not great for sleeping. I pretty much wake up every 4-5 hours. 

The first few days i had terrible insomnia, even after the surgery...once the sedation wore off i was awake. I was in bed by 7pm last night, then up from midnight to 3am...awake at 8am this morning.

How long do you think recovery will take?


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

When you look at the hole, does it still have a bloody wad of goo in it?

If not, and that's gone, it's dry socket.

Sincerely, someone that has had all four removed and lived in misery for a week each time.

PS: I was given hydrocodone each time, and it did NOTHING to stop the pain. I was just so floaty I didn't care, but I HURT. It was agony. We have a friend, who at the time had just had hernia surgery... and I still to this day don't know what HE was prescribed, but he had hoarded them up... tiny little peach pills.

He took pity on me, loaned me the bottle, said take only what you need, give them back afterwards. 

Whatever that was - it saved my life.

I do not envy you.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Also - About a week or so for the worst of the pain to ease up. My bottom teeth nearly killed me, my top teeth it was a few days and very little pain. Everyone is different. My husband had all four of his taken out at once, against our dentist's advice, and he thought he was dying for a week and a half, but his teeth were HUGE and deep rooted, so it an ordeal to get them out and they had to be quartered vertically to get them out.

The pain on the opposite side of your face: Apparently the dentist didn't tell you that the network of nerves and sinuses get really upset over wisdom tooth removal. I don't think mine did (I used a different dentist than my husband since it was ten years prior to his coming out), but hub's dentist DID. That entire system is very intimately networked together. Trauma, like wisdom tooth removal can cause all kinds of weird pain in your head. Sinuses get upset, ears can get upset, and what affects the sinuses can also in turn affect the teeth. I've had sinus infections that caused lock jaw (I have TMJ) and I've my wisdom teeth cause sinus infections and pain on the other side of my head.

It wouldn't hurt to have the dentist look at the socket, but if that bloody pudding, which is actually a scab, is still there, it's just the pain of the procedure.


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

All I can see are the stitches. But I can't really get a good luck. My top wisdom teeth were angled out towards the outside of my mouth which made them nearly impossible to see or clean for that matter.

I've had mixed reviews on the bottom teeth. The surgeon swore I should have them removed. But my regular dentist said to leave them alone because the roots are dangerously close to the nerve. I asked the surgeon how likely they were to eventually cause problems and he could not give me a straight answer. He said they could cause cysts or a cavity in the last molar. So far I have had no problems, so I opted to leave them be. Those would be a far worse removal,given the location and angle of the tooth.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I would be very cautious about taking any 'little pill' without knowing exactly what it was, or where it came from (a REAL pharmacy). There have been so many deaths from people taking a pain pill, offered by a friend, who maybe bought it online, and it has Fentanyl and who knows how strong , and you take it and never wake up.


I've offered a pain pill to a friend who needed one, and I had one left over. But this was from my neighborhood pharmacy, that I trust, from the original bottle.


These people who make these fake pills even stamp them to LOOK like a regular oxycodone. If you don't know the source, don't take it!


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

I had 3 wisdom teeth removed several years ago. It was ok except for the bottom left which was very difficult as the roots were wrapped around the jaw bone. Some of the pieces of broken tooth can still be seen on xrays. This tooth pained a lot, because of the difficult extraction more stitches were needed but when I went to get the stitches out, the pain stopped immediately so it must have been the stitches causing a lot of the pain.

Do you think this could be the problem for you. Either way I hope the pain subsides soon.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

There might be food packed in it. Did he give you a mone-eject to gently rinse the socket?


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

I hope it doesn't have food in it- I'm still on liquids/smoothies. It could be the stitches- if he over tightened them, i suppose that would cause pain. I think his hand slipped, as it looks like i have a mouth sore back there with redness and swelling in the cheek. Even my lower gum is a little sore, which makes sense if he slipped and bumped it.


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

Bad news: looks like the stitches are completely out on that side. I found a mirror and checked both sides. Left side is great and completely stitched up. Right side has strings hanging down and a hole to China. I felt the strings hanging down the first day but assumed that was how he tied them. Now what do I do? 

I'm pretty sure it was like this when I got home from the doctors office. 

Will it heal okay without stitches? Now i wish i had not looked. It better not get infected because i told him i absolutely cannot go on antibiotics. If i go on antibiotics again, i could get a life threatening infection. That was why i waited a year and a half before getting this surgery. My doctors said to wait as long as possible.

At least it doesn't look infected. Not yet. No fever either.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

I would be very very careful with it and go ahead and go see your dentist Monday morning. He or she may want to stitch it back up, but it will probably heal just fine... eventually. I had stitches on the lower sockets too, seems like one set pulled out, and it's fine. That side just took a little longer to heal. Continue to follow dr. directions until you can get back in to see the dentist again.

Also I wasn't endorsing taking random meds from people. LOL Our friend is like family to us, he's an uncle to our kids, and it was a real, prescribed med, left over from his surgery a few weeks prior. 

Yeah, don't take drugs from some rando.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

How did it go this morning?

I got all 4 of mine out a few years ago. Did EVERYTHING to prevent a dry socket, yet still ended up with one...it hurt so bad. The doctor gave me some ointment and it helped me a ton, gave me relief and it healed up but took a few weeks. It wasn't fun.

They gave me a syringe though so everything else stayed clean. 

Ouch, just saw your new post & that sounds painful. I hope they can do something so you can get relief. Let us know how today went.


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

The nurse said this happens all the time. She pulled the remaining stitches - Ouch! And numbed and packed the wound. Now i have to return every other day for them to change the dressing. 

I'm really upset with the doctor for completely ignoring me when I asked him about dry socket prior to the surgery... "Oh, you won't get that..." My dad had 6 teeth removed (wisdoms and back molars) last year and he didn't get dry socket, but that was with a different dentist. I believe he had collagen plugs put in. The surgeon i used didn't. He didn't even suggest it. 

I'm so glad to be off the pain pills. The codeine was making me feel terribly depressed and completely out of it. 

As soon as I'm done going in, I'm writing that doctor a bad review.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

What a pain in the butt to have to go there every other day. :icon_rolleyes: But at least you went & it will be OK! Yeah, codeine helped me a ton with my pain but I didn't like the way it made me feel.

Definitely write him a bad review. He should have talked to you about dry sockets, regardless if he thought you were gonna get it or not...anyone can get them, even if they do everything to prevent them (like in my situation!).


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