The Truth About Dry Sockets…
04.13.2011 Leave a comment
Well I found out two things about my wisdom tooth removal:
1. It’s not over until it’s over.
2. It’s best to eat mashed potatoes, pudding, ice cream and yogurt for several days after the surgery even if they “suggest you incorporate more foods after the first couple of days.”
And I suppose the third lesson I learned is that the oral surgeon won’t admit that you have dry sockets until after they’ve healed. Probably something about keeping patients calm perhaps?
Anyway, I learned the first lesson on days 3 and 4 after my surgery. I felt better actually on the first two days than days 3 and 4. That’s probably because I “incorporated a few more foods” as they suggested and it opened up the wounds to create a dry socket. Two of them actually. And the pain just would not go away.
If it was just about pain and taking pain meds for a few days – the 400mg every 3 hrs couldn’t keep up still by the way – that would be fine with me. A little pain, deal with it a few days and it’s done.
But no, I have to have other teeth issues of course. It just so happens my lower right molar, second from the back, was chipped. I knew this going in to the surgery, of course. And had I not needed to get the wisdom teeth out ASAP to maximize my insurance benefits I would have taken care of that molar first. But instead I had to wait. And days 4 and 5 I had excruciating pain in my lower left jaw.
Which meant I needed to go back to my dentist immediately and so I went in yesterday and had the tooth drilled down to a stub and a temporary crown placed on it. Now it’s just a matter of giving it a few weeks to a month to make sure the pain doesn’t come back. If it does, it means I’ll need him to drill out and kill the root. That’s right: the good old root canal.