[Oh my goodness - thank you so much for your very detailed reply!

You answered my questions and eased my concerns. Big exhale

So, I ended up having a very long conversation with the Perio. and he was very very apologetic about what had happened. In retrospect he admits he should have treated it clinically even though he did not see bone during my last visit. I am still not sure how he missed it.

I went back to him to SHOW him the dry socket today and he did confirm and could not apologize more. He seemed quite humbled by the situation and of course claimed he wanted to everything in his power to fix the situation. He gave me his cell phone number to call if I have any concerns or the pain gets worse between packing changes.

He did an xray and everything looked "okay", no sign of infection in or around the area so he said I could stop the Clindamycin tomorrow. (that will be day 14 - 7 days from him and 7 days from my general dentist as a precaution). He took the stiches out today as well - I am 15 days post op.

I also had a bone graft at the time of extraction but apparently I lost some of my bone graft but he is more concerned about the dry socket healing and feels I have adequate bone so not going to replace right now. He also did some flap thing the day of the 2.5 hour surgery. Not sure I needed all of this since I had adequate bone based on the 3D Cone Scan and no perio disease. cha ching?

No, no perio disease at all. Pockets are pretty much all 2's. I am a clencher and grinder with TMJ issues. All of my root canaled teeth came about from trauma to the tooth and I have never had an infection in the teeth (according to my endo.). Also had some bad "bite adjustments" that lead to tooth trauma.

So the plan is to have the packing re-done every other day for the next week and he will moniter very closely. He claims that the packing can slow down healing? but that right now he wants me out of pain.

I never had gum or bone problems before this procedure and I hope I don't now because I really want to be able to have an implant as that was the plan.

So pain is more manageable then last week - that was childbirth level. Today is the first day I am trying not to take ANY pain meds or anti-inflame.'s. I even did a few errands and went for a walk but now as I type this the pain is starting to creep in so I might take some Motrin and not try to be a "hero".

Anyway.....thanks for all your feedback - it is much appreciated! Peace, RG