Hi,
Actually I am a registered nurse yet know nothing about dental issues . I come here today to see if i can get some concrete answers since my dentist group doesn't seem to be as concerned about my issues as i am.
This is the third time in my life (I am now 57) that i have had teeth extracted. In my mid twenties i had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted under general anesthesia in a hospital setting and developed dry socket on both lower cavities. Daily packing for about a week and healed uneventfully...Pain? yes but back then guess i dealt with it better. 4 months ago i had a right back molar extracted 2 days after with severe pain that had me curled into a fetal position...had to BEG my dentist to see me and yes it was dry socket again...packing every 2 days for 10 days and then all seemed to be well afterwards...as long as the packing was in~ the pain was minimal. Aug 25, 2011 I had last 2 molars on bottom right extracted under general and again the pain sooooooooooooo severe right from post op but within 2 days felt like my head was going to explode, severe throbbing of the jaw, pain radiating from jawline to ear,earache, very moody and very weak as over the course of 5 days i lost 5 pounds bringing me down to 105 pounds at 5'3. On the 4th day after surgery I went to office and had the 2 sockets packed...was told it was "borderline " dry socket...ummmmmmmmm it either IS or is not there is no borderline as far as i am concerned. Packing was left in for 3 days and surgeon saw me 1 week post op and took out the packing and said i would be fine....knowing my past history I begged him to repack it because there is now a 4 day holiday weekend with no access to dental care.....pain is only slightly better it only throbs 23 hours a day instead of 24.....lol not funny dry socket pain is atrocious. My question is....how much longer? when do i know i am out of the woods...no temp, but I am so miserable. live alone and have no support system and i just can't believe the pain is still this severe 9 days after surgery. My dental group doesn't seem to be very supportive and considers me a "problem patient" if you get what i mean. In fact one dentist in the group refuses to see me at all he was in the office yesterday and when i asked to come in to be repacked he told the girls to tell me he was not going to treat me....that i should drive 45 miles to the office in another city to see the surgeon who actually did the surgery I am not his patient. Anyone in this forum have some encouraging words for me> Even as an RN i think this amount of pain for this long is not right. PS I am using tylenol 500mg for pain as the Vicodin and/or codeine they gave me made me violently nauseated. Help!!!!!!!!!! Any suggestions? Thank you for reading!