Hi all,

About 3 weeks ago I had a completely erupted upper wisdom tooth extracted. It was a reasonably straight forward extraction other than a root snapping, which the dentist retrieved. I was sent on my way and told that antibiotics wouldn't be necessary and to rinse for 7 days with salt water, which I did.

Now, everything has seemed fine since then aside from some tenderness around the site which I figured was normal. I've been eating fine, no pain unless I actually poke, etc.

On Saturday I noticed that the gum surrounding tooth in front of the removed wisdom tooth had begun to swell. Since its a public holiday because of Easter I cannot get to my dentist until tues at the earliest if they can even see me so I began to rinse regularly again with salt water. This morning, while the big swelling is still there, it now seems to have a white head on it, like a giant pimple. It is not painful unless I poke it, aside from a very mild stinging in the soft tissue, and I feel physically well. Previous dental xrays from october show no problems with any of my other teeth and the dentist mentioned nothing on seeing the opg that i got for the wisdom tooth extraction itself.

However I am very concerned. What is this? Why has it occurred? Is salt water the best course of action until I can see a dentist?