Just got back from the dentist (well...technically the pharmacy since he had me get some prescriptions filled).

The biggest issue is what I expected...that I have a dry socket in one of the spots in the lower left side of my mouth. His treatment for it is to have me flush it 3 times a day with hydrogen peroxide (they finally gave me something to do this with) and flush it with warm salt water as needed beyond that. He gave me an Rx for Norco and 2 RXs for antibiotics to take at the same time for the next week (Amoxicillin and Metronidazole). He said if the pain does not get better by Wednesday morning then I should call them and they will have me come in Wednesday afternoon to pack it. His reasoning, he said, is that packing it will prolong the healing process and be more invasive. He says that usually he ends up not having to with just flushing the wound with hydrogen peroxide (vile tasting stuff BTW...he did it while I was there...yuck!).

The other 3 wounds seem to be healing well. There was a bone chip working it's way out of the gum where the tooth was pulled in the upper left that was causing some discomfort but it's been removed now. There was also some food trapped in the wounds so I am to use the syringe thing they gave me to flush those out as well. I have no idea why I didn't get one after the initial extraction...seems like this would be a pretty common problem.

At any rate...I feel about 1000% worse right now after my visit. The pain is all the way up into my left ear and radiating out into my cheek. I feel very weak and nauseous...and that's before I have taken any meds which I suspect will probably aggravate the situation. I called off work tonight because between the pain and the potential side effects of the meds I don't think the 1 hour commute each way (in snow storms no less) and the 9 hour shift at work would be remotely possible. Once the pain goes down and I know how the meds affect me I can see if I can go in tomorrow. I HATE calling off but I just don't see how I could avoid it today with everything going on.

My mouth has also swollen badly since I left the dentist and I can hardly talk. I think the poking around and all that caused the swelling to get worse...

I hope the Norco kicks in quickly. I took it for my RSD pain but it didn't have any affect on that. I'm hoping it will for this...

I also have a follow up scheduled for next Tuesday so IF I don't need to come in this Wednesday then I will still be seeing them in a week to check on things.