Originally Posted by Riles

Hello, all

I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth taken out a month ago. They were all impacted but the operation went pretty well and it seemed like there were no issues although the swelling was pretty severe.

About a week after the operation, almost all of the swelling had gone down except for one area around the bottom of my cheek just above my jaw line on one side. I didn't think much of it until another week went by and there had been no improvement in the swelling and then I noticed that the area on the inside of my cheek had turned yellow-ish. I had no pain, there was no bad taste, and I didn't have any other symptoms but I still decided to see the surgeon again.

He told me I had an infection and he gave me a shot of antibiotics and also prescribed amoxicillin for me to take orally. After 2 days 75% of the swelling in my cheek had gone away (it was no longer noticeable just by looking at me) and my cheek was no longer yellow.

But then my progress stopped although I continued with the antibiotics.
The remaining swelling did not go down at all for the next 2 weeks and my teeth on that side were sore when I chewed. It did not hurt otherwise or have any discharge so again I didn't think much of it. The doctor even said during the follow-up after the antibiotics that everything looked good and there was nothing to worry about. (I voiced my concerns about the stubborn swelling to him then).

Then last night I was frustrated by my lack of progress so I was feeling the swollen area and then I started pushing on it. I pushed on it pretty hard and then I noticed a bad, kinda salty taste in my mouth and when I spit it had a hint of yellow. I rinsed and irrigated with warm salt water but didn't see or taste any more discharge. When I woke up this morning the swelling had returned to how it had been before I got antibiotics 2 weeks ago, its again noticeable when looking at me. Its not discolored and I'm not seeing any discharge though I haven't been pressing it like I did last night.

Did the antibiotics not take care of the infection? Is it due to some food or some necrotic tissue? Should I be worried that the infection has lasted this long (3 weeks)? Can the infection spread or could it have already?

I've been scouring the internet but I haven't found much that sounds similar to my situation, basically all I've done is given myself more things to worry about lol. I called the sugeon's office this morning but he's on vacation till next week.

Thank you all for any help and I apologize for long (and probably hard to follow) post