I am having quite a bit of pain on my right lower jaw after having my wisdom teeth removed. I was wondering if you'd be able to help me figure out some of my questions that I have. I'll go through the days of post-op just to fill you in on some details.

I had all 4 wisdom teeth surgically removed on May 14th. They were all impacted. I was under IV sedation and it took about 30 minutes. They gave me vicodin and ibuprofen for pain.

The day of the surgery I felt fine. Didn't have any heavy bleeding after I took the gauze out. Had some swelling. No bad pains or anything.

2nd day I started swelling more. I noticed 2 hard lumps under my cheeks. Couldn't really open my mouth. The pain wasn't too bad, the medicine made it go away.

3rd day I looked like I gained 50 lbs in my face and was in quite a bit of pain and decided to get seen in by a doctor again to make sure everything was okay. He said I had a little bit more swelling than usual but that everything looked fine. I asked him what the lumps in my cheeks were and he didn't really give me a straight answer. He prescribed me Clindamycin 2x 150mg every 6 hours.

4th day I was still very swollen and in a lot of pain. Pain medicine was helping but once it was close to wearing off I was almost in tears. The lumps were still there, hard as a rock.

5th day I decided to look inside my mouth under a good light, I noticed some discharge coming out of my right bottom cheek and it would fill the side of my mouth. Pressing on my cheek didn't make more come out. Not sure what was making it come out but it happens randomly. Kind of salty tasting. I took a q-tip and dipped it in there and it had a reddish tint to it as well. It sort of had a smell but very faint, nothing strong or noticeable. By this day I'm in a lot of pain and medication isn't really making it go away. The swelling has gone down considerably but the lumps are still there. Still in pain.

6th day In a lot of pain. Noticed that the left cheek is also doing the discharge but doesn't seem to be doing as much. The lump on the right cheek has gone down quite a bit, but still producing quite a bit of discharge. Pain meds are helping some, but I have an aching/throbbing sensation on my lower back right teeth/jaw.


I gargle with salt water about 3-4 times a day. I also use the mouthwash the oral surgeon prescribed in the morning and at night. I'm trying to figure out if this is an infection or a dry socket, or an abscess.. or what's going on. I can't even see any holes in my mouth, especially on the top. They didn't give me a syringe to clean out anything. The discharge hasn't stopped (I don't know if it's pus or the lumps draining??) and my jaw is in quite a bit of pain. The lumps are still there, I have no idea what they are and what's inside them. Please help! Thank you so much Let me know if you need any other details.