Hi Bryanna,

I'm from the UK and have read up on your valuable advice you have given to other forum members. I was wondering if you could assist me as I do not know what advice to follow.

I had my lower left wisdom tooth extracted last year due to it being impacted and badly decayed/infected, the surgeon at the hospital was great took her time despite the tooth crumbling and stitched up the hole completely to prevent dry socket (which i was extremely worried about). I had a great recovery and barely needed any pain relief it was mainly for sore jaw if i did take any. 2 months later i have just had the right lower wisdom tooth removed on Thursday, this tooth was also impacted however not decayed and I presumed it would be a little more straightforward.

The surgery was done by a different surgeon, halfway through the procedure i could feel pain from the drill and the surgeon was reluctant to give more anaesthetic due to something to do with the pulp but thankfully more anaesthetic was given. The tooth was a nightmare to take out and at one point i thought my jaw was about to snap. Eventually after an hour i was done and the surgeon informed me the hole had not been fully stitched up despite me asking this to be done again. I went home and bled straightaway for 12 hours and used gauze and tea bag to stem the bleeding. 3 days later I am in severe pain, it is throbbing from my lower teeth on RHS radiating up to my ear and hurting my top teeth, the hospital were not responding to my call so i made an emergency appt with my normal dentist. Upon inspection he told me I had a dry socket and put an alveogyl dressing and said i had a secondary infection to this and gave me antibiotics. He also said the little stitching that had been done in my cheek was pointless and removed the stitches. I have just got home and to be honest I am traumatised, I have a huge fear of dentists and it took me two years to pluck the courage to have them removed in the first place. It has been half an hour and I've taken pain relief but still in pain. Please can you advise if I will start to recover with the antibiotics and dressing?

Hi hs,

If the surgical site continues to be very painful, then should get in to see the surgeon. If you cannot get in there, then obtain the surgical report and the xrays and see another oral surgeon if at all possible. It would also be helpful to have an xray done of that newly surgerized area to see if there is any remnants of the tooth still in the site.

Not all extraction sites need to be sutured closed. In some cases, it is best not to suture it closed. In other cases there is not enough tissue to close the area over properly so the best that could be achieved in those cases is what is called primary closure. The surgical report should state the steps that were taken to perform the surgery, what was found and the method of suturing. All of which are important to know if you see another dentist because you are still in a lot of pain.

Based on your description of the extraction of this tooth, I would expect you to have some pain for several days due to the invasive surgery that was done. However, it is important to follow the post operative instructions, eat a soft food diet until the site closes and keep your other teeth clean to avoid any plaque from building up on them.

To reiterate..... if you feel that the pain is intense... or it is increasing ... or it keeps you up at night.. or you develop new symptoms like swelling, fever, swollen glands, sore throat.... then do not wait to see the surgeon.

Bryanna

Thank you so much Bryanna for getting back to me, thankfully the pain has subsided. The packing placed however is starting to loosen and I'm scared if it falls out i will experience the same pain again. Does the packing need to stay in for a certain amount of days? Also where the stitches were in my cheek there is a slit and in between I can see white line i do not know if these are some residual stitches or something else. Just below it is I have developed a hard lump is this normal?

Hi hs,

The reduction in the pain is good. However, ideally the packing should be removed and new packing put in it's place. Also the hard lump needs to be clinically evaluated. So a trip to the surgeon would be wise.

Bryanna