So 1 week ago today I had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled. I am 40 years old and was put under General Anesthetic. The surgery went well and I didn’t feel a thing. Within a a Couple of days I couldn’t even tell that three of the four teeth were pulled. But this lower right tooth is causing extreme pain. The dentist did tell me that this was very difficult to remove and was severely impacted. After three days of no sleep I finally decided to go back to the dentist to make sure everything was looking normal. She said everything looked good and she could understand why I was still in pain due to the difficulty of the extraction. So here I am a week later still in pain. My jaw throbs all the way through my temple and causing headaches. Is this normal? Should I be worried and go back to the dentist? I am taking Tylenol and ibuprofen all day long I’m not sure that’s too good for me either. I don’t notice any open holes or sockets.

Hi Ekb,

Did the dentist take an xray of the lower right at your recent visit? If not, it would behoove you to have one done to see if there is a piece of the tooth still in there or a piece of tooth that is possibly sitting along the mandibular canals or if there is an infection brewing.

Sometimes a difficult extraction can take weeks to stop hurting. It depends on the type of oral surgery that was needed to remove it.

The jaw bone does not heal closed for about a year. It is meant to be a slow and steady process.

Taking tylenol and/or ibuprofen long term is not a good idea. Both meds are harmful to the kidneys and liver.

I know you are numbing the pain with meds, but it's important to try and gauge the pain. When does it hurt, when does it hurt a little, when does it hurt a lot... what are you doing when it hurts? Sleeping, eating, talking, clenching, driving, stressing, exercising?? Sometimes certain things irritate the surgical area and pain results. So you can try to avoid those things and see what happens. If you smoke, stop because the toxic chemicals in tobacco penetrate the oral tissue and can reduce or prevent the bone from healing properly.

Did the dentist take the xray? If not, then perhaps you'll want to consider making a trip back for one.

Bryanna