[Kasey0118]

help!! My daughter had all four of her wisdom teeth pulled the end of April. After her two week checkup she had an infection in her lower left hole. After taking antibiotics for ten days and returning to oral surgeon two weeks later she now has an infection in the lower right hole. She is now on a different antibiotic. Surgeon said if still has infection in two weeks they will cut her open again and clean it out. She is very frustrated as she was very diligent in keeping mouth clean and followed all directions. I am concerned about these infections and all these antibiotics, the oral surgeon made it sound like these are fairly comman. Are they? She is supposed to go to Germany for a two week exchange in July so I am hoping this doesn't lead to additional surgery which would prevent her from flying. How common are these types of infections and what is involved if they have to cut her gums open again?

Thanks

[Bryanna]

Hi Kasey,

Post operative infection following wisdom tooth removal is fairly common. In cases where the infection is slight and just in the soft tissue with no bone involvement, the antibiotics will usually clear it up.

It is a little abnormal to be diagnosed with an infection after the 2 week post op check for wisdom tooth removal as the symptoms of the infection generally are quite evident within the first week post op. So a few things come to mind.....

** Did your daughter have symptoms prior to her first post op check that she did not mention to you?
** Did she have symptoms with the right side prior to the second post op check?
** Did the surgeon say how severe the infections were/are?
** Did he say that she had food debris impacted in the sites or that she needs to rinse better with the salt water?
** By any chance does she smoke or drink alcohol? I ask that because the chemicals in tobacco can disrupt the initial clot from forming properly and an infection can develop. Alcohol causes the same problems to occur as the tobacco.
** Is the infection on the lower left side completely healed?

The antibiotics will disrupt and cause an imbalance with her intestinal flora/bacteria. Sometimes the effects of this are evident within a few days or week of taking the meds. But sometimes they are not evident until weeks after the antibiotics are done. So it is always a good idea to supplement with a daily probiotic, which is good bacteria, to reduce the severity of the imbalance. The probiotic needs to be taken one hour before or two hours after the medication to avoid contradiction. One to two times a day while on the meds and then once a day when the meds are done. It is then a good idea to stay on the probiotic for several weeks if not longer to help replenish the healthy bacteria that was killed off by the antibiotics. FYI... eating yogurt provides a minimal amount if any live bacteria as it is an over processed food. So yogurt is severely less effective compared to taking a supplement.

If the surgeon has to make an incision and debride the socket, the post op healing time depends on the severity and depth of the infection. It is wise to make sure that the infection on both sides of her jaw are healed before she flies to to Germany.

[Kasey0118]

Originally Posted by Bryanna

Hi Kasey,

Post operative infection following wisdom tooth removal is fairly common. In cases where the infection is slight and just in the soft tissue with no bone involvement, the antibiotics will usually clear it up.

It is a little abnormal to be diagnosed with an infection after the 2 week post op check for wisdom tooth removal as the symptoms of the infection generally are quite evident within the first week post op. So a few things come to mind.....

** Did your daughter have symptoms prior to her first post op check that she did not mention to you? i think she did but didn't recognize it as such.
** Did she have symptoms with the right side prior to the second post op check?no she didn't at that time.
** Did the surgeon say how severe the infections were/are? no she just said that based on the ray it didn't appear anything yo be overly concerned about.
** Did he say that she had food debris impacted in the sites or that she needs to rinse better with the salt water? when she irrigated the left side she said there was food there and that she had to do a better job rinsing and brushing that area. I think my daughter was afraid she would cause problems if she brushed too hard.
** By any chance does she smoke or drink alcohol? I ask that because the schemicals in tobacco can disrupt the initial clot from forming properly and an infection can develop. Alcohol causes the same problems to occur as the tobacco. no to both...thank goodness
** Is the infection on the lower left side completely healed? Yes she said based on X-ray the let side bone has started growing and looks good.

The antibiotics will disrupt and cause an imbalance with her intestinal flora/bacteria. Sometimes the effects of this are evident within a few days or week of taking the meds. But sometimes they are not evident until weeks after the antibiotics are done. So it is always a good idea to supplement with a daily probiotic, which is good bacteria, to reduce the severity of the imbalance. The probiotic needs to be taken one hour before or two hours after the medication to avoid contradiction. One to two times a day while on the meds and then once a day when the meds are done. It is then a good idea to stay on the probiotic for several weeks if not longer to help replenish the healthy bacteria that was killed off by the antibiotics. FYI... eating yogurt provides a minimal amount if any live bacteria as it is an over processed food. So yogurt is severely less effective compared to taking a supplement.

If the surgeon has to make an incision and debride the socket, the post op healing time depends on the severity and depth of the infection. It is wise to make sure that the infection on both sides of her jaw are healed before she flies to to Germany.

Thank you so much for responding!!! I answered above next to your questions. I am hoping that this will be it, my daughter told me today that the right side feels better and she can open her mouth all the way with no pain. Hopefully this will end well I will keep you posted!!!