What causes white around the gum after an extraction?
 

My sister had tooth pulled Saturday, at emergency dental clinic.

Her extracted space is hurting and white around the gums. She said it had been hurting/sore before she had it pulled.

She was eating hard candy and her crown broke and they had to pull it. It's been giving her problems for years.

Started taking antibiotics Monday night Doxy-cycle HYCL.

Would appreciate any advice...

We don't know why her gums are white.

BrokenWings,
if ALL of her gums are white, you should get a hold of the oral sugeon. White mucus membranes can be a sign of anemia, but unless she bleed profusely, (in which case should would be in the hospital), its unlikely.

Dead tissue can be white as well. If the gums have small white areas around the surgical sites, there may be some dead tissue. When skin or other tissue swells, the outer most layer of skin or membrane often loses its blood supply. Once the swelling starts to go down, it comes off. IF you have ever had an injury that was very swollen, you might have noticed some skin peeling after the swelling went down.

The mouth is wet, and can cause small injuries to be white. Think of going into a pool with a scab on your leg. When you get out, the scab is white. Cancer sores in the mouth often have white centers.

Your safest bet though would be to call your oral surgeon and see if it is something you need to worry about or not. You don't want to take any chances of infection or other problems.

Sam

White can also signal thrush. Eating hard candy would fuel thrush (Candida) quite a bit.

So I think a visit to the dentist is in order.

Hi Broken Wings,

When an extraction site is still "very" painful after the 3rd day of the extraction, then it could indicate a dry socket which needs to be treated by the dentist. The white around her gums could be plaque or rum tissue that is sloughing off. What is she rinsing with??

Lightly salted warm water is all that is needed to rinse with. Too much salt will blanch the tissue causing it to be sore and appear white. NO mouthwash, especially anything like Listerine as this will cause further irritation and could even burn the surgical area.

Sometimes small lesions like canker sores develop around an extraction site. These can be appear white and/or red. If she is sucking on any hard candy, she should stop because that will not only create irritation and dislodge the clot, but the sugar can slow down the healing.

If her gums in general are white, then it could be an accumulation of plaque along the gumline .... a yeast infection called thrush which can occur when taking Doxycycline and needs to be treated .....over rinsing with too much salt and/or mouthwash.

It is best for her to see her dentist to diagnose the problem just in case it is something that needs to be treated now rather than later.

Bryanna

Thanks so much for your replies.

She did go back to the dentist.

She did have a dry socket.

They packed it appropriately.

Apparently that didn't help.

She had to go back again for a second packing for dry socket.

still didn't stop the pain from dry socket.

went back. dentist said she would just have to endure it because it wasn't going to help packing it again.

Any more suggestions?

Broken wings,

When a dry socket is packed with the medication the pain stops instantly. The packing generally has to be replaced once a day for about 3-4 days in a row.

She may need to have the socket debrided... meaning scraped/cleaned out prior to the packing. Usually this debridement is done without question, but perhaps it wasn't in her case?

It concerns me that she is having so much pain. What is she rinsing with? Does she smoke?

What did the dentist say the white on her gums was?

Bryanna

I'll get back in touch with her and let you know.