3 Weeks Post Wisdom Teeth Extraction - PAIN
 

Hello,

3 weeks ago I had all four wisdom teeth extracted at once - they were all impacted. It was a very painful experience (not the procedure itself since I was knocked out, but the days after were complete hell!). I was extremely swollen from my cheekbones all the way to under my chin. The pain was excruciating and the swelling didn't go down until about 6 days later. I was on antibiotics for a week and then my 1 week followup was prescribed another week of antibiotics. The swelling started to go down more and more and I started to feel normal again. I was still extremely sensitive and sore in the area. At my second week follow up, I was prescribed another week of antibiotics. At this point, I felt totally heeled (besides the fact that I still couldn't open my jaw all the way). The swelling went down dramatically and the area wasn't as sore. I was eating solids (in small bites) since I still couldn't open my jaw completely. I didn't take the antibiotics since this would be the 3rd week of them and I felt that I was okay at this point. 5 days after that appointment (yesterday), I woke up with such soreness on the right side of my mouth (the side that seemed to heel quicker). I am not sure what is going on. The pain is really uncomfortable and the swelling is getting worse on that side. The side that I am experiencing this on is the side that heeled quicker. I did favor this side to chew since it seemed to be heeled. I'm not sure if I hurt it or if it's infected but its making the whole side of my mouth very uncomfortable. I can see my cheek is very red on the inside and it almost looks like my gums are completely surrounding my back tooth (different from the other side of my mouth). It hurts more when I swallow, move my jaw in any way, and bite down. Is this normal? Should I be concerned? I felt completely fine a week ago and now all of a sudden the pain starts up again and I got swollen. Also, I exercised for the first time on Monday (I gave myself a big break after I got the teeth extracted) - could that have anything to do with this? I made an appointment to check on this but it's not for another 5 days - should I go sooner? Please advise. thanks so much for your help!

-Girl who wants her mouth back and feel no pain.

Hi helpmeplease,

No this is not normal... it indicates something is abnormal in that surgical site. It would be wise to get in to see the oral surgeon asap.

A note about chewing and eating your regular food after wisdom tooth removal.... it is really best to avoid eating on the surgical wound and stay on a soft food diet until the surgical wound has healed closed.

A side note about the RX ..... most oral surgeons will not prescribe long term antibiotics or refill the prescriptions unless they think there is an infection still brewing. So although you thought you were on the mend, you probably were not as far along as you thought. It is best to tell the surgeon that you did not take that third prescription because if he assumes that you did and you still have an infection, he may opt to treat it differently. So please let him know.

Exercise can usually be resumed after all of the swelling as gone away as that usually indicates the inflammation within the bone is down also. Exercising too early can disrupt the healing process and prolong the swelling.

Check back and let us know how you're doing.
Bryanna

Bryanna thank you so very much. I just called to see if I could go in to the office sooner (tomorrow) but haven't received a call back yet. I started the antibiotics again today hoping it will help! I was dumb and should have just taken them as prescribed - I just felt like I've been taking so much stuff over the last 2 weeks and wanted to give my body a break since I felt okay - bad idea I guess! Also, I had a coworker check the inside of my mouth and she said it looks white in that area. I'm also back to taking the 800 ibuprofen for the pain (it's really uncomfortable). Thanks for your feedback and I will try to go see my doc asap! I will let you know.