Molar extraction 7.3.2015 & PAIN LINGERS
 

Greetings! I am reaching out in hopes of gaining education. I had my last molar, bottom pulled out 7.3 and today I am in throbbing, lingering pain. On day 3 I began feeling throbbing, deep aching which has kept on this whole time. It now hurts when I swallow in my ear and bottom jaw. I had a decaying tooth for many years, that I tried to get refilled to save which failed. I have felt when I touch my jaw bone soreness for a while now, several years. My own neglect in waiting so long to pull the tooth. The oral surgeon did not prescribe antibiotics and said if there is infection, once a tooth is pulled the body will get rid of the infection. I took one 500 mg amoxicillin before hand on my own accord, as I had this from a previous prescription I never had to take for a cough. So I am worried I may have an infection. What helps the pain is if soft foods get into the hole. Once I irrigate out with the saline water the pain comes again. What would signs of infection be? I am trying to get into the oral surgeons office today once they open. I have been calling them daily and they say this pain is par for course and can last for a long time in some. Side note, when he injected the novacain/septacain solution, he "nicked" a nerve. I felt a shocking zap to the tip of my tounge and he explained and apologized. I hope I am not having some nerve pain. I am concerned and not feeling so confident with this oral surgeon. He left the room when I had questions of what did the tissues look like when he pulled the tooth etc. I got my tooth from the assistant and it had black on the back side. Thank you for any advice.

I don't know if this pain is something to be expected at this time. I didn't feel this with previous extractions. It is in my socket to the bone, seemingly radiating to the ear and eye at times. Then it tapers off and I think it's gone. Then it starts again with zapping pains and the throb/deep ache and zapping pains. Now my whole row of bottom middle teeth are really aching in off and on pattern.

Marie,

You probably have a dry socket and possible infection. If the oral surgeon refuses to see you, either just show up there or get in to see a different oral surgeon. Just so you know, the dentist who performed the extraction, by law, has to take care of your post operative complications.

This is not something to put off, there is a problem and you need to be clinically treated.

A word about antibiotics.... never take just one pill or just a few pills of the rx as this can set you up for a worse infection. The medication kills off the good, healthy bacteria sent by the immune system first in order to get to the bad infectious bacteria. So if you only take one pill or part of a prescription all you have done is killed off good bacteria which puts your health in an unfavorable position. Also when you take a prescription of antibiotics, it's imperative to finish that rx completely unless you have an adverse reaction to it, in which case you should stop the meds immediately. Finishing the rx ensures that you have killed off the bad bacteria as completely as possible. Just wanted you to be aware of that.

Please check in with us when you can.

Bryanna

Hi Bryanna,

Thank you for your reply. I got into see the oral surgeon today, they fit me in. He did a 3D xray. He said the bone looks good. He did a look quickly at my hole and said it looks to be healing well. He said a lower molar pull can cause pain for 2 weeks or more! I asked if it was dry or partial dry socket and he said no. I asked if I was feeling this as he "nicked" my nerve giving the anesthetic shot. He said no I wouldn't feel pain now. It's really strange to me, if I get porridge or soft food in the hole the pain goes away and when I finish eating and clean the hole out, the pain returns, which made me suspect a dry or partial dry socket. The pain is now radiated to my middle lower teeth. He said that is normal for the pain to radiate. I also asked the assistant if I could get a copy of the 3D image and she said no as it was a $400 xray they did for free. She did print it for me on a piece of paper. Do you think I should get a second opinion?

Marie---I had a lower molar out recently and was in awful pain for about 2.5 weeks. I also had no dry socket or infection.

However I find it REALLY weird they wouldn't give you a copy of the xray? Every single office I have ever seen has been fine with giving copies. And aren't the 3D xrays on disk? Mine was (the one I got pre-extraction), they just burned me a copy to take for my records.

Nukuspot...oh my 2.5 weeks. Do you remember what the pain was like? The oral surgeon told me before the extraction it would be a few days of pain potentially. Now today, he says it could be 2 weeks. Maybe he didn't want to scare me beforehand on the time frame initially. Yes, I think I will call back Monday and ask someone else in the office to get me a copy of that.

Yes I remember---still living it! It's been 3 weeks since my extraction. My story is below if you look through the forum. I am still in pain but the PAIN type pain is gone now. Now it's more discomfort but I had discomfort already before and I can't tell which is old/new still.

Marie,

Based on your description, the tooth was badly infected for a long time and the symptoms of soreness that you had prior to the extraction indicate the bacteria had spread beyond the tooth. Whether or not you need an antibiotic during this healing phase is a decision that a dentist needs to make. However, it is untrue that if you remove a single infected tooth that the body will automatically heal the residual infection on its own. With every tooth extraction, the jaw bone needs to be thoroughly debrided of all visible diseased tissue and bone and if infection is still suspected, then an antibiotic is given.

Your description of how the site feels better when it is plugged up with food indicates a possible bone exposure. Which means that the clot may have been disturbed, thus the pain starting on the 3rd day of post op, which would leave the bone exposed and dry. Covering it kind of soothes it like a blanket. However, it is not a good idea to let food debris stay in the hole as the food will decay and cause further problems. If irrigating causes the hole to become painful, then you may be irrigating to aggressively. Try avoiding that area when you eat and instead of irrigating the hole, rinse with warm salt water after you have eaten. The key is to not get food trapped in the hole in the first place and then just gently rinse out whatever debris ends up in there. The inside of the wound will not heal well if it is constantly being disturbed. Also avoid all mouthwash because the chemicals are just more irritating to the wound.

The 3D scan, irrelevant of whether they charged you for it or not, belongs to you as it is an image of your body. If you alter your eating habits and do the salt water rinsing instead of the irrigating for the weekend and the pain is still intense and lingering by monday, it would behoove you to get an appointment with a different oral surgeon and have the original office email the 3D scan to the new dentist. They cannot legally refuse to do this.

As a side note, it is not uncommon to have pain of various degrees for several weeks after an infected tooth has been extracted. The real concern is regarding the health of the extraction site and jaw bone which should be taken seriously by the oral surgeon. So if you feel that you have to follow up with another surgeon, then don't hesitate to do that. But you would need that 3D scan for proper evaluation.

Bryanna

Many thanks Bryanna! This morning I can visually see the hole closed a bit more. My middle teeth on the bottom aren't throbbing/aching as intensely. The most pain I am feeling right now is directly under the tooth extraction where the bone is and my right ear. It feels like a mild earache that waxes and wanes in intensity. I am looking at the paper print out that I got, of the 3D, and I see no dark or light discoloration in the bone. I'm going to find a second opinion DDS or Oral Surgeon on Monday, and have them request the images and report from my tooth extraction. When I asked prior to having this tooth extracted about cleaning out the tissue at minimum, I was told they do this. However as soon as he removed my tooth, he handed to the assistant and left the room. I asked the assistant how it looked in there, and everything looked great and no infection. He is a very well rated Oral surgeon, so I just hope nothing was overlooked. Now I am wondering if I'm going to have someone else open it up and clean it out, and that sounds like more ouchies. What to do, what to do.

P.S. I have earthpaste toothpaste. I put it in the hole and it's heaven. I will flush it out in a bit, but it makes me think there is a partial exposure going on. Monday, God willing I will be over this challenge. Bless