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So I got my lower-right-back wisdom tooth removed last Tuesday because a week prior, I got a gum infection where it was partially ruptured. Now usually, these aren't too bad, and they go away on their own, and they usually only occur when I eat a lot of something crumbly and hard (like popcorn or nuts), but aside from that, I never got any trouble out of my wisdom tooth. Except this one time where the infection was especially painful and wasn't going away very fast. Since I'm planning on doing some travelling work for 10 months soon, I figured I better get the wisdom tooth removed.
When the procedure occurred last Tuesday, I remember that when the doctor was injecting me with numbing agents with a needle, there were a few times when it felt like someone had hit the tip of my tongue with a taser or something. My dentist said that this was most likely him accidentally hitting a nerve with a needle when sticking it under my tongue. Aside from that and the usual discomforts, it seemed to have gone well: They pulled the tooth out, put a filling in a molar that was right beside the wisdom tooth (which now feels like a plastic plate that I keep biting down on, and he put a suture on the socket to help it close and heal. He told me that the tooth was a bit "tricky", and put me on painkillers, and told me to take one-to-two of them every 4-6 hours alongside 800 mg of Ibuprofen.
The day of the surgery was OK: I had a lot of discomfort, but taking my pain medication as prescribed seemed to be adequate for keeping the pain away. Starting the day after, on Wednesday, I just began experiencing increasing pain in the gum socket, and it seemed like I had to take two painkillers and 800 mg of ibuprofen for it to even relieve some of the pain. On Friday, I was already out of pain meds, but still in a lot of pain, so I went to see them again. The dentist took a quick look at the socket and said it was "looking good". He reminded me that it had only been three days since the surgery, and that it may take awhile for not only the socket to heal, but to fully recover from the trauma of my jaw from the work itself due to the difficulty of it, is how I understood it. He then gave me another prescription for pain meds, and now a prescription for 500mg amoxicillin that is to be taken every six hours. He also gave me popsickle sticks to bite down on as a stretching exercise for my jaw, which DID help relieve a lot of pain the first few times, but now it does nothing.
I'm now on day five, I believe, and I am still in excruciating pain. It didn't help that last night, I went to stay with my mom and her fiance for one night in their RV, where I ran out of my last three pain pills, and was up most of the night due to pain but not being able to do anything for relief. My mom tried some essential oils and a warm compress, but they only worked for as long as they lasted, which wasn't long.
Now, the right side of my jaw has horrible throbbing pain, and is starting to radiate to my right ear, and I feel like there's a lot of pressure in my head but mainly on the front of my face, and I think my head is a bit hot, and I have a bad headache. Sometimes, especially after rinsing out that gum socket, the right side of my tongue and underneath it feels a little numb. Every time I try to lay down, it feels like a bunch of blood is just rushing towards that socket and putting pressure on it, making it worse. Even when I manage to lessen the pain or sleep through it, I always wake up 1-2 hours later to the horrible sensation of someone just jabbing deep down into that socket and into my ear with a q-tip or a needle, and I don't know what's going on.
From what I've read on the internet, what I am experiencing could be something called "dry socket", where the socket either failed to clot, or the blood clot was dislodged. I do remember pulling a gauze off the socket area when I was trying to deaden it with ambisol, and seeing some weird dark piece of something with what looked like a drop of pus or something white on it, but at this point, I was already experiencing bad pain. After that, I decided to take a syringe I was given and to squirt Listerine directly into the socket in hopes of cleaning it out, if I already have dry socket.
So far, that Listerine rinse is the only thing that has provided any relief all day, and it only lasts for about 30 minutes. Now since my last rinse, the entire right-side of my mouth has been aching, and that soft area below my tongue feels sore. Sometimes sucking the inside of my mouth provides relief, other times, it just feels like it's making it worse.
On top of that, my middle teeth on the top row and bottom row often feel annoyed and like I need to teeth, but I am not sure if that's from the pain radiating from the socket, or if it's due to my having not worn my retainers in a week.
The only time since yesterday that ibuprofen has worked, was when I accidentally took more than four, and I felt extremely good and groggy for about 2-6 hours.
Either way, I would like some expert advice or a second opinion on this. I'm supposed to go back this upcoming Friday to get the stitch removed, but I'm not sure if I can wait until then unless I can find a natural solution to this pain that consistently works. I know the socket is most likely healing by now, but I really don't want to keep living like this, and it needs to be resolved before my trip in three weeks. I'm really starting to regret ever getting that tooth pulled.
I'm planning on getting some clove oil, but it may take awhile to get here. I try some more of that gum numbing gel, but it doesn't seem to work anymore unless I just coat my entire mouth, and for some reason, the taste and texture of it makes me sick. My dad has offered to give me a hydrocodone pill that he had left over from after his hernia surgery, but I'd rather not take pain medication that is not mine.
Sounds like a dry socket to me but I'm not a dentist. Call yours in the morning and ask to be seen right away. Tell them you are in pain. They should shift things around so you can get in there quickly. If not, you need a new dentist!
TinBo ... I am a dental hygienist. I can tell you that the most common area to get dry sockets are lower wisdom teeth. Most dentists give you some pain meds after wisdom tooth removal. Most people like to hit the narcotic medication first. Actually, the anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen or Aleve work better in a situation like this. Follow the instructions on the bottle unless the dentist advises you to take more. What you are experiencing is not normal. Call your dentist today. There are things he can do to help. You don't need to suffer.
The only thing I recall my dentist doing was glancing in there with a flashlight for about 30 seconds, tell me "Yep, lookin' good!', and then tell me "Well, that wisdom tooth WAS a tricky one to get out, so you may still be experiencing some trauma from the procedure." He then prescribed me more pain meds and Amoxicillin. Of course I was in a lot of pain then, so I may not remember the passage of time correctly.
Now that is stated,
I thought I almost had it under control today. After submitting to the pain and curling up into a ball at around 9:00 PM last night, I managed to go to sleep without being woke up by pain or noise until about 11:00 PM or 12:00 AM, and ate some hot soup my dad made for me, which cleared up my sinuses and immediately relieved a lot of the pain.
So then I stayed up until about 1:00 - 2:00 AM eating soup, cleaning out the socket with Listerine and salt water, then I took my antibiotic, 800 mg of ibuprofen, two 500 mg Tylenol pills, a sleep aid, and went back to bed where I slept peacefully until about 9:00 AM where I woke up naturally. Then for the rest of the day, I avoided dairy, took my medication at the proper times, and made sure to stay warm and keep my sinuses clear by drinking tea and hot chocolate with every meal, making sure not to eat too much (both in portions and bites), and rinsing after every meal.
At about around 1:00 PM, I began to feel claustrophobic, so I went outside like I usually do, but despite trying my best to wear many layers, the cold air and wind still got to my mouth some. Afterwards, I ate a bowl of red beans and rice, and I think a lot of the grit of it got into the socket, so a lot of the throbbing pain I had yesterday came back, and it almost feels like something is squirming in the socket.
I rinsed out the socket as many times as I could while having access to the bathroom, and I used 800 mg of ibuprofen and applied Orajel around the site, but I still have a fair throbbing pain and and squirming sensation in the right side of my jaw after a pretty intense 30-40 minute episode, and now my right ear is aching.
I was going to try to wait until Friday to go back to the dentist like I have scheduled with them, but it's starting to look like
I'm going to have another sleepless night, and I'm not sure if I can keep living like this for another four days. I'm beginning to feel frustrated and agitated. It's like every time I am getting close to going to sleep, no one will let me sleep because it's the middle of the day, and then when everyone is finally asleep, I keep waking up in the middle of the night due to pain.
I always found dental pain to be worse at night, and especially when lying down. Please do yourself a favor and call your dentist in the morning. If you smoke, or are using a straw; stop it! That can lead to dry pocket.
Location: In a rural place where people can't bother me ;)
516 posts, read 429,152 times
Reputation: 1009
An idiot removed your tooth. Plain and simple. I had a maxillofacial oral surgeon remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth in one visit. Laughing gas. Walked out two hours later. Next day I felt nothing except the gauze in the holes at the back of my mouth.
The person who removed your tooth may have bruised your jaw bone. Idk, I'm no dentist or maxillofacial oral surgeon.
Also ask for some oxycodone. Dental pain is torture.
Well, I was up until about 1-2 AM waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in and for my dad and little sister to go to sleep, and I woke up at about 4 or 5 AM with a sharp pain in my gum socket, so I got up and rinsed it out with Listerine and put some oraljel on and took some more ibuprofen. I was up until about 7:30 AM when I finally drifted off to sleep, when about 30 minutes later, I heard microwave slamming, and it turned out my dad and little sister were already up.
I was going to try and see if I can visit the dentist today, but my dad has a doctor appointment at 1:30 PM, which he was considering seeing if he could reschedule, but I was reluctant for him to skip it, and this morning, he didn't seem to take my pain very seriously, and all we got from the dentist office was an answering machine, so I just told him I would call again later and schedule to visit them sometime tomorrow if possible.
It seems like the only thing that keeps the pain away is keeping my body temperature so high that I sweat, and keeping my adrenaline up, so I guess I'll be spending the rest of the day walking and running outside listening to music until dad leaves for his appointment, where then I will drink very strong coffee because now I will have to watch my little sister for about 2-6 hours, on 4 hours of sleep, while experiencing dry-socket(esque) pain.
It's going to be a very, very long day.
Last edited by TinBo; 01-24-2017 at 08:01 AM..
Reason: Understood
Question: If the max amount of ibuprofen I can take at at time is 800 mg but the total for 24 hours is 3200 mg, is there any risk in taking 3200 mg right before bed?
An idiot removed your tooth. Plain and simple. I had a maxillofacial oral surgeon remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth in one visit. Laughing gas. Walked out two hours later. Next day I felt nothing except the gauze in the holes at the back of my mouth.
The person who removed your tooth may have bruised your jaw bone. Idk, I'm no dentist or maxillofacial oral surgeon.
Also ask for some oxycodone. Dental pain is torture.
I don't know about bruised jaw bone, but I have also noticed some pain and twitching and tightness right where it seems like the right side of my jaw hinges. I remember the dentist gave me some tongue compressors to stick into my mouth so I could stretch my mouth and practice returning some flexibility to it, he said it would also help reduce and eventually stop the muscle spasms in the right corner of my jaw.
According to another dental professional, part of the problem may be that I was cleaning the socket out with Listerine and disrupting the healing process, so once again, this is most likely just a case of me being an idiot. I'm going to tough it out until Friday like I scheduled.
Last edited by TinBo; 01-24-2017 at 08:10 AM..
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