I got my bottom two wisdom teeth pulled on August 22nd. They were both impacted horizontally and pushing against my back molars, causing a slight pain. So they had to be removed on the advice of my dentist.

I'm afraid of needles so to calm the anxiety, they sedated me with Triazolam. It's been a week now and for the first 4 or 5 days everything was fine. I stuck to soft, mushy foods that didn't require much chewing and I didn't use straws. I brushed the frontal teeth regularly and rinsed with salt water after everything I ate and drank (with the exclusion of water, of course.) Barely any pain.

Yesterday my whole jaw started hurting pretty bad. For the first 5 days I was prescribed Dexamethasone which is an anti-inflammatory along with Tylenol 3 for the pain. Once I ran out of the Dexamethasone, I was told to take Ibuprophen in it's place since it works as an anti-inflammatory as well.

As of right now, the pain is so bad, I cannot sleep. It's radiating through my entire jaw, both upper and lower and it's even painful to swallow. My whole head feels like it's going to explode. There is no odor, just extreme, excruciating pain in my jaw.

I looked inside my mouth with a flashlight carefully and it looks like there are two gaping holes on either side of my jaw where my teeth used to be. It looks almost like exposed, bloody bone. The oral surgeon used dissolving stitches, by the way.

I have his cell phone number for emergencies but he lives 2 hours away. On Saturdays he drives to a city an hour away from where I live to do extractions; saves people the extra hour drive. I'm planning to phone him tomorrow and see if he can fit me in so I can get my father to drive me down to see him so he can check it out.

Sorry for the novel but I'm scared that maybe something's wrong. =( Hope someone can help!

Sorry kid, that's what it's like to get your wisdom teeth taken out.

Just had mine done a few days ago. Myself, I refuse to take pills, so I had the pain immediately after the surgery.
You'll get used to it.

In the meantime, know this. If they actually are holes, then you do need to see your dentist. However, it is most likely just depressions where your gums sunk in into the cavity (as in hole) where your tooth used to be. Your gums do not spontaneously grow to fill in that gap, it takes time.

However, if the ibuprofen aren't doing it for you, you may want to request more of the Dexamethasone. I prefer not to suppress my pain, but I have a higher tollerance than most people. Ibuprofen doesn't work on all people, and if the pain is bad enough to cause you to lose sleep, you need to get something else.

As for the swallowing, like when drinking water, just tilt your head back and open your throat (if you know how). You don't have to swallow, it goes straight down, but only poor a few ounces at a time or you will most likely choke.

It's also possible that you may have gotten an infection. Not likely, if you were following all the doctor's orders, but possible. Were you prescribed an antibiotic like amoxicillin?

Hey,2 years ago I had a molar removed,the pain radiated around my head,I know pain you are in...
After 4 days of self medicating I went to the emergency room... by that time I was sobbing and rocking with the pain,I swear I was going insane...

Although I have no real advice for you,I empathise with you.. go the emergency room it if gets too bad to manage.

I was not prescribed any antibiotics. Just the Dexamethasone for swelling and the Tylenol 3 for pain. The doctor gave me sheets of information for pre-surgery and post-surgery and I followed them precisely. I did everything I was supposed to and avoided everything I wasn't supposed to do.

I forgot to mention that the two wisdom teeth were very close to the nerves and I was told previous to the surgery that they would be cutting away a decent chunk of my jawbone to get to the teeth. They were stuck pretty deep in there.

I know I'm probably just overreacting but I have a decent pain threshold and it's just a bit worrying to have pain this bad.

Well, they didn't do that to me. I can imagine how that would be worse! :(

Like I said, an infection is possible, but not probable.

It could just be the swelling is pushing up against your teeth, which your wisdoms were growing impacted into, or your nerves, which may cause you pain depending on how they did that, since you ran out of Dexa to reduce the swelling.

I still say that you should keep it slow, and try to get in and see if you could get some more Dexa, maybe a smaller dosage to wean you instead of getting off it cold turkey.

Good luck! :)

I'm hoping by now you have seen the surgeon who removed the teeth. If you have a fever it is probably an infection, it could be dry socket but if you were following post op instructions to a "T" it shouldn't be. It is definitely best to get it checked out. He MUST see you, don't let them tell you he doesn't have time!

Please let us know what your surgeon said.

I've phoned the surgeon 6 times now with no answer. Saturdays are his busiest days since that is when he travels to do surgeries in a closer town. So I'm kind of S.O.L. right now. Hopefully he will call me back when he's not busy. Clinics and dentist offices are all closed here on weekends and I'm not sure if any of them have emergency personnel.

Would going to the ER do me any good?

I did manage to get some sleep and the pain subsided overnight but as soon as I woke up the pain was fully back; I've already taken Ibuprophen and Tylenol 3. Icing seems to help a bit, but not all that much. In the post-operative sheets the surgeon gave me it clearly states that women who take oral contraceptives have a high chance for dry socket. I'm on Alesse. So maybe that has caused a dry socket on both sides, after all?

I don't know. I just want the pain to go away. I've only got a little over a week left on my vacation time before I'm supposed to go back to work.

Thank you for all the advice so far, by the way. It's very appreciated.

Well, did you leave a message?

Dumb question, I know, but as of right now I think that flossie is the expert on this. :p

Going to the ER would only do you good, as far as I can see, if they could provide you with another anti-inflamatory or something like Dexa.

Anyway, I wish you luck!

Of course I left a message! It'd be dumb of me if I didn't. I just explained what was wrong, in short, and asked him to call me back ASAP as I would like to talk to him and hopefully drive down so he can check me out.

If the ER will give me more Dexa or some painkillers stronger then Tylenol 3 then it'd be worth it.

Definitely go to the ER!

I would have driven to the office and sat there until he saw me. He'd take care of you quickly if he had patients in the waiting room who were about to have the same kind of surgery!

Where in Canada are you? I might, not promising though, be able to find you some help.

I live in Revelstoke, BC. Small town in the Okanagan. The oral surgeon lives in Vernon, BC. He goes to Salmon Arm every Saturday and that's where I got the surgery done. Even just a phone number for somewhere I could call would be great.

The pain isn't too bad right now; it's been so-so all day which is weird considering how horrible it was yesterday. It's slowly getting worse every 30 minutes or so. The local pharmacist told me to keep taking the ibuprophen and Tylenol 3 together every 4 hours or so and if the pain doesn't go away by dinner time, go to the ER and they should give me some Penicillin and some Demerol to get me through the night and Sunday until I can go to my dentist on Monday.

As for the pain not being as bad, it could be you slept some of it off (for lack of a better term) or you are starting to get used to it.
Could be something else entirely...

Yep, that pharmacist sounds like he(she?) knows what he's doing. Unlike the stupid American pharmacists... :rolleyes:
I say follow their advice.

Definitely alternating the Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 2 hours will help with the pain. I have put a message out to my BC contacts to see if anyone there knows someone who might help.

Sorry but no one had a name to refer you to. I hope by now you are feeling better or have been to the ER. Please keep us posted!

Well, I've got some good news! I went to the on-call doctor at the clinic today and he stupidly poked around and made the wounds bleed. But he said it didn't look inflamed or infected. He advised me to go to my dentist just to be sure.

So, I went to my dentist (the dentist in town that referred me to the oral surgeon) and he checked me out! Turns out that I have dry socket on both sides. No infection.

He cleaned out the pockets with some salt water solution and then packed it with this weird stuff that tastes/smells like cloves. I used to chew cloves when I was little so it's actually not bad tasting.

I'm happy to know it was just dry socket. The cloves in the pockets are keeping the pain away, but I'm still taking the Ibuprofen to make sure I don't swell up. I have an appointment to go back to my dentist in a week to recheck the holes and repack them with the clovey stuff if necessary.

Thank you all for the kind words and advice. You eased my mind immensely and helped me through what would've been a very stressful few days.

Well you know cat, not many people would be as excited as you are about having 2 dry sockets!:p I'm sure just KNOWING makes a world of difference. I'm glad your problem is solved. The nice thing is... those teeth are now gone... never to give you problems again!;)

Hehe! I know the possible outcome of an actual infection so 2 dry sockets is a big relief. =)

Again, thank you for the amazing help. You guys are awesome! =D

We are glad we could help! :)