Hello!

Well, I guess you must know what you're talking about :) so thank you for the reassurance.

I did feel something "gunky" come out (I couldn't look at it though as I was in the company of other people :)) If that wasn't the blood clot what else could it have been? Just a dislodged part?

I have manned up and looked my tooth in the eye straight in the mirror and there isn't a gaping hole which I suspected that there would be - it seems to be a shiny dark red to white in some areas surface. No more noodles for me - promise, to help keep it all calm.

Ibuprofen has helped - I have stopped taking it now (day 2) and feel a little sore but far from what I experienced when my wisdom teeth came out, ouch!

How long before I can start eating noodles and drinking tea? :)

Thanks tickles!
Xxx

When can you start eating noodles and drinking tea? What did your dentist say?
Did he give you a list of dos and donts to adhere to?

You know why the blood clot is there, don't you? It is there because new blood fights infection. So I wouldn't have hot tea (have iced tea) or lukewarm tea and pass on the noodles and the suction for a couple of weeks. You will see the hole get smaller day after day.

I had a dry socket once and had a pontic over it (middle tooth in a bridge) so there was nothing that could be done to help it and it's no treat. I recently had the rest of my upper teeth removed and got a full upper plate, and had the dark red clots in the sockets for awhile but they are just there temporarily until the healing starts and a few days later they disappear.

So it's the first 2 to 3 days that are critical and that's where you're most at risk of a dry socket. Think of this as an open wound and you need something over it until you get a scab on it and then it's fine as long as you don't fool with it and take off the scab.

So tooth sockets work pretty much the same way and you will start to heal up right away but the blood clot helps protect it in the mean time. The key here is not to disturb the healing too much or you will have problems. The alternative to the blood clots in the initial stages is massive inflammation, otherwise known as a dry socket, which is your body's Plan B but it's a plan you don't want to see put in place.

So the best thing is to not worry about and not fool with it, keep your fingers and your tongue out of the thing, and just let your body do its work. Antibiotics can help prevent infection, and some dentists don't prescribe anything unless you ask, so bring this up with him or her whenever you get teeth pulled.

Even the dry socket

Sorry I didn't finish that post :) Even the dry socket is part of the healing process and does help you on your way when you need the help, and your body doesn't care about the pain it only cares about protecting itself. So if you get one, sure it does hurt but it's nothing to really worry about long term and is preferable to what could end up being a dangerous infection if you didn't have the reaction.

So if you do get a dry socket you just need to suck it up and there's not a lot the dentist can do other than pack it up and wait for the thing to be over. It does end though and you will then be on the road to recovery.

Sockets definitely take some real time to completely heal, as mentioned by others, and it's because bone just doesn't grow that fast. Your mouth is prepared for such incidents though and knows what to do, which is to fill in the hole with new bone and also grow some gums to close it off. It takes 6 months on average for all of this to happen, although the hole will close much sooner than that.

The bottom line here is that if you need to worry about any of this, you won't need people on here to alert you, your mouth definitely will instead, and in pretty clear terms. So if you're not in agony and it's been more than a few days the coast is probably clear :)

I am pretty sure I have dry socket. My mouth IS in pain as I type. It has been 7 days since the extraction but pain started 3 days ago. I had my back top right tooth extracted at a free clinic that is not open during the week only Thursdays and won't be open this week, so my check up would be 2 weeks post extraction. I'm not sure what to do right now, I feel like going to the ER. I can't call my dentist because well they aren't there! I can't see the socket because they stitched it so I wouldn't be able to tell if the blood cot is there but oh boy do I feel the pain. Pain to my ear and up my face to my eye! I put some gauze on it and it had pus on it with a smidgen of blood. Any advice here?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clauivy

I am pretty sure I have dry socket. my mouth IS in pain as I type. It has been 7 days since the extraction but pain started 3 days ago. I had my back top right tooth extracted at a free clinic that is not open during the week only Thursdays and won't be open this week, so my check up would be 2 weeks post extraction. I'm not sure what to do right now, I feel like going to the ER. I can't call my dentist because well they aren't there! I can't see the socket because they stitched it so I wouldn't be able to tell if the blood cot is there but oh boy do I feel the pain. Pain to my ear and up my face to my eye! I put some gauze on it and it had pus on it with a smidgen of blood. Any advice here?

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You are in another thread here so you are not going to good answers.

Why did they stitch it?

If you are seeing infection go to the ER.

Its 5 days after my tooth was pulled. It was red at first, then a few days later it started getting white over the top. Then on the 5th day, I noticed half my clot was gone. I've been rinsing it out with mouthwash. Now I just want to know if I'm at risk for "dry socket".

@Trista. Any disturbing mouthwash action is going to remove the clot. Any rinsing, and you should do it with salt water, unless it is very gentle, will dislodge the clot which is your healing element.

This is an old thread you piggybacked on, not a good idea for qualified answers. You should have started your own thread with a new post.

There is actually a lot a dentist can do for a dry socket and it is considered an emergency situation if you have one. The dentist will pack the socket with a special padding that is covered in Eugenol. Eugenia is very strong clove oil extract. It will help numb the pain. This process helps protect the nerve that is exposed which is the root of all the pain. Pun totally intended. The process is repeated daily until the pain subsides then weekly or biweekly determined by the dentist.