While eating a soft cookie, I heard/felt a loud cracking sound from my mouth followed by pain below my 2nd molar. The pain was intense for the 1st 24 hours, but has subsided somewhat. When I chew even very soft food on the other side, the pain begins to intensify to the point that I can barely finish a bowl of chicken noodle soup.
I visited my dentist who advised that he could see no issue. 3 weeks prior, I had my lower wisdom teeth removed. He flushed some food from the hole and suggested that I wait about a week to see if the pain improves. He did advise the possibility of a fractured root (the tooth had a root canal and crown about 3 months ago) but wanted wait before settling on that conclusion.
He had no explanation for the cracking sound. Does this sound familiar to anyone? The pain seems to be mostly in my jaw below the tooth and maybe not at the tooth itself - hard to tell... The pain intensifies with chewing on either side of even the softest of foods. Could it possibly be a jaw bone fracture related to the wisdom tooth extraction? If so, what should I expect from a pain standpoint? How long is the healing process? Etc...
Any advice and/or insight is greatly appreciated. Havn't eaten much in 3 weeks, lost over 25 pounds the hard way! Thanks for your help!