I had all 4 wisdom teeth removed last Wednesday (August 12th, 2009) My two lower teeth were impacted, the two on the top were slightly erupted. On the Saturday after my surgery I was drinking a milkshake and a bit of phlegm developed so instinctively I created a bit of a vacuum in my mouth to get it all together so I could spit it out. I immediately felt a pain in the lower right socket so I got a piece of gauze and put it back there and bit down on it. I was fine for a few days, until Tuesday. I was having a dull throbbing pain so I called my surgeon's office and they asked me a few questions. They didn't think it was an infection (I don't seem to think so either - it doesn't hurt when I poke it with a water pik) but they said it could either be that it was a dry socket, or that I still required pain medication, so they phoned in a prescription for some tylenol 3's and some ibuprofen. The pain went away and hasn't come back (I'm still taking the meds.) My concern is this: I keep unintentionally disturbing the socket (I'm doing my best to leave it alone) and it doesn't appear to be healing. At all. When I look in the mirror in the bathroom, my other lower socket appears to be almost completely healed over, but the lower right one has a piece of the suture sticking out and it's still wide open. When cleaning the sockets with the water pik I don't feel any pain at all, but sometimes, depending on how forcefully I press the plunger, there is a moderate discomfort. I'm wondering if anyone is able to tell me if this is anything I should worry about or if I should just leave it be...or if I should get my surgeon on the phone and ask him to take a look at it. It's very annoying that I keep disturbing the socket, and I'm wondering if it will heal at all.