If there is no dry socket then it sounds like post op pain. A pain killer would be in order if you are not taking one already.
7 days ago, I had 4 wisdom teeth extracted. 1 was a surgical extraction, 2 were partial boney impacted extractions, and the 4th was 100% boney impacted extraction.
The first 3 are healing great. There is no more pain.
The 4th extraction caused severe swelling, bruising all the way down my neck beginning at the jaw, and was very painful. I was unable to eat food for 4 days because I could not open my mouth enough. In the past 3 days, I have been able to open it enough to eat yougurt, mash potatoes, and tater tots.
The swelling is almost gone, but there is still a painful knot in my lower cheek over the extraction site. It's painful to the touch and the pain extendsthrough my jaw and in my teeth. The pain worsens when I am lying down. I can hardly sleep enough.
I went back to the oral surgeon yesterday, to allow him to see whats going on and what could be the cause of the pain.
He cleaned it with a seringe of water (which caused excruciating pain to where I was crying). He said that it was very clean, no infection, and did not appear to be a dry socket. But he perscribed more pain medication and antibiotic.
Before I left, the nurse told me there are other options to help with the pain. I asked what? She said I could come back the next day and they could pack it with gause and a numming agent. This would be repeated until the pain was gone.
So I researched 'dry socket' to learn more. Since I left the oral sergion yesterday, I have been in the same excruciating pain that I felt when they clensed it. The pain medication (vicadin) does not eleviate the pain. The pain is not as bad when I am in an upright position. But when I am lying down, I am experiencing throbbing and piercing pain. I was unable to sleep peacfully at all last night. I was did finally fall asleep sitting up at about 4:00AM. I awoke about 45 minutes later with a crick in my neck and ofcourse pain in my mouth.
I am exhausted, as I have been having trouble sleeping since the surgury. The first few nights, I only woke to take a pain killer then was able to fall back asleep. The following couple nights my pain medication was gone so I substituted it with ibuprophin. I took 600mg every 4 hours. And my sleep began to be less due to the pain when I was laying down.
Is it possible that during the clensing of the socket, they caused the clot to become dislodged. Or, could he have misdiagnosed it and it is a dry socket? And if it's really not a dry socket, why would the nurse suggest to pack it- wouldn't that procedure cause the clot to become dislodged?
He did not take an x-ray- should he have? Could it be something else? I'm afraid to go back to the doctor. The thought of experiencing the pain during the clensing and packing is unbearable; especially right now when the pain is so severe. Yesterday, I left the doctor in more pain that I walked in there with.
Please help- tell me what I should do. The nurse told me yesterday that they close at noon today, so if I choose to pack the socket, I'll have to make that decision right away, or wait till Monday.