What does dry socket look like does anyone know?

[Aberforthsgoat]

I had a tooth out yesterday and I saw a few threads with people having the same thing (dentist said Christmas Eve is a popular day for extractions, he’d already done six by the time I was in!) and they mentioned dry socket. I wasn’t aware of this so I googled and now I’m in a bit of a flap.

I’ve been very careful, didn’t rinse for 24 hours, don’t smoke, no straws, eaten on the other side of the mouth. Only rinsed gently with saltwater today after eating and have eaten small, soft meals and things like cheese, fruit, eggs, porridge. Have forgone the tin of roses, sob.

But my gum is a little swollen and now I’ve peered at the crater (had left it well alone) it looks odd and like it’s sort of sunk and gone a bit white in places? It looks smaller than yesterday and I’m wondering if this is dry socket?! I’ve also got a bit of soreness - previously the pain was horrendous and in my ear and jaw and face as well as my teeth, and now it’s only faintly in my ear and soreness around the site that’s easily managed by painkillers. I just feel tired due to a week of no sleep due to toothache!

Am I being overly paranoid! Wondered if anyone had had it and what happened with theirs? I have to say I’m panicked because the idea of being in more pain that I was before makes me feel physically ill, I just have a low pain threshold as I wasn’t coping then!

The dentist gave me the information on how to look after the crater but didn’t mention dry socket specifically. I wish I’d never heard of it now!

@EnglishGirlApproximately I do not blame you. The only reason I was fine this time is because the pain was so bad as soon as he numbed the gum it was bliss, I didn’t care what he was doing. He remarked that I was very calm considering how long it was taking him to crack/wiggle the tooth pieces out! I’m not normally like that. I hope the next one goes smoothly for you.

@nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut thank you so much for all your helpful posts I really appreciate it, I have been driving myself and poor DH mad! Glad to hear the slight dipping is normal I think I’m going to really try to stop checking it so much seeing as I don’t know what I’m looking for anyway!

I’m finding eating a real chore though, I’ve lost my appetite due to not eating for so many days prior to the extraction and now I don’t fancy anything.

@CathyorClaire I’m glad you posted your description as I just checked after rinsing to make sure there’s no food in there and there’s a little blood splotch at the centre and at first I nearly had a freak out thinking some of the tissue has dislodged but then remembered 1) you mentioned having red bits in yours 2) I ate pate with cranberry in it earlier - pretty sure I checked it after but who knows it could have still got in there after and 3) if a bit of tissue has dislodged hopefully this means there’s still a clot underneath and this is what I can see!

Quick question does anyone know when it’s okay to drink a little bit of alcohol? Was wondering if I’ll be ok for New Year’s Eve, will have been 7 days since extraction then if I’m still okay.
I’ve avoided completely over Christmas - I didn’t really feel like it - but was hoping to have a glass at New Years if all looks okay!

I was also wondering when it’s ok to go a bit hotter with the saltwater washes if anyone knows, it doesn’t say on my dental sheet

I have another question sorry can you use any corsidyl mouthwash after tooth extraction or does it need to be the alcohol free one?

Thats ok 😂 I obsessed over it too, how'd you think I know so much? My poor dentist has the patience of a saint.

You should be ok for a drink on NYE, a week in it will have healed enough that losing the clot shouldn't be an issue. With the salt rinses and mouthwash, I'd say the same timescale. A week is generally ok for most things, the issue with alcohol is that it can dissolve the clot but you'll be pretty much out of the risk window for dry socket. I think the latest it ever happens is 10 daysish and it would be unusual. I wouldn't eat anything like nuts that could get lodged in the hole but most foods and drinks will be fine at that point. Two weeks, you'll be more or less back to normal.

Thank you @nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut I’m totally obsessed! It’s sunken more today and red/creamy patches and I keep panicking every time it changes which is all the time!

I used the mouthwash before I realised it wasn’t alcohol free but I had diluted it with warm water and barely had it in my mouth so hopefully didn’t do any damage. I will stick to saltwater now until Wednesday when it will be a week.

When yours was reabsorbed did it sink lower in the hole? The creamy stuff isn’t covering the whole surface anymore so I was worried I had dislodged something but maybe it’s just part of the ever changing healing process!

Yeah, it gradually sinks like a deflating souffle 😂 as the walls of the socket seal over. The granulation tissue will come off in patches and reform, its very fragile, you can remove it by licking it if you aren't careful, I scared the shit out of myself doing that but its fine, it just grows back. It'll transform into new gum tissue or get reabsorbed I'm not really sure how it works but it does come and go, unless you're in pain its probably fine.

The hole will start changing shape soon, it will look like the edges are collapsing in on themselves. By that point the bottom is covered with new tissue and the clot will disintegrate because its no longer needed.

What a beautifully vivid picture you’ve painted @nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut 😂 thank you, thank you, your responding to my posts has meant I’ve managed to get a bit of a grip on the anxiety about it today. Even when it started aching and twinging a bit I didn’t freak out, I just realised I hadn’t taken any painkillers for six hours which has to be a positive sign! Can’t promise I won’t post again asking more obsessive questions though 😂

Good to know the tissue disappears and reforms it was completely covered yesterday but now there’s more red showing but it looks less dark blood clot like and more like squishy red tissue if that makes sense.

Never thought I’d be so interested in my mouth. I really thought that getting the tooth out was the hard part!

Yeah the squishy red tissue is new gum tissue probably. Just like you get under a scab when it first falls off. Just try not to stab it with a dorito like I did.

Eurghhh that sounds painful. And hideous. And also now I really want Doritos

It doesn't sound like a dry socket. From now on do not bend over because that could pop the clot. Keep rinsing gently and taking care when you eat.

There are several helpful healing timelines out there, OP. I know because I nearly wore out google finding them Basically the white stuff (think of it as a constantly wet scab) gradually gets infiltrated by granulation tissue which in turn becomes new bone as the cavity fills in.

@user1471538283 thank you, I bent down today to unpack shopping before I realised what I was doing but quickly stopped! The dentist didn’t tell me any of this 🙈
It’s definitely got deeper but there is still a bit of white tissue and the sides of the gum might look like they are starting to turn inwards on it - she says, hopefully. I’m on day 4 now, tomorrow is day 5 so hopefully each day is giving me better chances of not having any healing complications.

@CathyorClaire I did look at some but none looked like mine (okay I think I looked at one) so I stopped because it was making me panic more 🤪

The white stuff does seem to be forming and then clearing a bit then forming again while the centre sinks a bit and may have got slightly smaller. I keep saying I won’t look at it but then I do to check food isn’t stuck in it 😂 thanks to everyone who has posted to try to reassure me I’m not normally this insane I promise!

Dry socket after 5 days is unusual. After 7 days very unusual. After 10 days you're basically a freak. Nearly there now! Getting it out is the easy bit. Its the sky high anxiety afterwards that gets you!

@nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut ha useful thank you! DH just did his nightly check for me and said it does look more sunken and instead of panicking i said “does it look like a soufflé?” And he looked taken aback for a minute and said yes it looks a bit like that 😂 not sure either one of us is going to fancy soufflé any time soon but it’s a useful descriptor! Dentist is open again tomorrow which is also a relief as I’ve been so worried because everything has been closed the last few days.

Thought I’d keep this thread updated incase anyone finds it useful in future. Day 6 and so far so good, only taken one set of ibuprofen today. It does seem to get a bit achey and twingey when food gets stuck in it (which seems to be all the bloody time) but I’m not poking and prodding and it seems to be working it’s way out - hard to tell to be honest as the tissue is pretty grim looking and could be mistaken for food! I’m just trying to trust that my body knows what it’s doing and will get rid of anything stuck in there.

Appearance wise it’s still pretty porridge looking on top (grim) which could be food, also grim, or healing tissue. But it does seem to have sunk a bit soufflé like and there seems to be new gum maybe on one side.

Fingers crossed! I’ll update as I go incase it’s useful for anyone searching in future.