Dry Socket? Normal? Mind is blown!

[FizzyCola24]

Tooth Extraction/Terrified of dry socket

I’ve read through threads and thread of tooth extraction stories and question and those about dry socket.

I did a lot of reading about the process of the extraction in the days leading up to the appointment (yesterday at 9am UK Time).

I had two teeth removed, bottom right 2nd from back and top left 2nd from back.

Curiosity got the better of me and I looked, now I am terrified of dry socket.

I have horrendous health anxiety and ocd and I dislike not understanding what’s going on.

Does this look like a normal healing stage? We are 36 hours post extraction.

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Hi op,

I posted a few weeks ago with the same fear. I did have dry socket. It didn’t look like yours - it was like a huge black hole. It looked more like yours after it was packed and started healing.

I think by now if you had it, you would bloody know about it!

Huge hypocrite here as I really should take my own advice, but if you are anxious try not to Google/ search on mumsnet too much. The more you do that the more you feed the anxiety beast, even if it makes you feel better for a little while.

Hopefully a nice dentist will be along soon to reassure you, but it looks okay to me. Hope you feel better soon x

That looks normal to me. I completely get where you're coming from, I also suffer from OCD and health and anxiety
I worked myself into an absolute frenzy when I had my wisdom teeth removed by reading pages and pages of posts on dry socket and wisdom teeth removal and obsessively checking my recovery sites. The more I read, the more of a wreck I became. Easier said than done but try not to read any more posts and focus on what you can control. I'm sure you know already but no vigorous rinsing, avoid drinking though a straw, soft foods, nothing too hot etc. Just take it easy for the next few days and try and do some nice things for yourself if you can.

Also just to note, I did actually get dry socket in the end but the dentist gave me a dressing and it sorted itself out after a couple of days. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had built it up to be in my head. So even if the worst should happen (which I'm sure it won't!) you will cope and you will be OK. Best of luck!

I had dry socket and it looked very different. I think I caused it by drinking through a straw continuously after the tooth was removed thinking I was helping it 😕

Looks like normal healing to me xx

Dry socket is extremely painful so you would know if you had it.

Nope it's perfect. Clot intact and already covered over with granulation tissue. That's what the yellowish covering is, you want that, don't disturb it. It protects the wound as it heals from the bottom up.

Trust me if you had dry socket you'd know about it, its more painful than childbirth. If you're asking whether you have it, you don't.

Have you got the little cheese squares??

People think I'm mad but years ago after I had my tooth out I had these white lumps in it. They were like different shapes and I had to pick them out of the hole with a sterile instrument.

They were like between a dairylea triangle and babybel consistency.

Noone's every known what I was on about but those white bits look the same??

Don't worry. You'll know if you get a dry socket (I had one after wisdom tooth removal 😬 Just dreadful)

I had this too! Disgusting 🙊

Dry socket usually happens 2 or 3 days after the extraction, the pain is horrendous so you will know you have it. As its been 24 hours since you had yours out you can do warm salt rinses now 3 times a day to keep the area clean.

You’ll know if you have dry socket. Absolute agony, unmistakeable.

I had similar teeth extracted a similar time ago. One is doing fine, one was doing fine and then developed a huge protruding blueberry sized clot overnight (looked as big as my tooth was)!
They fitted me in earlier this afternoon to remove the clot (suctioned it out, washed the site with saline and then treated with eugenol 'paste' stuff). Apparently a proper clot was forming underneath the huge extra clot so fingers crossed. I'll keep saline washes on the ok site and resume them on treated site timorrow. I'm very dentist phobic and it was quite scary (though not sore). Good luck healing.