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Original poster

how long does dry socket take to heal?

71 replies

PrammyMammy · 26/01/2010 22:03

I had a tooth extracted on Thursday, have been in complete pain over the weekend and had to go back today. They said i have dry socket and cleaned it out then packed it with a brown cotton thing that stinks.
How long before it heals? Should that be it sorted?

OP posts:
BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny · 26/01/2010 22:05

Really soon, mine took about 5 days IIRC, the cotton really helps, I remember the pain easing really quickly once it had been packed. It took a while for the gum to spread over the gap though.

kittywise · 26/01/2010 22:06

Mine took a couple of months

kittywise · 26/01/2010 22:07

Yes the pain eased almost immediately once packed, but it took at lot of packs and ABs to sort it, sorry!

thisisyesterday · 26/01/2010 22:12

oh it's horrid isn't it?
i had it and it was absolute agony.

the stuff they packed it with fell out and i had to have it done again, it did the job though.
the pain reduced tremendously.

takes ages for the actual hole to completely heal though

Original poster
PrammyMammy · 26/01/2010 22:20

It is horrible. I had 2 natural births, but am crying with pain and on pain killers every 2 hours for a tooth extraction, it is crazy.

So the hole heals, phew i had visions of me picking rice out of it for the rest of my days.

OP posts:
alypaly · 27/01/2010 00:36

i had mine done xmas eve 2008 and my dentist took 1 hr to get my back tooth out. The root was curled and by the time he had finished the socket had stopped bleeding...therefore no blood clot formed which is necessary for the bottom to granulate and heal.I have a high pain threshold but this was driving me mad

By boxing day i was crawling up the walls and ready to throw myself under a bus with the pain.
I looked ashen. Ended up twice at A and E and had that brown yucky stuff you mentioned packed in and given pethidine tablets. A and E actually put some of that stuff in a bottle so i could pack it myself.Its stuffed with clove oil and taste disgusting,but it works temporarily as it calms the open nerve down.
Dentist re anaesthetised area to give me some temporary relief. He knew he had cocked up and should have asked the senior partner to intervene.
I was in complete shock.
It took a complete month to become bearable. I could see the white bone of my jaw bone showing through the hole.

Apparently it happens to people who smoke or have smoked ,so i must have been unlucky as i never have.
The senior partner has now said that if i have any more removed he will cut the gums and then stitch them so that this doenst happen again.He was good enough to come out and treat me on Xmas day.
It wasnt his fault...i was just unlucky.
Keep baging ibuprofen and get some 30/500 co-codamol from the doc or if it is severe ,pethidine tablets short term.

BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny · 27/01/2010 00:40

The hole heals over so there's just gum there. I still remember the torture though, it's been 2 years now. The dentist tried root canal but his fingers were on the chunky side and my mouth wouldn't open wide enough so he had to pull it out.

I really feel for you.

alypaly · 27/01/2010 00:50

yeah the hole does eventually heal over in most people but my dentist stitched mine to stop the pain as mine was taking so long. Had to remove a piece of splintered bone about 3 months after aswell. This worked its way to the surface and was really sharp.

jasper · 27/01/2010 01:06

predisposing factors for dry socket:

Patient is young, female , smoker

Tooth is molar/lower , difficult extraction, lots of anaesthetic needed.

May be as few as 2 days or several weeks before it heals

alypaly · 27/01/2010 09:26

i never used to be frightened at all of the dentist and ive had loads of root canals and crowns,now i am petrified after that one hour extraction

Francagoestohollywood · 27/01/2010 09:30

My sympathies, a dry socket is horrid, I know . Mine healed relatively quickly after the first medication of smelly brown thingy. I didn't need ABs.

Francagoestohollywood · 27/01/2010 09:34

Oh my goodness Alypaly, that's horrific!
Btw, I never used to mind seeing a dentist too, but since the extraction (quite traumatic) that caused the dry socket I have been dreading sitting on a dentist's chair.

Original poster
PrammyMammy · 27/01/2010 13:51

Aly, that is scary to read. I was on the chair for 90 minutes so maybe that had something to do with it.
I just took some co-codamol that i was prescribed for whiplash, so it feels reasonable the now - but still horrible. All i can taste is that stuff.

I don't/never have smoked. Am not on the pill. Didn't use a straw.

Can't wait till it is over. I am going to a party on saturday, with a big fat face.

OP posts:
alypaly · 27/01/2010 17:36

gosh 90 minutes...was that for one extraction. No wonder you have a dry socket. The clot will have been moved away.
Thats why they always say rinse carefully after an extraction because they dont want you to wash the blood clot away.

I am really scared of having any problems....and annoyed that it was assumed i was a smoker when i have never touched the stuff.
It was a back molar.....where was yours prammy

Original poster
PrammyMammy · 27/01/2010 18:20

Yeah, it was just the one, upper left 6. Someone walked into me at work and hit my chin causing it to break above the gum so they had to take it out.
It makes you terrified eh, when they were rinsing it yesterday i was tense, whereas before i wasn't scared at all.

OP posts:
alypaly · 27/01/2010 18:57

mine was a lower molar and all the root was clawed so it would never have come out easily[scared emotion]

Purplebuns · 27/01/2010 18:59

I had this and went for two weeks thinking I was just being a wimp...

When I went back to have more teeth, removed the dentist packed it then. And mentioned that the bone starts to die and that is what really hurts?

I think it took about two weeks for the pain to go away.

I had it in two sockets and one tooth took 45 mins to come out so I guess that is why.

I hope you feel better soon, it is awful

alypaly · 27/01/2010 19:06

no pain killers seem to work ,but that awful brown gooey thread stuff seems to be the best but it doesnt stay in the hole long enough.

Ive ended up with a really bumpy jaw bone where it was splintered so i am dreading ever having false teeth as i am sure it will rub....and i could never afford implants

shivster1980 · 27/01/2010 19:23

You could try rubbing oragel on the gum as an extra pain relief. I have found the best over the counter painkiller to be Paramol. They are a paracetamol/dihydrocodeine combination. Also Corsodyl mouthwash is good as an antiseptic.

I have had two extractions both from bottom set.
The first was hideous and it took ages to extract and the dentist kept slipping and belting my top teeth with the instruments. I remember saying "I only want one bloody tooth out!" through the anesthetic and instruments in my mouth.
Then I got dry socket!

The second was worse. The guy was a bloody butcher. Pulling and yanking at it for ages and then chopping it in half with the drill Then he let me leave with blood all over my chin. However one good thing about that extraction was I told the dentist about my previous dry socket and antibiotics and he prescribed a low dose as a preventative measure which worked and thank God I didn't have to go back to him!!

Dry socket is bloody hideous - OP I hope you feel better soon!

Purplebuns · 27/01/2010 19:37

Difflam is a really, really good anaesthetic mouthwash, I think it may be prescription only though.

alypaly · 27/01/2010 20:24

only supposed to rinse with a diluted salt solution after an extraction.

You can buy difflam OTC but its mainly given out for gargling for sore throats

shibsy · 24/11/2012 11:05

HELP DRY SOCKET HELL! I just found this thread by accident and it seems a lot of people have had this. I am 40 yrs old, have 3 yr old twins and a 6 year old and am now a lone parent so you can imagine...this is NO walk in the park for me (not that it is for anyone!). I have had this for one month and one day with no improvement. I have had the clove dressings, the flushing with corsadyl, I am on my 5th course of antibiotics. I have had one maxofax doc say that it's much too long for the dry socket to be causing it and the roots must be infected (Ihad a coronectomy where my back wisdom tooth roots were left in as they were so close to the nerve they were concerned about nerve damage). She said that there would be no other cure but to take out the roots! The very next day I saw a consultant in the same hospital, same dept who said that is most likey NOT the case and it's just the dry socket! I told him about everyone saying the healing has taken too long for that...even my dentist thought that but I have seen some of you say you had it 2 years!!!!!!!! Everything I look at online says 3 weeks maximum! The maxfax consultant did not seem to think that was the case. Can anyone tell me if they have had an unusually long healing time for this condition and if it did in fact, finally resolve? I am so depressed at this point, can't sleep, can't eat! Had to send my kids to their Dads and even have them miss one day of school (as he is so far away) because I feel I can't cope and just need some rest. Please help!
Thanks!
Siobhan

Jbocco · 03/01/2013 14:11

Gosh I feel for you all. I have a tooth taken out exactly two weeks ago. It was supposed to be a filling, but after 20 mins of drilling and scraping, the dentist said he could not save it and wanted to extract it. I agreed. After 5 injections and an hour later there was no sign of the tooth coming out. He then said he needed to break the tooth in to pieces to get it out. which i had to agree to as there was no other way. After what seemed like for ever, pulling and tugging and using loads of different tools, he then said, he thought he had got it out, but was unsure if the roof was completely out. He said not to worry and if ther root was still in the gum it would come out by itself, naturally. I was in agony all over christmas with it. Last thursday I went to the emergency dentist, who said it was a dry socket and filled it with the packing stuff. The pain went al most imemediately, but within 2 days it fell out and the pain was back. I went to a different dentist on Monday (new years eve). He washed the socket out and re-packed it which was absolute agony, I don't ever think i have experienced such pain before, and I have given birth to 6 kids !!! anyway he took an xray and said the root is still in there ! If it didn't settle down within a few weeks, the root would need cutting out. After ten mins of severe agony the pain started to fade. and has been okay till today (2 weeks after extraction). so the packing has come out again, back to the dentist this afternoon, you can see all the bone in there and there is no sign of the socket healing !!! I have no idea what to do next, I can not stand the pain of him rinsing and packing it again, expecially as there is no sign that it is making it heel. I have a bit of a dentist phobia too, which is making things worse, I shake ridicously throughout any treatment, and almost get to the point of colapsing, which is so embarassing. I really do not want to have my gums cut they are so sore at the moment. and I forgot to add I am now on course 3 of antibiotics. ! I have 5 children to look after and hubby is back at work, I am so miserable at the moment, I don't want to go out because the pain is so bad and I feel sick and dizzy all the time ! any help would be appreciated, how long is this going to last !

shefon · 14/01/2013 11:46

Try using clove oil! It is a miracle I also have dry socket I rinse my mouth at least 4 times a day with Listerine and anytime after I eat anything! You can put some on a piece of folded up gauze, cotten ball or even on a q tip and rub or put on the socket it don't take much of the oil to work either! Clove oil taste nasty! and does burn a bit but, OMG it is fantastic at removing the pain! I got it at GNC I heard that walgreens carries it also but the ones here did not. I don't know how long it takes to heal but clove oil is my best friend until it does [wing]

mummykel86 · 16/11/2013 19:17

Pls help ! I had a very horrible tooth extraction 90mins and a very sore mouth later it finally came out! 2 hospital trips and 2 dentist trips they advise me i have dry socket they pack it twice but it falls out. I have started packing it myself with cotton wool with clove oil on! Takes the pain away almost immediately. I then take out and re do when the pain starts again. However im really worried im hindering the healing process pls help???

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