Dry socket misery

[BabEmama]

I know this isn't baby related, but.....
I had a tooth pulled on the 11th. I developed dry socket immediately and went back in on the 13th. The dentist said because of the abscess I had under the tooth, it caused the dry socket. He gave me antibiotics prescription, but no pain relief 😭.
The prescription wasnt stamped so I've had to run around all weekend, and call 111 repeatedly so get my amoxicillin sorted. Finally getting it today thank god. The issue I have now is, I'm still in excruciating pain, and packed wound is starting to smell. Is this normal? I dont wanna breathe on my baby for fear of killing him lol. Anyone that's had this before I'd be so grateful of some advice/insight. I dont know what's normal and what's not. The dentist said very little at both visits, which lead to me rinsing my mouth after the origional extraction, probably causing all of this!!!
Thank u in advance to anyone who can help.

Dry socket is the worst pain I've had in my life. So lots of sympathy here. It's very common though after an extraction. Yes it does stink. You can get the dentist to reapply some stinky gauze in the socket which helps the pain a little bit. It will heal in about 2 weeks.

Doesn't packing need to come out after 24hrs, or even less?
Can you swirl salty luke warm water (don't rinse, swirl and let dribble out). Don't use straws.

The antibiotics will take a few days to kick in.

A dry socket is normally not infection, it is an inflammatory response, is there swelling? The only really thing you can do is keep it really clean with salt water. Hold the salt water and bathe the socket In it for a couple of minutes. Spit it out, bathe it again. Do that as much as possible. After every meal and before bed at a minimum.

Keep up with painkillers as well. Alternative co-codamol with ibuprofen, dentists don't normally prescribe painkillers. You could try some Diffpam sprat/mouthwash to help with the pain but it's not that long lasting

Then tomorrow I would go back to the dentist and get it redressed, normally dry socket is improved a lot by the rinsing and dressing, so it potentially needs redressing.

It is the worst pain I've ever felt too. I was living in Spain when I had mine. I asked the dentist about clove oil. He ordered some and sent me home with either valium or Prozac to give me some space from the pain.

The next day he agitated the socket to make it clot again and packed it with clove oil infused stuff (looked like loose tobacco but obviously wasn't). The pain was gone within 5 minutes. From what he said I thought the socket had to be agitated to form a new clot. I didn't think it would heal otherwise. I had a bottle of clove oil I diluted with olive oil and it covered the pain whilst it healed.

It's awful you have no pain relief, I would have done anything to stop the pain. I think it does smell when there's a blood clot but would be concerned about a smell if there's an abscess. Hope you get some relief

Go back and ask your dentist to pack it with alveogyl - it's the clove tobacco-looking stuff mentioned above. Instant relief. It's the only thing that worked for me.

You poor poor thing. I’ve had dry socket and it’s the worst. Nothing to add to the advice you’ve had here, only to try to get the strongest OTC painkiller you can today. Maybe something like co-codamol?

I had this after an extraction that got dry socket and a stubborn infection that amoxicillin wouldn't treat. I was back at dentist every 48 hours to have it cleaned and re packed and taking ibuprofen and paracetamol regularly. After 2 weeks of amoxicillin and it still hadn't healed and the infection had spread, they prescribed metracondizaole a strong antibiotic that made me feel nauseous but it finally worked!! 5 weeks on from the extraction I feel normal at last - well it still feels weird having a gappy gum but it's not painful!

Thank u for all your replies. I was told the smell from the origional dry socket was due to infection. I have the brown tobacco looking stuff in there now. But I thing because i didnt get the antibiotics fast enough, the infection and puss is oozing through the brown packing. Gross for a Sunday morning I know lol. So u all think I should get it repackaged? Can I buy clove oil at pharmacy? If so how do I use it.
I'm so happy to know I'm not alone in this agony. The poor baby doesn't know what's going on lol. I was also told this was rare. But judging by the amount I've read online about it, it's not that rare lol.

Paracetamol and ibroprofen alternate every 2 hours. So paracetamol at 2, then ibro at 4, then paracetamol 2 hours later. The antibiotics will hopefully then kick in soon!!!

Just a side not, I've been taking paramol. I have found this to be the strongest. And nurofen plus. The 111 lady told me off but until yoube had this pain, u cant comment on how many pain killers I've had to take lol.

It’s really not rare, sadly.

Is there anyone who can look after the baby today?

Totally agree. I had it once and the pain was horrendous, I did take more painkillers than I should have, it's a desperate pain 😩

Yes get it repacked first thing tomo! If you can get clove oil today dab it on with a cotton bud. And keep on top of the painkillers ibuprofen is better than paracetamol as it helps the swelling too x

I've tried to cut out the codeine based stuff because its making me a bit lethargic. So I'm trying to stick to nurofen Express today. I agree with the brown stuff repacking, because how can it heal with poison covered packing in there?? I have been rinsing with salt water but doesn't seem to be doing much. But if there was infection already there, I'm not sure that it can. I've recently moved house and the only person I trust with baby is my mum. But she is now a 20 min drive away on country roads. I cant drive yet. If I could, she would of already been baby sitting all week lol. Baby is being good tho. I think he knows mummy isnt right, (the persistant crying might of given him a clue lol)
So hes not shouting at me as much atm (shouting is his way of learning to talk lol).
I do have a partner but I have to say, he is the least sympathetic person u will ever meet. I'd get more help from an alley cat than I would him lol

Opinions on me pulling the packing out my self? I just cant bear this rotting flesh smelling breath I currently have!!! Its so embarrassing.
I was thinking of re packing my self with cotton wool pads?? I know I sound insane but desperate times and all that. I would of gone to the emergency dentist, but as I said, useless me cant drive lol

Don’t pull it out yourself.

Can DP not drive you to emergency dentist?

Ok I'll leave the packing in. Tbh I have asked but just got a series of grunts in return. I've collected my amoxicillin now, and have been instructed by dentist to double the dose for the first day, so hopefully that helps. If I dont feel any better by the Monday morning, I'll call my dentist and get my self seen. It's just sods law that this stuff always happens on weekends. Thank u for your advice. I actually feel a bit better now. X

I don’t what to make this about your DP, OP, but that doesn’t sound good enough. You’re in serious pain, with a serious infection and looking after a little baby.

Why can’t he take you? Is he usually like this?

Or a taxi?!

I'm a dentist OP and actually if there's pus oozing round the dressing I'd rinse the socket out completely so that the pus can drain. Did the dentist give you a syringe? Whatever you do don't repack with cotton wool. I personally can't see how you will be worse off rinsing the socket out yourself

If there's pus you need to go back. If there's an emergency dentist you can go to your DP needs to take you, it's not good enough for him to just grunt.

Dry socket is uncommon but not rare, about 3% of cases, most people don't get dry socket. Post extraction infection is rare, sounds like yours is infected rather than just a dry socket.

Rinse it out with chlorhexidine (corsodyl) mouthwash. And you can also use corsodyl gel if you can get your hands on some from a pharmacy

Dentist didnt give me syringe. I'm a bit scared of rinsing incase I remove the packing. Do u have any advice on how to rinse carefully? Or do I want the packing out? How do I rinse thoroughly without syringe?
I will go the the pharmacy and get some corsodyl once baby is awake.
I was told by the dentist I had septic socket. So I'm assuming he knew immediately that it was infected.
I'm not sure if there is puss oozing, but when I gently suck I get that awful puss taste. And I touched the packing last night which made my finger absolutely stink.
So is it likely my amoxicillin is gonna touch this?
Thank u for your advice. It's more valuable to me than gold right now.

Amoxicillin should work yes, sometimes metronidazole is also needed if the bacteria are resistent but amoxicillin should do the job. It just takes a little while to work

A septic socket is infected, different to dry socket alone. It might be a bit of a wiaitng game sadly until the antibiotics kick in. I'd revisit the dentist on Monday or an emergency dentist to get it redressed and debrided.

I wouldnt worry too much about the pack coming out, more important to clean It. Can You buy a syringe when you go to the chemist? Otherwise it's just gonna have to be bathing it in corsodyl, and corsodyl gel if you can get hold of it

Yes, get to a pharmacist asap. There will also be an emergency dentist somewhere - the pharmacist may know where (probably at a hospital). If the pharmacist isn't able to give you anything then get a taxi to the dentist if your DH won't take you (he's being useless, but sort out your tooth first and deal with him later).

Are you breastfeeding? Make sure you mention it if you are. They'll be able to give you something to relieve the pain.

How about a Calpol syringe? Would that work?

I’m so glad a dentist is on this thread!

A Calpol syringe will work