Opinions please

[Granjoy]

I am a 68 yo female going through a really rough painful, sleepless painful exhausting anxiety provoking
experience. Lower left wisdom tooth extracted seven days ago by an oral surgeon. Was still experiencing pain and the hubby complained about my bad breath so I reported to the oral surgeon’s office and they told me to come in. The surgeon looks at it and first says “looks ok”, then looks closer and says partial dry socket. He took stitches out and irrigated with water and advised that 20 minutes after he applies clove med I will feel better and I will need to return for more packing in a day or two.

Now here is the PROBLEM: The whole was too small for him to pack the soaked gauze to stay. He did the best he could to get in the medication in but after waiting in his office for twenty minutes I got no relief. There was nothing more he could do.

Anyone know of options to relieve suffering? Has anyone dealt with or experienced this problem?

Thank you with much appreciation.

 

[honestdoc]

Try to get Over-the-counter numbing gels/ointments such as Colgate Orabase. If OTC pain medication such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen are not relieving the pain, have the oral surgeon prescribe you something for the pain. Hopefully, the pain will subside and the extraction site will start to close.

 

[MattKW]

Sometimes I might fully numb up the patient with a long-lasting LA (to give them a rest), and put in oil of cloves on a cotton pellet (ZOE mix), and place a cross-stitch over it to secure the pellet. It's hard to control dry sockets with oral medication.

 

[Granjoy]

Try to get Over-the-counter numbing gels/ointments such as Colgate Orabase. If OTC pain medication such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen are not relieving the pain, have the oral surgeon prescribe you something for the pain. Hopefully, the pain will subside and the extraction site will start to close.

Thank you for your response. I am going to try the Orabase numbing gel. The space is only an eighth of an inch. Hopefully I can get it in the space without doing damage to the clotted part. I already tried Advil, Tylenol and prescription hydrocodone (Vicodin) to no avail. The hydrocodone just made me a bit woozy on my feet but did not take away the pain. Having six broken ribs was easier to cope with than this.

 

[Granjoy]

Sometimes I might fully numb up the patient with a long-lasting LA (to give them a rest), and put in oil of cloves on a cotton pellet (ZOE mix), and place a cross-stitch over it to secure the pellet. It's hard to control dry sockets with oral medication.

Much thanks to you also for your reply. You are so right about controlling the pain with oral medication. Usually all I need is two Advil following dental work. Unfortunately the dry socket part is only an eighth of an inch. Probably I would be better off with a full dry socket so it could be packed with clove medication. I don’t know why the surgeon didn’t try a cotton pellet. He cut a piece of gauze which would seem stiffer.

 

[MattKW]

Thank you for your response. I am going to try the Orabase numbing gel. The space is only an eighth of an inch. Hopefully I can get it in the space without doing damage to the clotted part. I already tried Advil, Tylenol and prescription hydrocodone (Vicodin) to no avail. The hydrocodone just made me a bit woozy on my feet but did not take away the pain. Having six broken ribs was easier to cope with than this.

Yep, sometimes the socket will close up on top, but still be a yucky cave underneath. Hence the need for LA to be able to get in there.

 

[Granjoy]

Yep, sometimes the socket will close up on top, but still be a yucky cave underneath. Hence the need for LA to be able to get in there.

Wow you really know your stuff! Just wanted to let you know I think that’eventually that’s what happened to me. I was eating yougert and felt this foreign little lump in my mouth. Went to look at my extraction site with a flashlight and sure enough what was there before was now missing. Yuck, can’t wait for this to heal and say good riddance to the pain. At least at times the pain seems to remit for a few hours but comes right back. Just an awful ordeal is this dry socket business.