Pain Following Tooth Extraction

Dry socket (alveolar osteitis) is an infection in your socket after a tooth is extracted. It occurs when the blood clot at the site of a tooth extraction is disrupted prematurely. This leaves the alveolar bone unprotected and exposed to the oral environment. The set can be packed with food and bacteria. The pain usually starts 3-4 days after extraction. It is often very unpleasant for the patient, symptoms include extreme pain (sometimes worse than the toothache that indicated the extraction), a bad taste, bad breath, and swelling in the infected area. Nerves are exposed, and sometimes the bone is visible in the vacuum plug. It is often accompanied by what looks like an ear ache. There may be lymph node involvement.

Dry socket occurs in about 5 percent of all tooth extractions. Women are more at risk than men for developing dry socket. Among women who have developed, the majority take an oral contraceptive. Smokers have been shown to have a significantly increased risk of developing alveolar osteitis after tooth extraction. This is probably due to the amount of oxygen available decreases in tissue healing after carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke. It is advisable to avoid smoking after extraction of teeth for at least 48 hours to reduce the risk of developing dry socket.

Treatment for alveolar osteitis is mainly preventative. Maintaining good oral hygiene is essential before and during the healing period. If possible, have your teeth professionally cleaned for several days before dental surgery. Take all your regular medications for systemic diseases (diabetes and cardiovascular disease). Women are recommended to have extractions during the last five days of their menstrual cycle. It is to minimize the risk of developing dry socket because the estrogen levels are lower during this part of the cycle (day 23-28). Several things can cause premature loss of a blood clot from an extraction site, including smoking, spitting forcefully sucked through a straw, coughing or sneezing. You should also avoid drinking alcoholic or carbonated beverages after an extraction, because they have also been associated with the development of alveolitis. Also, you must: aec Keep your fingers and tongue out of the quarry site. aec Apply an ice pack to your jaw during the first 24 hours after surgery - for 15-20 minutes and off for 30-40 minutes - to avoid pain and swelling and stop bleeding. aec Do not rinse your mouth the day of surgery. The next day, you can rinse gently with warm salt water, dissolve one teaspoon of salt in one cup hot water. Remember to rinse and spit gently. Call your dentist immediately if you notice any symptoms of alveolitis. The treatment of dry socket typically includes a gentle rinse decision to remove the debris. It is followed by packing the socket with Alvogyl. Its fibrous consistency allows for easy filling of the socket and good adherence during the entire healing process. The active ingredients Alvogyl include:

aec eugenol for analgesic action; butamben aec for anesthetic action; aec iodoform for anti-microbial action.

Sometimes analgesics are also prescribed. Generally, you must return to the dentist's office two to three times during a period of two weeks to re-dressing and the monitoring of healing. Fortunately, a mains socket is often self-healing on a longer period. In the very rare situation where the dry socket can not heal itself, another operation may be necessary. The procedure is to bleed from the wall and the new blood clot can be formed in the socket after extraction.