Advice Dental problems - Dry Socket

[Kiwivillan]

Had a tooth extraction 6 days ago and I think I have dry socket. Before I go back to the oral surgeon and probably have to pay a stupid amount of money after following all the advice to avoid, has anyone had this and can give me any advice?

[jjaacckk91]

had it a while ago when I had 3 teeth out and if I remember rightly you can soldier through with saltwater rinses, topical anesthetics(lidocaine or benzocaine lozenges) and over counter pain meds whilst being very careful about the kind of food you eat(basically food that will dissolve or rinse away easily to avoid infection),

or the dentist will clean up the area and apply some aspirin to it I think. as you can probably tell I just carried on so know less about what the dentist would do but I'd had pretty severe tooth pain for months so I was pretty used to it.

There's quite a lot on Google about it I think.

pretty sure it's recommended to see a dentist if the pain becomes intense but the dry socket makes it really slow to heal either way.

[Kiwivillan]

Cheers bro. Doing the salt water rinse several times a day.

[Anthony]

Here's a suggestion: try and get hold of some aquacel Ag. It's a wound dressing that promotes healing and kills bugs.

 

It's normally used for infected wounds. It's made of hydrocolloid fibre (hydrocolloid was invented by a dentist for basically dry socket)

 

Using aquacel in your mouth is 'off label' (i.e. they haven't tested at all) but I've used it and it was fine for me.

 

The aquacel turns to gel on contact with water so, you dip it in water and then shove a blob in the hole (but don't pack it too hard)

 

The hydrocolloid will help with healing.

 

It will also keep the nerve endings moist and less painful.

 

The silver will help to reduce/prevent bacterial growth.

 

I used to sell this stuff to District Nurses - it was absolutely our blockbuster product.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Anthony