Wisdom Tooth Question

[Badgerboy]

Evening,

Approximately 6 weeks ago I had both my lower impacted wisdom teeth extracted. It was a somewhat troublesome recovery but mostly recovered now.

Now, unsure if we have any amateur dentists in here but today I noticed the swelling had reduced enough for me to see the gum clearly. I can only describe what is a hole in the back of my mouth in which I can see bone and whatnot. (Expect this is where the tooth resided)

Question is, is this normal? I just managed to get the water flosser in there (painful), but it managed to remove a suprising amount of food which explains my bad breath the last week.

I have a photo for those who think it may help, it's somewhat disconcerting!

[Badgerboy]

[Driller]

Did you have a mouth wash and any drugs to take afterwards and if so for how long? Do you smoke, how much?

Any pain?

What's the other side like?

A tooth socket doesn't heal up like a wound where the edges join quickly together. It heals like a lift going up, from bottom to top, so until the last moment (2 months or so but depends) you'll have some sort of depression.

The photo does give the impression of a deep dark void though so if in doubt go see your dentist.

[Badgerboy]

Thanks. I've emailed the surgeon and will see what his response is.

I don't smoke, and the other side seems to have healed correctly. No pain at the moment other than overall soreness bit that is to be expected.

I had a ten day course of antibiotics, and have been using ibuprufen for the pain and well as cordisyl mouthwash.

The photo doesn't do it justice, but if I shine a light in there I can see quite a cavity which was a bit shocking!

I will see if I can get a dental appointment tomorrow regardless. My concern is a infection as I can't clean it correctly and it will hopefully only get smaller. (Ideally without trapping food in there!)

Surgery was on the 29th October. The side with the hole was troublesome and would not clot so I lost quite a bit of blood.

Edited by Badgerboy on Monday 23 December 20:11

[Driller]

Well I have to admit that although it's hard tell to tell from a photo that definitely looks like it's having trouble healing. You probably lost the clot on that side which is needed for healing process. It may be a simple question of cleaning the socket under local anaesthetic with a curette to clean out debris and get it bleeding again so a new clot can form and/or packing the socket to protect it whilst it heals up.

I'd be surprised if the surgeon didn't want to see you after seeing the photo anyway.

[Badgerboy]

Thank you Driller. Well I received a response, effectively stating that;

"The defect is where the sutures have dissolved. The smell is the foodstuffs and you have to just put some mouthwash in and really give it a good rinse. It will heal up from below - just perservere with the mouthwash. This can sometimes happen, especially with the clotting issues you experienced."

I called my dentist this morning, can't see me till the 6th. (Not the best time of year) I can't warrant calling it an emergency as it currently doesnt hurt.

I will try to keep it clean and wait until the new year. The water flosser is quite effective. Bloody Wisdom teeth!