Wisdom Tooth Recovery...Awful

[WinkleHoff]

My wife has just had a lower wisdom tooth removed, about six weeks ago now. She's left in great discomfort, and numbness/pain in her lower right jaw. Its really affecting her. I suspect some level of nerve damage; does anyone have any experience of this and does it get better? Life is pretty miserable, she only feels okay when she takes some heavy hitting eds that make here very drowsy.

Thanks all.

[brake fader]

Has she had checked to make sure there's no infection? other than that sometimes a bit of broke off tooth can be left behind in the wound which can become painful this can make it's way to the surface of the gum but takes time, maybe get checked out.

[EmilA]

I had some food get stuck in the open wound after mine was removed which was quite painful. Certainly worth asking the dentist to have another look. Hope she feels better soon.

[bigpriest]

Someone I know developed what's known as a dry socket - you're left with a gap which won't heal properly and is liable to infection. Needs some proper dental advice.

[w1bbles]

I had similar problems when I had mine done 25 years ago. I am still a bit numb on the left hand side of my mouth but only if I actively think about it. In my case two things happened: (1) the pain and numbness got better over the course of about 2-3 months and (2) my mouth got used to feeling a bit different. I hope your wife gets some good recovery in soon.

[Slow.Patrol]

bigpriest said:

Someone I know developed what's known as a dry socket - you're left with a gap which won't heal properly and is liable to infection. Needs some proper dental advice.

Yep. Had a dry socket with a wisdom tooth extraction once.

I believe (but I'm not a dentist), they need a blood clot to form in the socket. My blood clot fell out and I could see my jaw in the hole.

I had to go back to the dentist where he introduced a new blood clot with a bit of scraping and scratching.

PS. This was 40 years ago, so things might have changed by now.

[bigpriest]

Slow.Patrol said:

where he introduced a new blood clot with a bit of scraping and scratching.

<shudder>

[WinkleHoff]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies. No dry socket problems or infection. She's numb down one side of her jaw with pain in surrounding jaw, sharp pains, stabbing, pretty much relentless pain. Grim.

It hasn't really improved, I can only hope any nerve damage will get better!