I'm Baaaack
I'm having a pity party....and you're not invited! I haven't blogged in 3 whole days and nobody checked to make sure I was still alive and breathing!
Remember how I mentioned a little problem with my gaping hole? Yeah...turns out it was INFECTED!!! Not only that, but in treating the infection those brainiacs gave me dry socket....me the Queen of Dry Socket! I have had 6 teeth pulled now...4 wisdom and a couple of bastard teeth. Every single tooth that I have had pulled developed dry socket. I'm not kidding...EVERY single one of those f'ers! For the record: I don't smoke, I don't drink carbonated beverages, and I don't suck on nothin'! There's absolutely no reason for me to get dry socket....except for the fact that my mouth HATES ME!!
So, I started feeling pretty good about this last extraction, thinking I might actually escape the horrors of dry socket....then the agonizing pain hit. So, for the past couple of days I've been making daily visits to the tooth torture chamber (aka: Dentist Office) to have my excruciatingly painful gaping hole packed with gauze soaked in clove oil designed to burn my lips off my face and the infection out of the gaping hole all while promoting growth to cure the dry socket. It hasn't been a barrel of giggles. In fact, it hurt too much to even look like I might want to giggle!
I'm now doing much better, thanks for asking. The gauze they tried to shove into the not-so-gaping-hole today has already fallen out.....the hole is closing and I can begin discovering all the activities that I will no longer be able to participate in. For example: no more chewing on my right side, I whistle worse than I did to start with....which means I can't whistle to save my life. Not that I ever was able to whistle....it's just now I can't even practice at it....it just ain't gonna happen. I don't know what else I won't be able to do....for now I'll just mourn the whistle I never had to begin with.
Remember how I mentioned a little problem with my gaping hole? Yeah...turns out it was INFECTED!!! Not only that, but in treating the infection those brainiacs gave me dry socket....me the Queen of Dry Socket! I have had 6 teeth pulled now...4 wisdom and a couple of bastard teeth. Every single tooth that I have had pulled developed dry socket. I'm not kidding...EVERY single one of those f'ers! For the record: I don't smoke, I don't drink carbonated beverages, and I don't suck on nothin'! There's absolutely no reason for me to get dry socket....except for the fact that my mouth HATES ME!!
So, I started feeling pretty good about this last extraction, thinking I might actually escape the horrors of dry socket....then the agonizing pain hit. So, for the past couple of days I've been making daily visits to the tooth torture chamber (aka: Dentist Office) to have my excruciatingly painful gaping hole packed with gauze soaked in clove oil designed to burn my lips off my face and the infection out of the gaping hole all while promoting growth to cure the dry socket. It hasn't been a barrel of giggles. In fact, it hurt too much to even look like I might want to giggle!
I'm now doing much better, thanks for asking. The gauze they tried to shove into the not-so-gaping-hole today has already fallen out.....the hole is closing and I can begin discovering all the activities that I will no longer be able to participate in. For example: no more chewing on my right side, I whistle worse than I did to start with....which means I can't whistle to save my life. Not that I ever was able to whistle....it's just now I can't even practice at it....it just ain't gonna happen. I don't know what else I won't be able to do....for now I'll just mourn the whistle I never had to begin with.
posted by Kat at 7:21 PM
2 Comments:
Hi, welcome back, you were much missed, hope you are feeling better. I must have checked for new postings 10 times...
What is a dry socket?
A "dry socket" occurs when the blood clot is lost from an extraction site prematurely. Basically, the blood clot in the socket serves the same two functions as a "scab" on a skin surface cut. First, it assists in the cessation of bleeding and second, it protects underlying structures during the healing process. Like the child who "picks at a scab" the area heals in time but is painful for far longer than if the "scab" had been left alone.
When the blood clot is lost before the underlying structures have had time to heal, bone is exposed to the oral environment along with fine nerve endings. This is an exquisitely painful but otherwise relatively harmless situation. There are packing materials that the oral surgeon can place to help ease the discomfort both by physically blocking the wound and by the action of the chemicals in the pack on local nerve endings. Generally, patients return to have the pack changed every day or two and most patients do not require more than 2 or three dressing changes. Some patients require no dressing while others may require 4 or 5 changes of packing. Tincture of time and good oral hygiene usually resolve the situation.
There are some activities, which may increase the propensity for dry socket formation...smoking, drinking carbonated beverages in the first 24 hours after surgery, spitting or drinking through a straw in that same time period...but often "dry sockets" occur for no particular reason at all.
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