Why do I still have swelling after wisdom tooth removal?

Question

I'm in my 20s and I had all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth removed surgically 2 months ago by an oral surgeon. 2 weeks after, I had gotten an abscess infection in one of my lower jaw extraction sites. I went back and the surgeon did an i&is and cleaned the area surgically. it's been one month & still have some swelling in the area the tissue feels a little hard on my jaw. i went back to the surgeon for a one mont check up and he did an xray and said doesn't know why. I would like some feedback.

Neville Richter, DDS · Answer

Having impacted wisdom teeth removed is not a casual procedure. There is a lot of bone removal and then you're expecting a quiet recovery as if you had a haircut.. A post extraction infection usually involves tiny bits of bone in tooth that did not get flushed out of the extraction site because it is in extremely inaccessible.A second reason for post operative pain is minute fractures of the bone socket wall that are undetectable visually, and simply are part of the healing process due to the process of having to section a tooth and remove parts of it. The analogy is like digging a small hole in front of your house and trying to remove all the plumbing through that hole.

Brian Dorfman, MD, DMD · Answer

The firmness you feel may just be the remodeling of the bone in the area. Sometimes this persists longer than the normal couple weeks if you had a post Operative infection like you describe.  If there is no pain then you are probably healing. If there is pain you should see the Oral surgeon and possibly get a CT scan to make sure there is nothing else going on

Why do I still have swelling after wisdom tooth removal?

Answers (2)