My wife went to our family dentist for a painful tooth that turned out to be infected. it took him an hour to remove the tooth and did socket grafting and said there was nerve damage. This was last Thursday morning. Now its Monday morning. The pain is still very bad and she had to switch to advil 600-800 mg every 6-8 hours for the pain because the hydrocodone was making her nauseous. This dentist doesnt believe in antibiotics but last night I demanded he prescribe them which he did. Any advice?
May 15, 2013
Answer: 4 days of pain after extraction with socket graft very unusual
She should return to the dentist immediately for re-evaluation. There are some questions to ask... was all of the infection removed with the dental extraction? Was your wife on antibiotics prior to procedure? Is there another tooth in the area that could be the source of pain? Was a barrier membrane placed over bone graft? If stitches were placed, are they placed in mobile tissue? If placed in mobile tissue the sutures can sometimes cause pain. Does Ibuprophen help? If so, the source of the pain is inflammatory... meaning there may still be a source of infection in the extraction site or another tooth.
Hank D. Michael - Dentist, Sarasota FL
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
May 15, 2013
Answer: 4 days of pain after extraction with socket graft very unusual
She should return to the dentist immediately for re-evaluation. There are some questions to ask... was all of the infection removed with the dental extraction? Was your wife on antibiotics prior to procedure? Is there another tooth in the area that could be the source of pain? Was a barrier membrane placed over bone graft? If stitches were placed, are they placed in mobile tissue? If placed in mobile tissue the sutures can sometimes cause pain. Does Ibuprophen help? If so, the source of the pain is inflammatory... meaning there may still be a source of infection in the extraction site or another tooth.
Hank D. Michael - Dentist, Sarasota FL
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
January 17, 2020
Answer: Pain should have mostly subsided 4 days after an extraction
From your comments it sounds like the dentist should have given your wife antibiotics right away. The tooth could have been extracted right away, but many times it is better to wait 2-3 days before taking it out. This will help to reduce the infection and make the local anesthetic more effective. Also, it sounds like it was a difficult extraction and she was already in pain from the infection. No question that I would have perscribed antibiotics. Alternative medicine like Ozone therapy is not proven in random/independent studies.
Pieces of bone or tooth can sometimes be inadvertently left which can cause pain, however after a difficult surgical extraction, the doctor must debride and irrigate copiously to prevent this.
My question is: why was grafting done? If there is a significant amount of infection, it should not be grafted. The area can be grafted after healing. Also, if there no plan to replace this tooth with a dental implant, then grafting is not indicated and will not cause any harm to skip it. The only reason to do it is to charge more.
My recommendation is that you find a more traditional dentist. Ask the oral surgeon for a recommendation to a good general/restorative dentist. Ask him/ her who they go to.
Good luck
Dr. T
Helpful 2 people found this helpful
January 17, 2020
Answer: Pain should have mostly subsided 4 days after an extraction
From your comments it sounds like the dentist should have given your wife antibiotics right away. The tooth could have been extracted right away, but many times it is better to wait 2-3 days before taking it out. This will help to reduce the infection and make the local anesthetic more effective. Also, it sounds like it was a difficult extraction and she was already in pain from the infection. No question that I would have perscribed antibiotics. Alternative medicine like Ozone therapy is not proven in random/independent studies.
Pieces of bone or tooth can sometimes be inadvertently left which can cause pain, however after a difficult surgical extraction, the doctor must debride and irrigate copiously to prevent this.
My question is: why was grafting done? If there is a significant amount of infection, it should not be grafted. The area can be grafted after healing. Also, if there no plan to replace this tooth with a dental implant, then grafting is not indicated and will not cause any harm to skip it. The only reason to do it is to charge more.
My recommendation is that you find a more traditional dentist. Ask the oral surgeon for a recommendation to a good general/restorative dentist. Ask him/ her who they go to.
Good luck
Dr. T
Helpful 2 people found this helpful