LoobyLou wrote:Oh my goodness whatever this dry socket is it sounds absolutely hurrendous! I do hope that this pain goes away for you soon Sonyablade. I'm not exactly sure what it means though, could you explain it?
Keep taking the painkillers. take care...
Luv LoobyLou xx
I'm no doc, but I think this is what happens - when they pull tooth out (think chop off top half of a finger), blood clots and forms a covering over the wound, so as to protect the underlying tissues and bone. The dried blood forms a plug where the tooth was(think bandage over chopped finger). Then tissues regenerate and slowly replace the clot.
If a person rinses mouth the first day, or sucks a straw, or smokes then the clot comes out, so the bone and all nerve endings are open. Think chopped finger with no bandage. It can be excruciating.
What dentists try to do is put some sort of plug in (bandage), but its way inferior to the dried bloot plug.
Unfortunately sometimes dry sockets happen for no apparent reason.
Sonyblade- I'm sorry for u. And a bit mad at the dentist - Really, they should give instructions before the surgery. Its quite common to get amnesia from the anaesthesia - I apparently was asking quite a few questions (coherently) after my surgery. Dont remember any of it.
But they had told me about the dry socket before, so I was very careful - only drank juice the first day, and didnt rinse at all. I would only take some water in my mouth and rotate my head to let the water all around, then let it dribble out
But since dry sockets can occur randomly, I was still petrified
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)