Dry Socket Anyone?

In a patient with a dry socket, blood does not fill up the extraction socket or the blood clot is lost. The gums can not grow over the extraction socket because there's nothing to grow over and the hole remains open. This opening causes a constant dull throbbing pain and the patient can often have a foul smelling breath and bad taste in the mouth.

Yes, dear blog readers, this is what my problem was. After a couple of calls to the dentist office and being told that my pain was normal, I was able to talk to one of the doctors and he FINALLY decided he should look at my mouth. This could have been taken care of when I called in on MONDAY! No, no, they insisted my pain was normal; just give me more Vicodin. So I have suffered with toothache and a Vicodin haze to cover it up. It took 10 minutes to fix my problem, why couldn't they have done this on Monday? All he did was look in my mouth and apply some really nasty tasting crap (called "dry socket dressing") on the extraction site. Whoopdie doo.

It's amazing how much better my mouth felt within just a couple of hours. Why don't people listen? I know my own mouth better than they do. The dentist's assistant kept telling me that her husband had his wisdom tooth removed and he was in pain for a week. Hello? I'm not your husband, I am a totally different and separate individual! Argh!