Your dentist or oral surgeon may pack the socket with medicated gel or paste and medicated dressings. These can provide relatively fast pain relief. The severity of your pain and other symptoms will determine whether you need dressing changes and how often or if you need other treatment.
The Mayo Clinic recommends dissolving ½ teaspoon of salt into 8 ounces of warm water. Swish this around in your mouth for a minute, or use it to flush out the dry socket with a syringe your surgeon gives you. Do this at least three times per day or after meals.
Dry Socket Paste will remain in the extraction socket 3 to 5 days and will gradually wash out as the socket heals – there is no need for a separate visit to remove the product.
Many dentists pack a dry socket with eugenol based medications that help decrease the pain temporarily. However, the packing process itself can irritate the dry socket and may slow healing. In addition, when the temporary effects wear off, the pain will likely return.
DESCRIPTION. Dry Socket Paste is formulated relieve the symptoms of alveolar osteitis ("dry socket syndrome"). Dry Socket Paste contains 4% guaicol and 4% eugenol in a petrolatum base.
Managing a dry socket with over-the-counter medications won't give you the relief you need, so visit your dentist at the first sign of a dry socket for treatment. After flushing the socket to remove food and debris, your dentist will pack it with a medicated dressing in the form of a paste.
A dry socket appears as an empty hole in the place of the removed tooth. The exposed bone is visible from the socket. The opening may look dry and have a creamy white color, just like a bone. Blood clotting happens on the empty socket and helps the surgery site heal by promoting the growth of new tissues.
Brush your teeth gently around the dry socket area. Use caution with eating or drinking, avoid carbonated beverages, and avoid smoking or using a straw to prevent dislodging the dressing.
Dry socket typically lasts 7 days. Pain can be noticeable as early as day 3 after extraction. After tooth extraction, a blood clot usually forms at the site to heal and protect it. With dry socket, that clot either dislodges, dissolves too early, or it never formed in the first place.
The packing is usually renewed (removed, the socket gently rinsed, and the packing then replaced) every 24 to 48 hours, typically for 3 to 6 days.
One of the best things you can do is rinse your mouth with warm saltwater. This will help to remove any food particles that could be irritating your dry socket and promote blood clotting. You want to make sure that you're using warm water and not hot because hot water could further irritate your wound.
Dry socket paste used after the extraction process contains chemicals that promote healing and reduce pain. However, the paste your orthopedic surgeon uses might not be effective at completely eliminating the pain a patient feels.
Dry socket usually occurs within 3-5 days of an extraction and more commonly in the lower jaw. Symptoms include severe pain, a throbbing sensation, an unpleasant taste, a fever, or swollen glands. It can last for up to 7 days. By following your dentist's instructions carefully, dry socket can usually be prevented.
Prevention methods include avoiding smoking before and after surgery and a traumatic surgery, the use of antibiotics, such as, azithromycin, can be considered, chlorohexidine rinse or gel can be effective in the reduction of dry socket incidence.
Dry Socket Healing Time
Dry socket typically heals within 7-10 days. After this time, new tissue has been able to cover the visible bone and the wound has begun to heal. For patients with thin alveolar bone, such as those with periodontal disease, healing may take longer.
Factors that can increase your risk of developing dry socket include: Smoking and tobacco use. Chemicals in cigarettes or other forms of tobacco may prevent or slow healing and contaminate the wound site. The act of sucking on a cigarette may physically dislodge the blood clot prematurely.
Smoking and using any kind of oral tobacco should be avoided. Smoking and tobacco use can interfere with blood flow and healing around the extraction site, which could cause or contribute to dry socket.
Dry socket will heal on its own in most cases, but professional help from a dentist can speed up the healing process, lessen pain and discomfort, and reduce the risk of infection.
Salt water
It can also flush out any food particles from the socket. Keeping this area clean can reduce pain and lower the risk of infection. A dentist will usually advise people to rinse their mouth with a saline solution, or salt water, following a tooth extraction, as this helps the healing process.
In most cases, dry socket will heal on its own, but as the site heals patients will likely continue to experience discomfort. If you do choose to treat dry socket at home, you need to clean the wound with cool water, irrigate the socket with saline, and keep gauze over the socket.
- Rinsing with chlorhexidine mouthwash before a dental extraction or beginning 24 hours after may help to prevent a dry socket. - Placing a chlorhexidine gel directly into the socket immediately after tooth extraction may help to prevent a dry socket.
When you develop dry socket, it can be extremely painful. The condition is also considered a dental emergency because it interferes with your recovery from a tooth extraction.
Typically you can stop worrying about the dry socket after 7-10 days because this is the amount of time that gums take to close. However, everyone heals at their own time, depending on age, oral health, hygiene, and other factors.
Specifically, pain caused by a dry socket is characterized as a deep, throbbing pain on the side of the extraction. In some cases, this pain may be severe and/or it may radiate through the entire side of your face.