<p>My daughter had 4 wisdom teeth removed yesterday. We have heard so many different bits of advice that we are confused as to how to prevent dry socket.</p>
<p>Some people say they ate normally by day 3 and some people advise her to eat only soft stuff for a week until she is seen again by the oral surgeon.</p>
<p>From what we understand, if the healing blood clot gets dislodged by a piece of food, a toothbrush, puffing while smoking, or drinking through a straw, the clot comes out leaving the socket exposed and causing pain and hindering prompt healing.</p>
<p>Any and all advice/personal and or professional experiences welcome.</p>
<p>I just had my wisdom teeth out a couple weeks ago. My surgeon told me that some people to everything right and still get dry socket, and some people do everything wrong and still end up okay. So I would follow the doctors advice to the letter and otherwise try not to sweat it too much… it’s at least partly luck of the draw.</p>
<p>I ate normally pretty much from day one, but I didn’t eat any rice, nuts, popcorn, etc until two or so weeks afterward when my incisions had fully closed up. I ate mcdonalds hash browns within hours of the surgery… but I was lucky and felt really good, and my surgeon said that I could go by how I felt in terms of what I ate (EXCEPT for foods that can get stuck!). I was eating totally normally within 5 or so days. Prior to that, I ate a lot of waffles, tater tots, hot dogs, etc… no crunchy food but not jello either. </p>
<p>I didn’t drink through a straw until the surgeon specifically told me I could, however. I was meticulous with following instructions about when it was safe to brush, when it was safe to spit, when it was safe to use straws, etc… I would follow your surgeon’s advice on those things, it seems everybody has a slightly different opinion.</p>
<p>The only complication I had was that one side healed so quickly that it closed over a piece of food in the first 24 hours when I wasn’t allowed to brush my teeth. The surgeon had to pull it apart and irrigate it (no pain, took 2 seconds, no big deal), and I needed to spray it with a syringe to clean it while it rehealed to prevent it from happening again. It didn’t cause an infection but would have had I not gone in.</p>
<p>Too late to edit… but a thought if your D is in pain… if I could do it over again I would set an alarm for at least a few hours before I actually intend to wake up to start my pain meds for the day. I generally had a very comfortable recovery but woke up in agony on days 3 and 4 because obviously the pain meds didn’t last all night. Doctor didn’t suggest waking to take them but I would have… I kept rolling over onto my face during the night and waking up all swollen. I slept through most of it so wouldn’t wake up every 4 hours or whatever, but would have done something in the early morning so I could actually cope when it was time to get out of bed!</p>
<p>My upper sockets got infected. Not a pleasant experience at all, not sure what/if I did anything wrong. I think I drunk a smoothie through a straw day one, but I really don’t remember. I was on additional painkillers for close to a month from it.</p>
<p>My D had 4 wisdom teeth pulled last August. No straws and pain meds/ice frequently. I set an alarm and kept her medicated and iced as much as possible. she had them pulled on a Wednesday and we had a flight to Florida on Friday. I wanted no complications whatsoever. The dentist said sucking on anything and rinsing too vigorously were the main culprits in dry socket.</p>
<p>It’s important to use the syringe to clean out the socket … that way the food comes out, especially true with bottom teeth. The post op instructions will include this - but this helps avoid the infection.</p>
<p>When you change your gauze - don’t yank on it if it is resisting. Rinse your mouth with water first, then take it out, otherwise you might be pulling out a clot.</p>
<p>Agree with eating only soft food for at least a week or two, and progress slowly after that.</p>
<p>D had hers out spring break. I woke her up every 6 hrs to take her meds.
Remind her to rinse with saline, but very gently.</p>
<p>What meds would be needed every 6 hours? Wouldn’t the only post-surgery meds be optional pain medication taken as needed, rather than on schedule (but not too often or too much)?</p>
<p>i had all four at once. I kept up with the meds and iced/heat padded it.</p>
<p>This was not my first oral surgery so i kinda had an idea of what to do. I ate soft foods for a week and used a water pick (on softest setting) to rinse around the area. No complications what so ever.</p>
<p>This posting comes at the perfect time, as DS is scheduled to have his out next week. Any other advice for the recuperation phase (what I should buy for him to eat, what to do or not to do, etc.)? I’ve never had mine out, so not sure about how this all works.
Thanks!
PS - Forgive me if I’m hijacking this thread! :)</p>
<p>D meds were antibiotics, and pain meds,to be taken 4 times a day. I didnt give her both her pain meds every time, but I gave her the antibiotics.
It might have been three times a day, I’d have to look on the calendar where I kept track of the times I dosed her.</p>
<p>No straws, no rinsing, any action should be very, very gentle. I got dry sockets because the hydrocodene pain med upset my stomach and I vomited. Any nice healing that had started was totally dislodged. :(</p>