Dry socket (alveolar osteitis) is a common and painful condition that occurs after a wisdom tooth removed. This occurs when the blood clot at the site of tooth extraction is dislodged, exposing underlying bone and nerves and creates pain. Food, liquids, and even air will aggravate the exposed nerves, and the socket is vulnerable to infection when it is left unprotected.
Dry Socket Symptoms
One of the main symptoms of dry socket is the presence of a bone dry wall on the extraction site. As there are no blood clots, blood vessels, which are supposed to be helped in healing retreats to reveal the level of raw bones and dry, which eventually becomes inflamed causing severe pain. The plug seems sore, empty and white color, with a gaping hole.
Dry socket pain is pain that legends are made! It takes the infamous “toothache” to a whole new level. Normally, after an extraction, people feel a slight pain when the anesthetic begins to fade. But this pain is very mild and most is dull and evil in nature and usually disappears after about a day or two. But the pain of dry socket usually begins two days after tooth extraction. The pain is excruciating, shooting strong and throbbing in nature. The pain is usually radiating in nature as well as it radiates to the ear and neck as well. Normally there is no swelling that accompanies the pain as dry socket is not an infection itself, but is simply an inflammation of the bony wall of the base empty.
Another common symptom of dry socket is the presence of bad breath. The loss of blood supply and the presence of an open wound is an open invitation to microorganisms. This leads to bad breath in the mouth. A symptom that is often seen in conjunction with the bad breath is bad taste in the mouth. The person may have a metallic taste in the mouth.
Other Symptoms of Dry Socket include problems with eating (especially the side where the person has had the extraction is completed), loss of appetite, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, often sensitive to touch, the presence of food in the mouth, swollen gums to adjacent teeth, jaw pain, insomnia, fever, etc. Sometimes, when there are dry sockets in upper jaw, often radiating pain near the eye, which can be very uncomfortable and also add to the distress of the patient.