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After your wisdom teeth are removed, some things
that you can do to reduce YOUR chances of having a painful dry socket... |
1) Avoid using straws as the change in pressure within
your mouth can displace a newly formed clot.
2) Avoid
smoking which can infect the blood clot within the bony socket.
3) Avoid
using commercial mouthwashes which contain substances that can destroy blood
clots.
Located in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino, California, Dr. Reifman's
dental office offers the gentle removal of
full or partially impacted wisdom teeth,
root tips, abscessed teeth, and the treatment of Dry Socket. The unique,
very successful way that Dr. Reifman uses to arrest the discomfort of dry socket
is discussed below. In fact, dry sockets do not occur often in his practice.
Dear Dr. Ed Reifman:
"I was in severe
pain a couple of days ago. Your website was the most helpful
that I found on dry socket. So I tried a home remedy that
I got the idea from on your web site. My whole problem was-
What's okay to put on the bone in my mouth? My dentist told me
not to use anything like an Anbesol product. So this is what I
did: I put about 8-10 aspirin (I didn't count them because I was
in so much pain and I was so desperate) in a bowl and crushed
them with a wooden kitchen tool. I added about 6 ounces of
filtered water, and a little salt because it was kind of bitter.
I heated it in the microwave until it was very warm. I soaked a
cotton ball in the solution and placed the cotton ball in my
mouth, in the dry socket.
In about 5
minutes, I was completely out of pain again! Thank God- and
thank you! Actually, the pain went from about a 10 to about a 1
or 2. I stayed pain free all day long by reheating the solution
and applying a fresh cotton ball several more times- especially
after eating and drinking. [I originally
tried swishing the solution gently in my mouth, but that gave my
whole mouth a terrible chalky feeling that lasted several hours.
That's when I switched to applying it directly with a cotton
ball.]
I'm going to tell
my dentist about it for when he has desperate patients in pain.
I also printed out your dry socket page for him. I had my tooth
removed at the exact opposite time of my estrogen cycle than I
should have. I wish I had known.
Well, thanks
again."
Sincerely,
Darlene K.
- Topsham, Maine
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What is a dry socket?
After a tooth is extracted, a blood clot forms in the socket. Over the
next several weeks and months, the new gum and bone grows into the blood clot
and replaces the blood clot. If the blood clot dissolves prematurely, the
extraction socket is left empty, so its called a dry socket. This leaves
the bone uncovered and can be quite painful. This is not an infection so
antibiotics are rarely needed. Dry socket, although uncommon, is usually
found after
wisdom tooth removal.
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The Unique, and Very Successful Way
that Dr. Reifman Treats Dry Socket
"While the patient is in the chair, I will
crush up one plain aspirin in a tiny dish and mix in a couple drops
of eugenol (eugenol is a liquid used in many dental procedures).
Then, I add some pre-made, dry socket paste to the mixture.
My assistant loads the large end of an amalgam carrier instrument,
and hands it to me. I
then gently express the mixture of aspirin, eugenol, and dry socket
paste into the patient's dry socket.
I start lightly condensing the mixture with the wooden end of
a cotton tipped applicator. At this
point, many patients begin to feel the discomfort start to go away.
Depending on the situation, it may take 2 to 4
carriers of the mixture to fill in the hole where the dry socket has
been formed. Usually all of this is quite comfortable to the
patient. Then, I use
the cotton part of the applicator to blot off any excess, and place
a moistened, folded gauze pad over the area to prevent the mixture
from coming out. We
give the patient extra gauze and tell them to keep it covered for a
few hours.
During this
short procedure, usually there is no need to anesthetize the patient, and in most cases they will
finally feel relief within 15 minutes.
Rarely does the patient have to come back for additional
treatment."
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Did you know that
women are actually more likely than men to suffer from dry socket? |
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In
fact, women taking oral contraceptives are even more likely to
suffer with dry socket than women not taking oral contraceptives.
This is due to the estrogen contained in the contraceptives.
Estrogen seems to interfere with the normal clotting process.
Dentists suggest that women taking oral contraceptives, have
potentially difficult teeth extractions only during the last 5 days
of their menstrual cycle when estrogen levels are lowest.
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Contact Dr. Reifman's Office for a FREE Dry Socket Exam
and Consult this Month
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Suite 514
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