Dry Socket is one of the most painful dental emergencies, but it can be treated easily. Its symptoms are typically experienced a few days after tooth extraction and require follow-up care by your dentist who performed the surgery or a speciality dentist who is familiar with its treatment.
What Is Dry Socket?
Dry socket is clinically termed as alveolar osteitis. It is an inflammation of the tooth socket that has lost the tooth. This condition may appear following a tooth extraction of either the upper or the lower jaw. However, it is mostly seen in the lower jaw or mandible, but can sometimes be seen in the upper jaw or maxilla as well. A dry socket is generally limited to a single site unless there were multiple extractions at the same time. The chances that this condition may appear are directly related to the complexity of the procedure. In other words, more the difficulty of the extraction, higher are the chances for the dry socket to develop.
In a normal healing process after an extraction, the healing process begins after blood clots occur. In case of a dry socket, this process is disrupted, and the healing is delayed, resulting in severe pain. Further, the pain is often accompanied by a foul taste in the mouth and bad breath.
How Is Dry Socket Diagnosed?
Dry socket’s diagnosis is based on the individual’s dental treatment history, symptoms, and clinical examination. One of the indicators of a dry socket may be the time at which the symptoms start to occur. The discomfort of a tooth extraction should decrease with time as part of the natural healing process. However, if the pain increases, it could suggest a delay in healing and could be due to a dry socket. The symptoms of dry socket typically start to develop after two to four days of extraction or within a week of extraction, in most cases.
How Does The Dentist Treat Dry Socket?
Most doctors who perform oral surgery will also be able to treat dry socket symptoms. The dentist will initially clear the socket off the food debris very gently. After this, an analgesic medicated dressing or packing is placed in the socket to cover the exposed bone in order to provide immediate relief. The re-dressing is done only if the patient’s pain does not reduce within 24 hours of treatment. During the healing process, this dressing or packing may need to be replaced every few days. The dressing is usually coated with what is known as dry socket paste specially designed to treat this condition and provide substantial relief. This paste is made up of ingredients with pain-relieving properties along with clove oil or eugenol.
Medications are prescribed in addition to the dressing to help manage pain. The medication usually involves taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pills that will help reduce the discomfort.
Top Notch Dental Clinic provides easy treatment for your dry socket condition. Our highly professional and experienced team of doctors are here to help you with all your dental related problems and conditions.