Why is My Dry Socket Not Healing? Understanding the Causes and Solutions

A dry socket is among the most painful but easy-to-treat dental emergencies. You experience dry socket symptoms after tooth extraction. This condition requires follow-up care by the dentist who performed the surgery or an oral surgeon who is familiar with treating it. This article offers a definition, causes and treatment methods to help cure dry sockets.

What is a Dry Socket?

This is an inflammation of the tooth socket that your tooth sits in, either in the lower or upper jaw. It’s most commonly found in the lower jaw but can also occur in your upper jaw. A dry socket is usually limited to one side unless multiple tooth extractions have been performed simultaneously. Dry socket complications might be tied to the difficulty of the extraction procedure.

The more difficult the tooth extraction, the more the chance of dry sockets developing. In a healthy healing process following a tooth extraction, blood clots usually occur, and the healing process begins. The healing process is disrupted when a dry socket occurs, and the resulting pain can be quite severe.

A dry socket leaves the bone and nerves in your gums exposed, so it’s essential to seek dental care from a dentist near you.

What are the Symptoms of a Dry Socket?

If you look in the mirror with your mouth open and see the bone where your tooth was before the extraction, you are probably experiencing a dry socket.

Another sign of a dry socket is an unexplained severe pain in your jaw. You will feel it on the same side as the tooth extraction site two to three days after the surgery. However, dry sockets might occur at any time during the healing process.

Understanding the Causes of Dry Sockets

A range of factors, such as trauma from the tooth extraction, an underlying infection in the mouth or problems with your jawbone, might cause dry sockets.

This condition occurs more often with wisdom teeth in your lower jaw than with other teeth. You are also more likely to develop dry sockets if you:

• Don’t have good dental hygiene
• Smoke
• Had a problematic tooth extraction
• Previously had dry socket
• Use birth control pills
• Have had a tooth extracted from your lower jawbone, especially a molar or wisdom tooth

Why is my Dry Socket not Healing?

You should expect to take 7 to 10 days to heal from the dry socket as new tissue covers the exposed bone and help heal the wound. However, the dry socket may take longer to heal if you have a thin bone or periodontal disease.

How is a Dry Socket Treated?

Many dentists who perform oral surgery can treat dry socket symptoms. However, the dentist might refer you to an oral surgeon in extreme cases. When you return to your dentist’s office extraction site is directly cleaned, and a dress is placed in the tooth socket with a special paste that helps heal the socket and eliminate pain.

Usually, the symptoms disappear within 24 hours of treatment, but some individuals require daily appointments to apply a new dressing until the symptoms disappear. It is usually prescribed if the person can take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication to help with the discomfort.

How to Prevent Dry socket

Your dentist advises you to take the following steps before tooth extraction in Houston, TX, to help reduce your risk of dry socket:

Ensure that your oral surgeon or dentist is experienced with this procedure. You should check out their credentials and read online reviews to ensure that you are in good hands.

After selecting your dental professional, ensure you talk to them about any prescription or over-the-counter medications you are currently using. Some medicines can prevent your blood from clotting, which causes dry sockets.

You should avoid smoking before and after your tooth extraction. Smoking increases your risk of dry sockets. Ensure you talk to your dentist about using nicotine management options, for example, the patch, during the healing process. The dentist may even be able to guide quitting smoking.

After you are done with the procedure, your dentist at Asure Dental provides information about recovery and general guidelines for the care period. It’s essential that you follow these directions. If you have any questions, call our dentist’s office to clear up any concerns that you may have.