If you've recently had your wisdom teeth removed, you may develop one or more dry sockets, an extremely painful experience. A dry socket occurs when the blood clot from the site is lost too soon, and the bone (as well as some sensitve nerve endings) become exposed. Here's how to cope.


Steps

1. Go back to your oral surgeon. He can place a medicated dissolvable sponge into the socket, which is supposed to last for a few days. This worked great for me for a few hours, but it started hurting again that night. Maybe you'll get lucky. But even more importantly, if he hasn't give you one already, make sure you get a small syringe that you can use to clean food out of the holes in your gums.
2. Go to your drugstore and buy some 8 hour Tylenol, some liquid extra strength orajel (and possibly the overnight orajel cream if you're not on a budget) and some oil of cloves.
3. You should make sure you always have some Tylenol in your system for the first few days, because once it wears off you feel like the pain will never go away again.
4. Use the syringe to clean any food out of the sockets. Now, fill the syringe with either some pure liquid orajel, a water and orajel solution, or a water and oil of cloves solution (water the cloves down a lot, it burns). Squirt the solution directly into the sockets. You're only supposed to use orajel four times a day, so if you alternate between using orajel and using cloves, it will help you make it through the day!

Tips

• Don't smoke until your gums have had a chance to heal.
• Be prepared. Don't plan to go out for several hours without bringing along your tylenol, syringe, etc. You might feel alright now, but if the pain comes back, you'll be sorry.

Warnings

• 30% of women taking oral contraceptives experience dry sockets after their surgery. The best time to have your wisdom teeth removed is during the last week of your menstrual cycle (days 23 through 28).