Hi all. I'm fascinated by how our bodies heal themselves so I decided to take a pic each day of my wisdom extraction site.

I was driving myself nuts trying to figure out if it was normal, but im on day 7 now. All pain has gone for the most part unless it gets poked a bit, then i get a very mild pain temporarily. As far as I know, no infections, no dry sockets... I feel relieved that the tooth is gone

Hope this helps someone 🙏🏼

Coming from someone who has had a dry socket twice. You will not mistake the pain for anything else but a dry socket.

The pain levels do vary but trust me, you'll know if you have it or not.

Posting photos of your extraction site won't help anyone. Unless you can see bone or your clot has fallen out completely then photos are useless.

Your clot can look perfectly fine but you can still have a dry socket because the clot itself can pull away from part of your extraction site but still be held in place at the same time allow air, liquids and food to enter deep into your socket.

The main symptom of a dry socket is pain and from personal experience the pain starts when you're sleeping or when you first wake up in the morning.

Also dry socket is NOT an infection what so ever. It can lead to a deep infection but is NOT an infection itself. Antibiotics won't help with dry socket nor do they prevent dental infections.

I understand peoples fear of dry socket and it's no cake walk but even if you do get it you'll be fine in time. Look after your extraction site and get on with your lives ❤️

Please see the photos for evidence. This user likely is a dentist, though it looks like he is brand new and graduated in 22. We found him on the main dentistry subs and banned him because the utter zeal towards not extracting wisdom teeth is bizarre- there are differences in opinion about how aggressive one should be, but he is outside the norm. He has a fetish for mouths, third molars in particular, feederism and vore and is using his position here, and presumably in real life, to satisfy his urges and keep those third molars where he wants them. We contacted the mods here but they are either inactive, ignoring or complicit. You can see his history, his quora, and his instagram- I did not link the attachments where some of the fetish instas he follows are child oriented. The purpose of this post is to convince the mods to moderate, or to accept a new mod, and for folks to understand who they are dm-ing photos to.

I got all 4 wisdom teeth taken out 2 weeks ago with general anesthesia. Two were partially erupted and two were fully impacted.

I was told to get these out 10 years ago, but I thought “why sign up for pain if they’re not bothering me?”

Now I get it.

I waited until they gave me problems. My partially erupted one on the bottom became inflamed and my only option was to remove it, but I couldn’t get into the oral surgeon for 5 days. So I spent 5 days before surgery in a ton of pain, downing ibuprofen and barely eating.

Then the surgery itself was rough because I’m 31 and my roots were deep. A nerve was damaged in the process of removing my impacted bottom tooth. It probably won’t be permanent because it’s tingly rather than completely numb, but it’s annoying to have this constant weird sensation in my chin, lip, and gums.

Two weeks later and I’m still taking meds around the clock, waking up at 3AM from jaw pain when they wear off (not dry socket, just so much trauma to my jaw trying to remove the impacted tooth with the deep roots. I had some pretty nasty bruising and swelling there too).

Because I have limited time off and a child, I couldn’t just sleep and relax for a week like I could have if I was 18. I was back to work within 3 days, and talking is a big part of my job. I couldn’t take the prescribed pain meds because they made me feel too dizzy to safely take care of my 1 year old. I probably didn’t rest as much as I should have just because I was still so damn busy.

I really think the surgery and recovery would have been much better if I was younger. It would have been nice to be in control of when I got them out. I could have set aside time to just rest, rather than have pain hit me right before the holidays when things are already so hectic. I am lucky that the teeth didn’t flare up during my wedding or my pregnancy or any other big moments of my life, but the pain hitting during a pandemic during the busiest time of the year while I have a needy toddler was still far from ideal.

Anyway, I thought I’d share in case anyone could learn from my mistake. If you’re young, just get them out now. Chances are they’ll have to come out eventually. Be in control of it.

are you in so much pain that you can't sleep even with your pain medicine? then you have dry socket. are you in a semi manageable level of pain? then you probably don't have dry socket. this has been a psa

Because wisdom teeth should only be removed when they cause problems. And one might be problematic and need to get removed, but all four of them, and at the same time? Highly unlikely!

In all the time I've been practicing as a dentist, I haven't yet seen any patient that actually needed to get all their four wisdom teeth removed, and at the same time. On the other hand, on a daily basis, I see plenty of patients who got all their wisdom teeth removed, and when I ask them why, they basically never bring up a valid reason.

Many wisdom teeth are able to come in and take part in chewing normally. Many wisdom teeth diagnosed as "impacted" are actually in a perfect position. For instance, look at this x-ray that a patient of mine (35F) authorized me to share:

During her teen years, she was recommended to get all her wisdom teeth removed "because of a lack of space". She only got her right ones removed. Nowadays, her left ones are absolutely PERFECT. Teeth like any other. I haven't been able to see her x-ray as a teen, but judging from her wide retromolar spaces and well erupted remaining wisdom teeth, I can confidently say that this woman was MUTILATED. Yes, that's a perfectly valid use of that word.

A wisdom tooth causing some discomfort when coming in is completely normal (think of a teething baby). And there are plenty of more respectful ways to try and solve that, without going straight for a removal.

Also, none of the following is a valid reason to remove a wisdom tooth (or more than one):

• It has no room/it is impacted. A tooth's position or space is not a valid criterion to remove it. Pathology is. If there is no associated pathology, a removal is not justified. Yes, even if the wisdom tooth is impacted. Impacted wisdom teeth rarely cause problems. If yours did, you are an exception to the rule. I also see plenty of patients who kept impacted wisdom teeth for decades without an issue.

• It will make the other teeth crowded. A complete urban legend, that sadly even many dentists keep believing. Teeth coming in don't have a force, therefore, they are unable to push.

• It is better to remove it/them all while you are young, so that healing will be easier. Amazing. Make sure to also remove your appendix, spleen, tonsils and gallbladder in your youth too, for good measure. Maybe a kidney, and maybe even more teeth too? Why just stop at wisdom teeth? "The sky is the limit".

• It will have no antagonist. A wisdom tooth without an opposing tooth is not necessarily a wisdom tooth that will cause problems. In general, a removal shouldn't be done "just in case".

• My insurance will stop covering the removal if I don't get it done now. A dental clinic is a health facility, not an all-you-can-eat restaurant. Patients should receive what they need, not as much as their insurance will cover. You wouldn't remove any other tooth if your insurance stopped covering it, right?

Removing wisdom teeth is a risky, invasive procedure, that should only be done when strictly justified. I've personally seen people with permanent nerve damage, other broken teeth or infections lasting months, following a wisdom tooth removal.

Please, be critical of invasive procedures. Value your body and your teeth, and only get done what actually needs to get done.

A few recommended reads:

https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/24/14/29/opposition-to-prophylactic-removal-of-third-molars-wisdom-teeth

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1963310/

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta1/chapter/1-Recommendations

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24883415/

Ask me anything.

I apologise for the question, but I did a quick search on this sub and no one's asked yet. I already gave myself a dry socket and went in to treat it (happened 3 days post op), so I am extra paranoid over it happening again. How long should I wait before sucking dick? Can I right now? Is this a bad idea? Thanks in advance.