What is a dry socket? Everything you need to know from a top oral surgeon!

Hi, this is Dr. Jimenez with Peachtree Oral and Facial Surgery. Today I'm talking to you about dry sockets.

A lot of patients have a question, a lot of patient's parents have questions about dry sockets when they come in for wisdom teeth extractions for extractions of any type. Dry sockets are something that can occur after an extraction of any tooth usually about three to five days out after the extraction. It does happen more often when you have wisdom teeth extracted and it's usually something we see with lower teeth rather than wisdom teeth in the upper jaw.

Usually the symptoms that you would have are pain in one specific site that doesn't really go away with analgesics such as Motrin or even with hydrocodone or pain medication. It just kind of stays there at a low level over time - it doesn't wax and wane, it's just kind of a constant pain. And sometimes it can be worse than other.

Usually treatment for a dry socket requires you coming to the office and one of the surgeons irrigating out the socket and placing a dressing within the socket that makes it feel much better and it usually makes it feel much better very quickly. So if you think you have a dry socket and it's something that you're concerned about and you're a patient of ours, please don't panic - we're here to help you out. They're not very common. It only happens about five to ten percent of the patients that have wisdom tooth or other extractions.

If you think you have any of the symptoms that I spoke about earlier, all you need to do is give us a call and talk to one of the surgeons or the staff and we'd be happy to see you and take care of any concerns that you may have.