The most unusual dry socket symptom is that the dental pain beings three days after the tooth extraction, not immediately after the oral surgery. This is unusual since pain usually begins when an injury occurs and the pain starts right away. With a dry socket, the tooth socket is literally drying out because its blood supply has been cut off. It takes a few days for the tissues to die from lack of blood.

          The most unpleasant dry socket symptom is tremendous pain. The pain is terrible and it just doesn't stop. It's usually a constant dull throbbing pain and over the counter pain medications such as Aspirin, Motrin, and Aleve have little to no effect. Only a strong narcotic analgesic, such as Tylenol Number 3 or Percocet, helps and this type of pain medication usually shuts the patient down for a day.

          Another annoying dry socket symptom is a foul smelling breath with a bad taste in the mouth. In a patient with a dry socket, blood does not fill up the extraction socket or the blood clot is lost. The gums can't grow over the extraction socket because there's nothing to grow over and the socket hole stays open. The dry socket can sometimes cause ear pain. If a patient already has an underlying TMJ problem, then TMJ symptom problems can develop.

          The dentists at the Atlanta Dental Group PC try hard to make the removal of teeth as gently as possible. In fact, a dental dry socket does not occur often in our practice. It is our belief that the more trauma to an extraction site, the more chance a problem will develop. All of our incisions are kept to a minimum and the gum tissue is disturbed as little as possible to help keep the blood supply intact. If you have dry socket symptom and would like to consult with Atlanta Family Dentist, Dr. Mark Allan Padolsky, please make an appointment by calling 404-874-7428.