Why am I still in so much pain after wisdom teeth removal?

I got my wisdom teeth taken out on Wednesday and today is Sunday. I was taking Vicaden and Motrin but the Vicaden made me vomit A LOT so I called my dentist and he told me to stop taking Vicaden and take Tylenol instead so i did and that did not help at all. I went to the Urgent Care Center (on a Military Installation) and they prescribed me Percosat and more Motrin. When I took the Percosat at first it was such a relief but as it started to wear off and I took it for the second time I still feel some pain, not a lot, but I am still not comfortable. Could I maybe have dry socket or is the medicine just not strong enough?





Please no silly answers. Take into mind that I am in the Military and we don't have emergency dentist on call so I have to wait until a duty day to get seen. I have been in excruciating pain all weekend.

Why am I still in so much pain after wisdom teeth removal?
Percocet is about as strong a pain medicine as you'll be able to get... But as with all pain meds, you can't just take the meds once, and then take it again once you feel the pain returning.





The reason is that a certain percentage of the drug is broken down in your body each hour, and eventually the drug drops below the effective therapeutic level. Once that happens, the nerve conduction in the pain pathways re-activate and it may be harder for you to achieve total comfort. This may have happened to you.





The best thing would be to keep on taking the pain meds as prescribed by your doctor, as scheduled. Check the prescription - see if there's a range for the timing. Does it say something like "take every X to Y hrs as needed for pain'"? If so, then you might want to take it closer to X hours rather than Y - you want to keep the therapeutic levels in your body at all times.





That said, it may be possible that you have dry socket in one or more extraction sites. You should visit the dentist regardless for follow-up anyway.
Reply:When you remove a tooth, you create a hole in the jawbone the same size as the tooth you removed. Had you drilled a hole that size in your upper leg, you would not be surprised that it hurt like a wooley booger- would you? You are not going to be comfortable in that site for a while- but yes, you may have a dry socket if the pain is a dull ache in the jawbone itself, below where the tooth was originally. It will not feel like it is located in the gum. You have an Urgent Care Clinic, but there should still be a dentist on call for emergencies and if you return to the UCC the doctor on duty- or the tech for that matter- can call them in to see you. They can pack the site with iodoform guaze and send you off again feeling much better. If that is really just not the option for you, then the next thing is to drink water until your molars float. Let the liquid pool in the cheek pocket at the extraction site. That will get some fluid into the area to rehydrate things a little. Not perfect, but it can help. The Percocet and Mortin will help dull it some as well. If you like, you can also call the UCC and ask if they have a dentist on call to see you- the answer should be yes. They don't like to come in for cavities- but they do come in for post op problems. Not like they have much choice, really.
Reply:Getting your wisdom teeth taken out is a major surgery! You can't expect to have someone slice into your mouth and you feel find a few days later. Its take AT LEAST a week.





Everyone is different. Some people handle pain better than others. Me for example: I only took Motrin after when I got my wisdom teeth removed. I took meds for about 3 days and then I was fine. My stitches even fell out and bleeding and soreness stopped. I heal fast...





On the other hand.. my friend... it took her like 2 weeks to fully recover. Her face was swollen and she said she was in terrible pain.





The best thing to do is to put a hot pack on your mouth to sooth the pain... that worked for me.





Remember, just because you take some meds doesn't mean that you aren't going to feel any pain. You are going to feel SOME pain, but it should be small enough for you to be able to relax and get the rest you need.





Give it until next Sunday and if you still don't feel better.. go to the doctor again.
Reply:Sorry to tell you, but it can take a week to 10 days for some people to heal enough to do without pain medication. Everyone has a pain threshold, and if you're in pain, you're in pain. Having more than one extraction in a single visit can make pain worse, simply because the amount of surgical trauma is greater, and the number of sites quickly fatigue you, and cause tension in neck muscles, tongue, and cheek, as you try to breathe and speak.





Unfortunately, head and facial nerves have short, direct paths to the brain, and systemic medications like Tylenol and even codeine laced variants of Tylenol (T3) and synthetic opiates don't do much about dental pain, for many people.





Ice, or frozen peas, applied externally may help. Rinsing your mouth, if you're permitted, perhaps with a salt water solution may help.





But it is possible you're healing has gone awry, and you are experiencing a dry socket. If you can see a well developed brown clot in the extraction, that is usually not the case. But do make sick call first thing tomorrow, regardless of how you feel.





If you're in the first stages of an infection, you don't want that to get far along.
Reply:ok so heres what happened to me...





I got my wisdom teeth taken out on a tuesday and the swelling allmost was all the way down by thursday. Then friday, i got an infection and the swelling came back. I had to go back to the dentist to get it cleaned...then it healed normally and didnt hurt any more.





I think you might have an infection in your gums were the teeth used to be. Its been too long since you got them out for them to just be sore. Has the swelling gone away? if not then its probably an infection.





if you have any other questions dont hesitate to get back to me!





p.s. what branch of the military are you in? im going into the marines at the end of my school year.
Reply:I was in pain for at least a couple of weeks after my wisdoms were out. I could barely open my mouth even alittle bit. In fact, my jaw hurt (dentist said from being opened wide so long for the surgery and from the extraction) so badly that I remember losing wt. because I didn't want to open my mouth to eat. I was on Darvocet but Motrin 600 mg. worked best.
Reply:first of all, vomiting is bad for you because it dislodges the clots that are in charge of healing so the change to tylenol was good...keep taking the percosat and motrin at the smallest intervals...like if it says "2-4 hours" take it every 2 hours...use moist heat compresses too


my daughter got hers extracted last tuesday and on saturday she ate some rice but that was the first day to eat anything "not soft" and then today she felt significantly better and drove back to college(a 3 hour drive)...she has taken advil and demoral and done the ice packs for 48 hours then moist heat compresses and she is well on the way to back to normal...and she has been taking only advil since friday afternoon...but you should see a dentist on next duty day to check for dry socket