Hi guys! I literally have no one who can give me substantial advice about this so I’m taking it to the internet. So the (long) backstory is I'm 17, I had four impacted wisdom teeth and I got them taken out on April 5th (four weeks and one day ago). My surgeon put dissolvable stitches where my bottom two teeth were. Fast forward to Monday, April 16th, I had my check-up. I went in and my surgeon looked at my gums and said they were healing great and he didn’t need to irrigate them or anything.
By then I thought I was home free. WRONG! SO fast forward AGAIN to Friday, April 20th, my left bottom side of my mouth was hurting pretty bad and I could barely go to sleep. It hurt all of Saturday and it started swelling up and hurting really bad Saturday (April 21) afternoon. (This is where it gets pretty gross so stop reading if you get queasy easily) So when I looked inside of my mouth I could tell it was really swollen, I could barely close my mouth because the inside of my cheek and my gums were so swollen. I couldn’t press my teeth together without biting the swollen tissue. So by then I had done my own research and concluded that it was probably infected. There was a little cut on the inside of my cheek because it was so swollen I think I bit it a little and I poked at the area and some puss and blood came out… so definitely infected. But what worried me about this was that it was a couple centimeters away from where the stitches were, I read a lot of other people’s experiences having an infection after wisdom teeth removal but nobody says where in their mouth the infection actually is. I would think it is supposed to be right where the tooth was removed but that wasn’t the case for me?
My mom called the doctor on call and I took all of the ones they gave me. On April 23 I went in to see my oral surgeon so he could take a look at my mouth. He irrigated where the stitches used to be (they had dissolved by then and the gums were almost all the way healed over). He also said that the antibiotics should do the trick and if they don’t and it gets infected again he’ll probably have to reopen the area and clean out the hole (idk what to call it sorry). I can’t remember exactly what day I finished the antibiotics, I think it was April 28th or 29th. The day after I took the first antibiotic pill the swollenness went down and it didn’t hurt anymore, and it hasn’t hurt since.
However, the problem I’m having is that I’m worried the infection is still there. I think this because I sometimes still taste puss in my mouth (I know, gross) and I was looking back at the area today (Almost a whole month after the surgery) and I didn’t notice it before because the inside of my cheek covers it but there’s a little hole at the bottom of my back molar on the outer side, and when I pressed near it more puss came out. It also comes out some along the edges of my gums on the outer side of the molar, the same way it did when I originally had the infection. It literally makes me so grossed out thinking about it. I don’t want to go back to my surgeon if it’s actually nothing because I’m so busy with exams and schoolwork right now. However, I read a lot of people’s experiences with infections in their mouth and about abscess and things of that nature and I’m afraid the infection is under my molar and it’ll stay there in my mouth for months on end until it rots my teeth out (I know that sounds dramatic but that’s actually what I’m really worried about). Anyone who is still reading thank you, I’m sorry for so many words but I hope someone can give me some advice on this or can let me know if they have experienced the same thing, thank you!
By then I thought I was home free. WRONG! SO fast forward AGAIN to Friday, April 20th, my left bottom side of my mouth was hurting pretty bad and I could barely go to sleep. It hurt all of Saturday and it started swelling up and hurting really bad Saturday (April 21) afternoon. (This is where it gets pretty gross so stop reading if you get queasy easily) So when I looked inside of my mouth I could tell it was really swollen, I could barely close my mouth because the inside of my cheek and my gums were so swollen. I couldn’t press my teeth together without biting the swollen tissue. So by then I had done my own research and concluded that it was probably infected. There was a little cut on the inside of my cheek because it was so swollen I think I bit it a little and I poked at the area and some puss and blood came out… so definitely infected. But what worried me about this was that it was a couple centimeters away from where the stitches were, I read a lot of other people’s experiences having an infection after wisdom teeth removal but nobody says where in their mouth the infection actually is. I would think it is supposed to be right where the tooth was removed but that wasn’t the case for me?
My mom called the doctor on call and I took all of the ones they gave me. On April 23 I went in to see my oral surgeon so he could take a look at my mouth. He irrigated where the stitches used to be (they had dissolved by then and the gums were almost all the way healed over). He also said that the antibiotics should do the trick and if they don’t and it gets infected again he’ll probably have to reopen the area and clean out the hole (idk what to call it sorry). I can’t remember exactly what day I finished the antibiotics, I think it was April 28th or 29th. The day after I took the first antibiotic pill the swollenness went down and it didn’t hurt anymore, and it hasn’t hurt since.
However, the problem I’m having is that I’m worried the infection is still there. I think this because I sometimes still taste puss in my mouth (I know, gross) and I was looking back at the area today (Almost a whole month after the surgery) and I didn’t notice it before because the inside of my cheek covers it but there’s a little hole at the bottom of my back molar on the outer side, and when I pressed near it more puss came out. It also comes out some along the edges of my gums on the outer side of the molar, the same way it did when I originally had the infection. It literally makes me so grossed out thinking about it. I don’t want to go back to my surgeon if it’s actually nothing because I’m so busy with exams and schoolwork right now. However, I read a lot of people’s experiences with infections in their mouth and about abscess and things of that nature and I’m afraid the infection is under my molar and it’ll stay there in my mouth for months on end until it rots my teeth out (I know that sounds dramatic but that’s actually what I’m really worried about). Anyone who is still reading thank you, I’m sorry for so many words but I hope someone can give me some advice on this or can let me know if they have experienced the same thing, thank you!
