Alas, I have no more wisdom!

Apparently, my mouth didn't heal correctly after my wisdom teeth were removed. 'Dry Sockets' formed in the bottom two. When healing correctly, a blood clot forms where the tooth used to be, like at the roots and under the gumline, and is supposed to stay there until the bone and other tissue of the mandible heals upwards and becomes even with the rest of the mouth. This is a mechanism that protects the nerves that were at the roots of your previous teeth as well as keeping all food and foreign material out so that it doesn't rot and lead to infection.

Basically, pretty important, right? Well, dry sockets occur when the blood clot disolves within a few days after surgery. Food gets trapped in there and it overstimulates the nerves, etc. Makes you feel really sick. I thought all that pain that I was experiencing was normal. I was just like, "Damn, getting your wisdom teeth out really sucks!" I found out yesterday that it wasn't.

To treat it, they dip small strips of gauze into a refined clove oil and basically shove it into the whole that is left from the absent tooth. It kinda really hurts. And makes you feel really sick. You get two of these dressings, both a few days apart to give the area time to absorb the medicine, etc, and then you're supposed to get a 'final' dressing that is a disposable sponge or something like that. That one stays there until the area fully heals.

An hour after my appointment, the dressing on the lower right kept trying to fall out and I kept pushing it back in. When I was eating two hours after that, it was coming out even more. I was pushing it back in between each mouthful of food, but then I realized that I was probalbly just putting little pieces of food down into the wound, which would then rot and stuff. So, I took it out. Now I only have medicine on one side...unless that came out too. I don't see it anywhere. Dunno.

I gotta go back on Tuesday and they'll tell me what's up. Worst part about this: They say that you have to irrigate the area after all meals and before bed anywhere from several weeks to several months until the wound heals. Fuck.