How dentists treat dry sockets (alveolar osteitis). –

Tooth socket after extraction.

The fact of the matter.

What a dentist does do.

Instead, the treatment they provide is limited to what’s referred to as “palliative” care, which simply means that their efforts are directed toward the management and control of their patient’s symptoms.

What they do is take steps that: 1) Help to keep their patient comfortable and 2) Ensure that the socket’s healing environment is as favorable as possible. This page explains how both are accomplished.

Other ways to learn about dry sockets –   Watch this page’s video.   Take this page’s quiz.

Never be hesitant to ask for your dentist’s help.

As the provider of your care (your tooth’s extraction), it’s your dentist’s obligation to provide you with the follow-up assistance you require.

All dentists fully expect that a percentage of patients Incidence statistics. will develop dry sockets and require extra attention. So rather than delay and continue to suffer, you should contact them and take full advantage of the help they have to offer.

Take our Dry Sockets Treatment quiz – See what you know.

Quiz link – Click link to copy.
https://www.animated-teeth.com/?p=244#quiz

Can you treat a dry socket on your own?

Assuming that you have correctly diagnosed your condition, there are steps that you can take that can help to provide pain relief. But a self-treatment approach won’t be as comprehensive as the level of care your dentist can provide.

(For more information about the how-to’s and why-or-why-not’s of a DIY approach, use this link Self-treatment directions.)

COVID-19 / Treatment access considerations.

Due to the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, many patients will find that their dentist’s office is not keeping regular office hours.

Some level of support should still be available.

In the case that you find yourself in need of assistance with dry socket complications, don’t overlook the fact that most offices should still be offering emergency assistance for their patients and fully expect you to take advantage of that if needed.

Home remedy solutions.

In lieu of that availability, the link above does access our page that discusses basic home remedies that are used with dry sockets. But keep in mind, even in emergencies this information is still best used in conjunction with your dentist’s direct advice (phone contact) since they are the ones most knowledgeable about your case specifics and therefore how the information we provide applies to your situation.

How do dentists treat dry sockets?

a) The initial evaluation.

As a start, your dentist will first need to establish that it’s likely that you do indeed have a dry socket.

A dry socket.

Visual inspection is a part of diagnosing a patient’s dry socket.

• They’ll quiz you about the nature of your symptoms: What are they like? Where do they seem to come from? How often do you experience them? How long do they last?
• Your dentist will also inspect your wound. (They’ll look for the situation where it appears that the socket’s blood clot has been lost and there is exposed bone tissue.)
• They’ll also want to know about the timing of the events you’ve experienced.

  (In most cases, a person’s post-extraction healing will progress normally for some days before the symptoms of a dry socket See the list. begin to set in.)

b) Placement of a medicated dressing (packing).

Once your dentist determines that it’s likely that you do have a dry socket, they’ll typically proceed with the following steps.

A medicated dressing is placed in the opening of the tooth’s socket.

• First, they’ll gently flush your extraction site with sterile water, saline solution or chlorhexidine (a prescription antibacterial mouth rinse). And then gently suction the socket dry.

  (The purpose of this step is to wash away any loose debris that might inhibit the healing process or possibly promote the formation of a secondary bacterial infection.)

• They’ll then smear medicated paste onto a piece of gauze, or other type of carrier such as a cotton pellet, and place it directly into your tooth’s socket.

  (The insertion step is performed quickly. No anesthetic is used.)

• The packing is usually renewed (removed, the socket gently rinsed, and the packing then replaced) every 24 to 48 hours, typically for 3 to 6 days.

  (The exact interval that’s used for changing the dressing simply depends on the patient’s comfort needs, with those experiencing higher levels of pain requiring more frequent replacement to remain comfortable. The replacement/reevaluation period should be at least every two days, with every 24 hours frequently used.)

• Once your symptoms have subsided, you’ll still need to return to your dentist’s office one last time so they can remove the gauze carrier that was last placed in your socket. And this is an important step to take.

  (The exception to this would be if the type of carrier used is one that will dissolve away on its own. It’s fairly common for a dentist to use this type of material (Surgicel, Gelfoam, Surgifoam) instead of gauze but you’ll need to check this point with your dentist to know for sure.)

▲ Section references – Bowe

How quickly does this treatment work?

The patient may experience dramatic pain relief, possibly even immediately, once the dry socket dressing has been placed.

Overtime (usually about a day or two) the effects of the medication taper off. If the patient’s symptoms still persist, the dressing can then be replaced with a new one.

What ingredients do dry-socket pastes contain?

Most dry socket pastes are composed of a mixture of compounds.

Some ingredients frequently included are: Eugenol (extract of clove oil, an analgesic), Guaiacol or Balsam of Peru (compounds related to Eugenol), Benzocaine (an anesthetic), Iodophorm (an antimicrobial agent), Chlorobutanol (an anesthetic).

The problem with dressings.

While we’ve already mentioned that the use of a medication within the socket does not speed up the healing process, you might be surprised to learn that placing a dressing actually retards it somewhat.

• As an object, the dressing/packing is considered a “foreign body” by your body and as such interferes with the healing process.
• While beneficial in providing pain relief, eugenol is a known irritant to soft tissues and bone.

▲ Section references – Kolokythas, Bowe

These issues make this treatment a trade-off. One of creating pain relief in exchange for extending the length of the healing period minimally. For someone in need of this relief, this is an easy decision to make.

This phenomenon also explains why dentists don’t place dry socket dressings as a preventive measure at the time of surgery.

c) Your dentist may write you a prescription for pain relievers.

While not a cure, pain relievers may aid in controlling dry socket discomfort.

They are typically only used as an adjunct (supplementary approach) after the placement of a medicated paste has been completed (as described above) and it’s been determined that some residual level of pain remains.

d) Taking antibiotics is not usually indicated.

Dry socket formation involves a scenario where an extraction site’s healing process has been interrupted due to the loss of its blood clot. An active bacterial infection is typically not involved. For this reason, the use of antibiotics is not usually indicated.

Legitimate considerations.

There can be reasons why a dentist might feel that their use is required. This could include cases where the patient is immune-compromised, or where the dentist finds strong evidence that systemic or secondary bacterial infection is involved.

Common practices.

Despite best-practice recommendations, it’s estimated that somewhere between 20 and 50% of dentists (a number that varies by country) continue to routinely prescribe antibiotics for their dry socket patients (Vessal).

While seemingly prescribed with the patient’s best interests at heart, the indiscriminate, purposeless usage of antibiotics instead only serves to increase the person’s risk of complications (like experiencing an allergic reaction), while offering just minimal potential for benefit.

▲ Section references – Vessal, Kolokythas

How do you know when you’re “cured”?

As the healing process of your extraction site progresses Healing time line. and new soft tissue gradually fills in your tooth’s socket and covers over its sensitive bony walls, the amount of discomfort that you notice will gradually fade away.

Since a dentist’s treatment steps are just palliative in nature, they can be discontinued at any point where the level of your symptoms has subsided enough that they’re no longer an issue.

At this point, you can expect your extraction site to continue on and finally complete its normal healing process Healing stages..

Other than a final check that there are no dressing materials still left in your socket, there’s no special follow-up care that’s needed after your symptoms have disappeared.

Remember, treatment for dry sockets is just palliative and not a true cure.

As explained previously on our pages, a dry socket involves the situation where an extraction site’s healing process has been delayed due to the loss of its blood clot.

Over time, the wound can still be expected to go ahead and heal on its own. It’s just that it will take longer, and be more painful, than it would have been otherwise. (Related content: How long do dry sockets last?)

Placing a packing like described on this page doesn’t speed things up. Instead, it simply helps to reduce the amount of discomfort that you experience while your (now prolonged) healing process takes place.

If you think you have a dry socket, don’t hesitate to ask for your dentist’s help.

All dentists know that there’s always a chance that after an extraction a patient will develop a dry socket. And although there are risk factors See the list. that tend to influence their rate of occurrence, actually experiencing one can usually just be chalked up to bad luck.

For this reason, once you’ve asked, you’ll probably find that your dentist is quite sympathetic to your situation and will be very accommodating in providing assistance. They fully expect that some percentage of their patients will require additional attention and understand that it’s their obligation to provide this follow-up care when it’s needed.

Study: Time from first symptoms to seeking treatment.

We couldn’t help but notice the following statistics mentioned in a study by Bowe [linked above]. This paper stated that for their group of study subjects:

• The duration that elapsed between the date of extraction and the initial onset of dry socket symptoms ranged from one to three days.
• The time that elapsed between symptom onset until presenting to their dentist for treatment was four to six days.
• By the time the patients reported for treatment, all classified their pain as severe.

These numbers make one think that patients may generally be hesitant to seek post-op assistance. However, they also suggest that those who seek attention promptly will likely save themselves a day or night of severe discomfort. So don’t be hesitant to contact your dentist if you find the nature of your socket’s healing process has changed.

Our next page discusses home remedy treatment for dry sockets. ►

Video transcription.

Hello, and welcome to Animated Teeth.com and our page that discusses the treatment of dry sockets, or, as your dentist would say, alveolar osteitis.

Actually, we have two pages on our website that discuss this subject. This one that explains how dentists treat this complication. The other discusses possibilities with self-treatment.

Without question, your better hope of finding substantial relief comes from your dentist. And as your treatment provider, they have an obligation to assist you with whatever post-operative complications you encounter. Usually, you’ll find they have a genuine eagerness in following through with their work and take pride in seeing that you’re taken care of. So, be in touch with them.

As a first step, your dentist will need to establish that it’s likely that you do indeed have a dry socket.

We have a separate page and video that discusses the usual signs and symptoms of this complication. So, here we’ll just mention that arriving at a correct diagnosis is usually pretty easy for them based on a combination of the symptoms you’ve noticed and their timing.
So, if you’ve called and spoken to them, or even just your presence at their office a few days after having had your extraction, well, they’ll have a strong, probably correct, suspicion about what your problem is.

As a bit of negative news, we’ll point out that your dentist doesn’t really have a cure to offer. A dry socket involves a situation where normal extraction site healing has been interrupted and therefore delayed. And no one can do anything about that. Your body simply needs time to regroup and get the healing process back on track.

Until that happens, you’re left experiencing the pain associated with exposed, irritated, and inflamed extraction site tissues. Fortunately, however, these symptoms are something your dentist can do something about.

Dry socket treatments are palliative in nature, meaning their focus is helping you manage the pain you’re experiencing until that point in time when your body’s healing process has resolved your condition.

This treatment usually takes a dual approach. First, it always involves placing medication inside your socket that characteristically, and amazingly, is able to provide substantial relief. As a second front, they may utilize oral pain relievers, either over-the-counter or prescription, depending on your needs.

Of the two, it’s the medication, typically a paste, that your dentist places inside your dry socket that’s the most effective in making you feel better.

Exactly what’s in the concoction, typically just called “dry socket paste,” can vary depending on its source, either self-formulated by the dentist or a purchased product. But all of these kinds of pastes are usually similar in the fact that they include the ingredient eugenol.

Eugenol is also called “oil of cloves,” like the spice. And FYI, its smell is one of the main odors usually associated with dentist offices.

What the dentist does is this. They’ll first gently rinse the debris out of your socket. And, by the way, getting a good look into it like this helps them to confirm their diagnosis of alveolar osteitis.

They’ll then put some of their dry socket paste on a carrier, like a small piece of gauze or cotton, and then they’ll tuck that down into your socket using a pair of dental tweezers. And yes, doing that step might hurt for a split second.

Once finished, they’ll send you on your way. The onset of relief can be quite rapid, possibly amazingly so. The idea is you’ll stop by and they’ll remove and replace the medicated cotton every day or two until your symptoms subside.

As we said previously, this treatment doesn’t cure or speed up the dry socket’s healing. It just provides pain relief. So, it’s repeated as needed to keep you comfortable but not beyond.

As a second front, your dentist may discuss the use of over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers with you. But typically, these are only used for additional pain relief, and, once again, only as needed.

Often, the placement of the paste alone is all that’s required to manage your discomfort. In contrast, the use of pain pills by themselves is frequently ineffective.

As one last point, keep in mind that a dry socket is typically a situation involving interrupted and delayed healing, without the presence of infection. So, for that reason, the use of antibiotics is not usually indicated.

Hopefully this video has convinced you that seeking your dentist’s assistance is the key to finding dry socket relief. So, go ahead and let them know that you need their help. They’d be disappointed if you didn’t. Good luck and goodbye.

Comments.

This section contains comments submitted in previous years. Many have been edited so to limit their scope to subjects discussed on this page.