A question about post extraction healing.

wayne0308

Hi,

I've recently had a badly damaged tooth extracted, it was my No. 6 upper molar. The tooth was extracted 10 days ago. The extraction was a bit tough as the tooth was not loose and took a fair bit of prying to get out. The dentist said that the extraction went very well otherwise, there wasn't excessive bleeding or anything.

After the extraction I didn't feel much pain, but it was uncomfortable while talking or trying to eat for about 3 or 4 days. At the moment it doesn't really feel uncomfortable at all, I can eat easily enough. However, visually the socket doesn't look as if it has changed much if at all. It looks just as deep as it was just after the tooth was extracted.

I was hoping someone could give me an idea of how long it generally takes for the socket hole to fill in following extraction?


Thanks for all replies.

berger28

everybody is different, for example if you smoke you'll heal slower. If you are concerned go back to your dentist for a quick check-up, it should take 2mins, and i'd say its unlikely you would be charged.

wayne0308

berger28 wrote: »

everybody is different, for example if you smoke you'll heal slower. If you are concerned go back to your dentist for a quick check-up, it should take 2mins, and i'd say its unlikely you would be charged.

I don't smoke anyway so I suppose that's encouraging. I've got an appointment for Friday week for a cleaning and I'll ask then.

I was really just looking for a broad timescale, would I be looking at 1-2 months or more like six months for it to close up fully. But maybe it varies by this much from person to person in which case I'll wait till I talk to him as he'll be able to see the wound.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Extraction sockets heal mostly from the bottom up. So normal healing can look like nothing is happening. If you are worried in any ay go back to your dentist and he/she will help you out.

Reloc8

I had a couple of molars out a few years ago - associated with a rugby injury...ouch...as I recall it took about 3 weeks before I could see distinctly noticeable closing over of the wound and then healing continued very very quickly after that...after about a week I had no pain whatsoever. I'd say you are on track that is presuming my experience is the way the world works and in particular that you're not getting pain/discomfort as of now.

wayne0308

Reloc8 wrote: »

I had a couple of molars out a few years ago - associated with a rugby injury...ouch...as I recall it took about 3 weeks before I could see distinctly noticeable closing over of the wound and then healing continued very very quickly after that...after about a week I had no pain whatsoever. I'd say you are on track that is presuming my experience is the way the world works and in particular that you're not getting pain/discomfort as of now.

Thanks for your reply, this was the first tooth I ever had extracted and I wasn't really sure what to expect with the healing process. I had a look into the wound last night and only parts were very red, the rest looked kind of pale compared to the surrounding tissue. Hopefully that would be the new gum forming.

I'll be heading to the dentist Friday next and hopefully he'll have good things to say anyway. But ya at the moment theres no pain at all, I can brush as I normally would around the area (I still go very gentle just in case).

I was just really hoping that I didn't have to keep flushing food out of the hole for months