Dry Socket and Birth Control

[queenofdelosers.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone,

I got all four of my wisdom teeth removed last Wednesday, the 9th of August. The extraction went fine, I was in hella lot of pain onces the anesthesia wore off that afternoon. Yesterday and today (Monday and Tuesday) I noticed that the left side of my mouth was hurting a great deal more than my right. And tonight at work, I was in such excruciating pain that I had to leave early, run home, and take a Vicodin that my oral surgeon had prescribed. After talking it over with my mother, I think I have dry socket. And I only have three more Vicodin pills left. I am going to call my oral surgeon as soon as they open in the morning.

What does dry socket have to do with vaginas? Well, I googled dry socket and found this website. According to them, oral contraceptives increase the risk of dry socket and excessive pain. However, I am not on oral birth control. I'm on the NuvaRing.

Could it be the birth control hormones in general increase the risk of dry socket?

I feel like my oral surgeon should I have said something about this. I mean, if I'd known that being on birth control could have caused me unnecessary pain when having my wisdom teeth removed, I probably would have gone off of it for a month or so (since I don't use it for contraceptive purposes right now).

Also, has anyone in the community had experience with dry socket? Do they prescribe an antibiotic to help deal with it? If so, I will get a yeast infection. And that will just make everything ten times worse.

Any suggestions to help with the pain, insight into the BC and dry socket mystery, or general words of whatever are welcome.

Thank you.

Comments

[saffster.livejournal.com]

If you did not tell the nurse or the oral surgeon you were on the NuvaRing, how would they know? I work in medicine and I can tell you that half of the female patients I see never mention their hormones as a "medication" they are taking. Some just forget or don't consider it a drug. So usually when the nurse asks if they are on any medications, a lot of women will say no. I always ask again when I am in the room to double check, and that is usually when I find out that they are on birth control pills.

If you did tell them, well then definitely complain about you not being told that possible side effect and get them to treat your pain. Good luck!

[queenofdelosers.livejournal.com]

Whether or not I told them, they should have mentioned it in all the pre-operation information. I watched a 15 minutes movie about the whole thing, and no one mentioned that hormones could increase the risk of dry socket or that being on your period may make it easier. While preparing for the whole thing, a month of phone calls and everything, they never asked if I would be menstruating or anything. They never told me about dry socket, except that it might occur.

I feel like they should have said, "Hey, there's an extra risk of getting dry socket if you are on HBC. Just an fyi, since you're our patient and we don't want you to miss work for two weeks or being in unnecessary pain."

[lilmizevolution.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on this. I am having mine out tomorrow (weird timing) and they have never mentioned anything about HBC or being on my period to me at all either. Which isn't a big deal since I'm not on HBC, but that's really beside the point, because I just as easily could be. I'm really hoping I don't get a dry socket. I'm not in the mood for unnecessary pain!