Wisdom tooth question... why did i swell up so much?

Okay I did everything they said, I put ice to my cheeks on and off for 30 minutes each on the first day. (This was after the extraction of 4 impacted wisdom teeth).





The second day i was still icing, but i woke up and was like WTF my face!!! it's a giant bulbous tomato!!!! the third day rolled around and this was the day i was supposed to apply heat. i was still not at peak swelling, i could tell... seriously my face was like huge. and then, yeah i applied heat but it felt better to apply cold.





This is day 4, and i am just now able to work my jaws around and excercise them and apply heat. i'm not in any real pain at all... which is good since i thought i had lost a blood clot from drinking so much on the first day! anyway i'm still really really swollen. none of my friends swelled up this much, and on the fourth day, is it really supposed to be this bad?





omg do i have an infection??? i'm too freaked out to look back there and see what's been going on.

Wisdom tooth question... why did i swell up so much?
You've answered your own question, possibly an infection. Usually with the surgical extraction of impacted 3rd molars there is some swelling and possible bruising, to be expected.





If the swelling has continued increasing and you haven't noticed any reduction by tomorrow am, you should give your dentist a call, he may want to take a look.





If it's infected he will express some of the infection or pus cleaning the extraction site out which is causing the swelling and place you on an antibiotic to help the healing along.





In the meantime continue with the warm salt water rinses several times a day especially after eating. You can also take Advil or Motrin 600-800mg every six hours for the swelling, if you haven't started this already. Take it about two hours after taking any other medication that were prescribed to keep from upsetting your stomach. You'll see and feel a big difference after some of this infection is expressed and the medication starts to work.





Use hot moist compresses on your face now, the ice won't do anything but chill your swollen cheeks. See your dentist if things aren't better by tomorrow.





Additional information: Usually by day four patients are starting to feel better not worse. I'm sure you didn't "get" an infection, it probably developed from some food particle getting lodged in one or more of the extraction sites. See your dentist.
Reply:You dont have an infection, its just the ripped a huge thing out of ur mouth and it hurts, those things just HELP, but cant make it 100% better.
Reply:I don't know but I did all the things they told me to do also and I swelled up like a chip munk. Don't worry about it much. It will go down.
Reply:Dont feel alone, as I to had this procedure done and it is not fun thats for sure. The swelling is something that happens to alot of people who have dental extractions, rest assure this is only due to the trama that you went thru it will go away, as long as you are not in pain you are ok, pain is the signal that somthing is wrong most likely dry socket, but if you only have swelling dont worry its normal. Dont freak out, you will be just fine in another two days, but I do understand looking in the mirror and freaking out, its a scarey sight. Good Luck
Reply:perhaps you wisdom teeth were embedded deeper than your friends.





maybe your dentist was not as gentle as your friends.





THE luck of the draw honey
Reply:My face swell up that much too. I did have an infection though. When I went back to the doctor he cleaned it out with a warm saltwater solution and gave me this syringe looking thing so I could clean it out myself. After I started cleaning it at the end of everyday the swelling went down. Maybe you should go back to your doctor to make sure it's not infected.
Reply:There is a great possibility that you did get an infection. Hopefully the dentist knew that before he messed with the wisdom teeth. Mine had to have the gums cut around thes teeth then he took a little chissel and small hammer to break the teeth into four parts. Leading up to this he gave me antibiotics for the infections. he also gave me pain meds because of all the pain. I hope he did not pull those teeth while they were infected. You could have an infection. I sy\ure hope not. I would soak my mouth with salt water to help pull the pressure away fom the teeth. i would do it as often as i could remember i would have it as salty as i could stand
Reply:Your experiences are not uncommon, and no, you probably don't have an infection. To be honest, I think 99% of how it comes out depends on the oral surgeon and how skilled he is.





I had my 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed when I was 21.


They were all growing sideways, below the gumline. The surgeon had to really dig in there and break them out in pieces. However, I had no swelling and so little pain that I never even bothered to take any of the pain killers he prescribed. I kept a tea bag stuffed in there at the back


of my mouth for the first day or so. After that, it was smooth sailing.





This all happened over 20 years ago.





There were a whole crop of young new employees at my company. We had all graduated from various colleges around the country and come to work. As such, there were a lot of us 20-somethings needing our wisdom teeth out because that's the time of your life this often happens.





To a person, all the ones who went to the same oral surgeon as me had the same outcome. And all the rest, who used 2 or 3 other guys, had the swelling, the pain, couldn't eat except to stuff a straw in through their swollen lips, etc.





I really do think it's up to how good the surgeon is.





It may look really bad at the moment. But after 3 or 4 days, it will be much better.



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