If you are taking painkillers up to the maximum after a tooth extraction and the pain is not going away then that could be something to be concerned about. If as well as the severe pain, there is swelling, then that could indicate an infection.

Once a tooth has been taken out, the space left behind fills up as a blood clot within the tooth socket but sometimes a blood clot does not form properly and you have an open wound where food can get in. This causes severe pain as it interferes with the normal healing process.

Severe nerve damage after tooth extraction will result in permanent numbness of the area which the affected nerve normally supplies. In the lower teeth therefore it would be the lower lip, around the lower chin, the tongue and the side of the face. In addition the gum around the area would also be numb. You can test this yourself by getting a sharp needle and going around the area which you think has been affected by the tooth extraction. If you cannot feel any pain but only pressure, then that indicates severe nerve damage. Nerve damage varies so a mild case would be where instead of full numbness, you get pins and needles.

In addition, there are other signs such as getting an electric shock when that area is accidentally touched. Nerve damage to the lip also means that you will frequently bite your lip accidentally when you are eating. In addition, you won’t be able to control your lip from biting it accidently. Food and drink may dribble out through the side of your mouth. Another sign of nerve damage is when your speech, especially certain words, is also affected and other people notice it. Some patients report a cold feeling as if the whole area has had ice put on it and sometimes they even feel sensations that the area has become swollen.

Pain and swelling after a tooth extraction would typically last 24 to 48 hours. After that it does subside and within a week everything is almost back to normal. If the pain and swelling are not decreasing after 24 to 48 hours or are actually getting worse, then that is a time when you should contact an emergency dentist to see why everything is not healing up as well as it should.

There is some individual variation. So you could be a person who generally heals up very fast and a tooth socket can heal within the first 24 hours but with other patients who seem to not have a good healing response, their pain and swelling may last twice as long.

Swelling does not normally always have to cause pain after a tooth extraction although the two tend to go hand in hand. The swelling after a tooth extraction is usually a result of the trauma of the actual procedure but also can indicate infection. If the swelling is not causing pain, but the swelling is still not going down after a few days, it could indicate an infection where you might need antibiotics.

Signs of infection after a tooth extraction are normally pain and swelling. A specific type of infection after a tooth extraction is called a dry socket. This causes severe pain almost immediately when the patient gets home and is often worse than the original toothache itself. It is categorized by a severe dull continuous throbbing which does not respond well to ordinary painkillers such as aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen.

Ordinary painkillers don’t seem to have any effect on stopping dry socket pain. Other signs of infection after a tooth extraction include a temperature and generally feeling unwell. Depending on where the tooth was taken out you can also end up with the condition called trismus where you are not able to open your mouth fully… Another sign of infection could be continuous bleeding even the next day after the tooth extraction. In cases of a dry socket a characteristic sign is bad breath and food getting trapped where the socket. Has failed to heal up.

After a tooth extraction, a throbbing pain and swelling may be due to a condition called a “dry socket.” A dry socket will cause throbbing, pain and swelling fairly soon after a tooth extraction. Dry socket is a localized infection of the socket which remains after the tooth has been taken out.

Unfortunately painkillers do not seem to work well and the ideal treatment is for the dentist to place an antibacterial dressing inside the socket to encourage it to heal up. A dry socket is normally caused when the blood clot does not form properly after the tooth extraction or dislodges and is most common in people who are smokers and when the extraction took a long time due to surgical difficulties.