What Is a Dry Socket?

Video transcription

So, have you ever had a dry socket before? Well, if you have then sure you already know it's very painful. My name is Michelle, and I'm a dental assistant with Solutionz, and I'm going to explain to you exactly what a dry socket is. Normally, dry sockets happen after you've had your tooth extracted. The purpose, once when your tooth is extracted you want the blood to clot in that area. You want a form of what we call is a blood clot to form, cause' what that will do is it protects the bone and the tissue in that area, and it basically it, the blood clot actually supplies it like as a as a band-aid over the bone. If the blood clot does not form fully then you might have a tendency to get what we call is a dry socket. It's extremely painful, so you would definitely need to go see your dentist immediately, so therefore he would be able to put what we call is periopacking over the extraction area, and then get you on an antibiotic to you know eliminate any possible infection, and then also on a pain reliever medication because dry sockets are very painful. So, after you have your tooth extracted you really just don't want to mess around with the area for the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours. You want the blood clot to form to protect that area, and then what onsets a dry socket too is smoking or drinking through a straw. You really want to avoid those things after you've had an extraction, or else you will get a dry socket. So once again, my name's Michelle. I'm a dental assistant with Solutionz, and I just explained to you what a dry socket is.