Food stuck in the extraction site of my wisdom tooth surgery?

Question

I got my wisdom teeth removed on July 14. On July 20, I ate popcorn and started to feel major pain in the lower left side of my mouth. The pain was affecting the gum of the two teeth around it as well. It hurt so much that I couldn't even go to sleep. On July 22, a big shell from a popcorn kernel came out of the extraction site. This relieved the pain a little bit. On July 25, I went to the doctor. She said it was really red and swollen. She said she might have to cut it open again. She yelled at me for eating popcorn. She had never warned me not to eat it. Do you think she can charge me if she has to cut it open again? We don't have medical insurance, so it cost us nearly $1400 for the surgery, and I don't think we can afford another surgery. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

She can and will charge you for the second surgery.  You should not have been eating popcorn or anything hard like that until it is healed.  The doctor should have given you a list of foods that you couldn't eat.  I don't remember what they all are.

Answer 2

Did the doctor not give you a syringe to wash the site out with salt water?  When I had my wisdom teeth out, I was given a couple of them (with blunt ends) and told to wash the sites out a couple times a day because they were sure to get food particles in them and they would need to be removed.  It worked great and I didn't have any trouble.

It sounds like (if you didn't get this advice from your doc) she is partly to blame for your condition.

Answer 3

WOW!  Very painful!  I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think that you can get out of her charging you.  Did she give you a little syringe with a wicked needle-looking thing on the end of it to stick in the hole and flush out the socket?  You can ask the office for one of those for free and start flushing the heck out of it so it will get all the food out.

Answer 4

I was told not to eat anything really solid or crunchy for at least 2 weeks for exactly this reason.

Plus, you're supposed to wash out the socket with a syringe at least once a day for 2-3 weeks after the surgery, which I guarantee they told you. You obviously didn't, or else this wouldn't have happened...

You could try going on a round of antibiotics and using a lot of mouthwash and see if that helps. If it gets worse they'll probably have to cut it open to remove the infection, though. And yes, if you choose to have the procedure done, they will charge you for it. It's optional, though...you COULD try healing it some other way.

Answer 5

I think the doc will probably charge you again, there might be rotting food in the tissue, try get some anti-biotics and see if that will kill the infection that is causing the redness and swelling.  Good luck I'm a dentist-phobic