"StellaLife Gel is great for dry socket relief, reducing pain and swelling and good in keeping all the good bacteria in your mouth while eliminating the bad bacteria." -- Dr. Rodolfo Gaza, Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon, Texas.
Video Transcription:
Hey, everyone. Let's talk about dry socket. I'm just kidding. I don't talk like that. So I do get a lot of questions about dry socket. How does it happen? How can I prevent it? I'm so scared. What do I do? Dry socket, or as we call it, alveolar osteitis, is basically just a localized inflammation of the socket where basically the clot leaves. And it's one of these things that's poorly understood. It's one of these things that we can't really prevent as oral surgeons. We can do a great surgery. Everything can go smooth, perfect. I feel like it was the easiest surgery in the world. For whatever reason, dry socket, about five days later. When does dry socket usually happen? Usually days 3-5 after surgery, and certain people are at risk for dry sockets happening, such as smokers, the older you are, and females for whatever reason, and birth control users. Those are the people who are at risk for something happening. Also, the duration of surgery, if it was a very long surgery or very complicated extraction, then you may be more prone to a dry socket. Now, people typically panic after surgery because they're having pain or discomfort, but we always have to remind our patients, yes, you will have some discomfort and swelling after third molar surgery, anywhere from three to five days after surgery, especially if it was a difficult extraction or a difficult surgery.
Where is the dry socket going to happen? Usually always on the lower third molar sites. And like I said, there's a difference between pain from surgery and pain from a dry socket. Dry socket pain is pain that once again happens either three to five days after surgery, and it's a pain that you have to take hydrocodone, a narcotic, because that is how much pain you're in. And it's a pain that starts here and just radiates and it throbs. It goes from here all the way to your front or up your scalp right there. That is how much pain comes from a dry socket, and that is typical dry socket pain. There is eugenol dressing, which we've used a lot, that we place in the socket. It doesn't really taste really, really well, but it does the trick. What I use in my practice is this thing called Stella Life Gel because it's more homeopathic. It's a gel that reduces pain and swelling. Actually, it looks like this, Stella Life Gel. Very good for relieving discomfort and pain. Good in keeping all the good bacteria in your mouth while eliminating the bad bacteria. So ask your dentist or your oral surgeon about this Stella Life Gel if they have it.
But hopefully, you don't even need it because you picked a great oral surgeon and the wisdom teeth surgery was easy. Take care.