wisdom teeth removal help!

[gurl666]

Hey, guys. Since you're dental students I thought I'd ask you guys this before I freak out to my oral surgeon:

I just got all of my wisdom teeth removed yesterday, under general anesthesia. As soon as I got back home (and still today) I noticed there is a flap of gum tissue covering my last molar tooth on the bottom right side (right beside where the wisdom tooth was). I pulled it back a little just to make sure it wasn't stitched there or something. Is this "flap" normal? Will it go away? Why is it covering that side of the molar tooth when it wasn't the tooth that was extracted?

I'm kinda freaking out. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

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[sandman]

When you lay a flap to get at partially or fully impacted wisdom teeth sometimes you're left with excess tissue. This can be sutured closed or some gauze can be placed over the site with pressure applied to help the tissue adhere to the underlying structures. In your case you probably just have some loose tissue. You can return to the oral surgeon to have it sutured, and likely another shot to numb the area, or just place some gauze over the site and apply firm pressure. Warm salt water rinses were probably recommended and should probably be started to keep the area clean. But as most on the board will tell you, the majority of us don't have licenses yet and if it continues to bother you go see your dentist or oral surgeon who did the extraction

 

[DrJeff]

Basically you could go back to the oral surgeon, who'd realistically take a look and tell you not to worry and you'll be fine in 7 to 10 days (99% of the time this is what you'll hear), or you can just leave it all and you'll be fine in 7 to 10 days(as long as you don't do anything dumb like chain smoke a few packs of cigarrettes (thus DRAMATICALLY increasing your chance of getting a "dry socket" which is a type of pain that you really, really don't want to get!).

The mouth post oral surgery has a very impressive ability of heal on its own with relatively little "help" via sutures, and often in small situations the foriegn body (i.e. the suture) will delay healing time over no sutures.

 

[tx oms]

The surgeon made a flap of tissue that goes from the cheek side of the last one or two teeth to the area where the wisdom tooth was. All of this gum tissue was lifted up to expose the bone. It is either layed or sewn back in place. This is why there is loose tissue next to a healthy tooth on the bottom. It is normal. It will heal. You don't have to see an oral surgeon unless your swelling dramatically increases or doesn't go down over the next week.