Pain and Swelling 1 Month After Wisdom Teeth Removal

[rebeccacsun]

Hello, I am a 25 yo female and had my wisdom teeth taken out 1 month ago. I had the two lowers removed (both impacted) and felt that the majority of the site was fully healed 2 weeks after surgery. \However, on Friday night (about 3.5 weeks after surgery) I heard a weird crick/pop in my jaw when going to eat a piece of bread that felt somewhat painful but didn't think anything of it. The next morning I woke up with extreme swelling on my left jaw (kind of how day 2 looked), felt a golf ball size lump on my cheek and can't open my jaw that much. I called my OS and he prescribed amoxicillin and I went in on Monday for him to look at it (he barely did, just poked it to see if it would ooze) and he said to continue amoxicillin. It has now been 7 days and the infection has not gone down and I am in pain. I fear that I am going to go back in to see him and he will just prescribe more antibiotics... Do you think I should get a second opinion and that maybe something is lodged in there and needs a debridement or cleaning?

- On a side note, my whole left chin and lip is completely numb and has been since day 1 of the surgery and it feels more numb now after the "clicking/popping" jaw incident on Friday night.

Please any advice would help, thanks!

[scottma]

Seeing another oral surgeon and/or orofacial  pain specialist is advised. Numbness of left chin is asssociated with trauma tic trigeminal neuropathy, which is best managed by experienced orofacial pain specialist or neurologist, early intervention of pharmacological therapy may help resume normal nerve function.