When will I feel better after my wisdom tooth extraction?

I had a very difficult extraction of my lower wisdom tooth and it has been 2 days after surgery and my jaw is achy and stiff and I can't open my mouth far. When will it get better soon?


Also, I still have numbess on my chin because the roots hit my nerve. The surgeon said I will slowly get feeling back. Last night I noticed this intense iching on my chin..does this mean the nerve is healing?

When will I feel better after my wisdom tooth extraction?
I'm a dentist.





Soreness is perfectly normal two days after an extraction, especially a surgical extraction. Stiffness of the jaw can also be expected from extraction of wisdom teeth.





Your chin is still numb due to injury of the inferior alveolar nerve, which runs inside your mandible and often near the roots of the mandibular third molars (wisdom teeth).





The surgeon does not know for sure that you will regain sensation, but he/she is able to make a good estimate based on the type of injury your nerve most likely suffered.





Nerve injuries come in three classifications (known as the Seddon classification): 1. Neuropraxia, 2. Axonotmesis, and 3. Neurotmesis.





Neuropraxia is most often a crush-type injury that does not result in any loss of continuity of the nerve sheath or the axons themselves. Thus, healing is more rapid and most often complete.





Axonotmesis results in loss of continuity of the axons, while the nerve sheath remains intact. A phenomenon known as Wallarian degeneration occurs, where the axon distant to the injury basically dies off. Stretch injuries commonly cause this. These injuries tend to heal with mild deficit long-term, because the tracts along which the axons traveled are still intact and thus axons can grow back to their proper positions more easily. Axonal growth occurs, if memory serves, about a millimeter a day. Obviously, severity and various other factors can affect the outcome.





Neurotmesis is a complete severing of the nerve. Wallerian degeneration occurs. Obviously, since both the axons and the sheath (epineurium, perineurium, endoneurium) are all broken, healing is much more difficult for the nerve. The sheath must heal AND the proximal ends of the axons must find the "tubes" through which to grow and thus, depending on various factors, healing is often slow and more often than not incomplete--even with surgical intervention to approximate the two ends of the nerve.





The fact that you feel an intching sensation on your chin bodes well for your chances of a full recovery. In all honesty, axonotmetic and neurotmetic injuries of the inferior alveolar nerve are very rare from third molar extractions.
Reply:It depends on what you mean by sharp pains. Regardless, just give it time. You can (and should) have the doctor examine you and decide what to do. Report It

Reply:And all that for free! Report It

Reply:The itching could be an allergic reaction to the pain killers they gave you or the antibiotics as both contain sulfa. Contact your oral surgeon.
Reply:I had the same thing happen with my bottom wisdom teeth. I felt better after 3 or 4 days. It all depends on the severity of the surgery and your pain tolerance. The numbness on your chin will take a little longer though, probably a week or so. The itching is normal also, combination of healing and possibly a mild reaction to the anesthesia. You will feel better in a few days! Good luck!