hello! After terrible pain I have been feeling in my mouth, I went to a dentist and he had to extract my teeth. However, it has been 4 days after the extraction and I am experiencing horrible taste in my mouth. Any ideas what this could be? Thx
Dreading trips to the dentist is incredibly common, and that's probably as much because what happens after you're done as what goes on in the dentist's chair itself. Numbness because of the local anesthetic, bleeding, a weird feeling in your mouth after dental work, and a slightly unpleasant or new taste are all almost par for the course.
Judging by this person's post, they had several teeth extracted, though they don't say whether they were wisdom teeth or not, and had a "horrible taste" in their mouth four days following the procedure. It's not clear whether this appeared on the fourth day or has been present since the extraction itself, neither does the person describe the taste in more detail.
What could it be? Let's take a look at the opinions and experiences offered up by other members of the SteadyHealth community, as well as the science behind a bad taste in the mouth after a tooth extraction.
The SteadyHealth team reacts
Aftercare following a tooth extraction
Almost everyone requires a tooth extraction at some point in their lives, especially if you include wisdom teeth. While your dentist should always give you thorough aftercare instructions, it is up to you — the patient — to follow them to the letter to reduce the risk of complications. Some important things to remember include:
- Take painkillers and antibiotics as instructed — never stop taking antibiotics without finishing the course!
- Carefully rinse the extraction site with a saline solution as your dentist instructed you to, after 24 hours have passed to allow a blood clot to form. Do this after mealtimes to prevent food from becoming lodged in the hole left behind and to avoid bacterial buildup, but don't overdo it, as that can cause bleeding.
- If you smoke, don't do it during the healing process!
- Use cold compresses to help fight swelling.
- Do brush your teeth, but avoid causing further trauma to the extraction site.
While it is completely normal to experience some pain, swelling, and even bruising, and while many people experience a changed taste in their mouth for a while during the healing process, it is also essential to see your dentist again if:
- You experience severe pain
- You have heavy or continuous bleeding
- You have signs of infection, such as pus oozing from the area, warmth, and a fever.
- You have a very bad taste in your mouth, or a foul odor (bad breath)
Complications after a tooth extraction
Many complications can occur after a tooth extraction, such as poor healing and excessive bleeding, but two are associated with a horrible taste or very bad breath, and they are dry socket — as so many SteadyHealth members suggested — and an infection.
Dry socket is a condition in which the blood clot that should develop after you have a tooth removed down form the way it should, or it comes out. This is more common in smokers, people with poor oral health, women who use hormonal birth control methods, and those who start vigorously rinsing their mouth shortly after the tooth extraction.
Symptoms include:
- Pain! Of course, everyone feels a little uncomfortable after having a tooth pulled, but severe pain on days one to three that doesn't get much better with the use of painkillers is a serious red flag.
- You don't see a blood clot in the hole left behind after the extraction (the socket).
- A foul taste and very bad breath.
- A mild fever.
Signs of infection, meanwhile, would include fever, increased pain, pus oozing from the extraction site, warmth emitting from it, and swelling. Like dry socket, infections can lead to a foul smell and bad breath. Many dentists will prescribe antibiotics to prevent infections. Regardless of whether you are taking antibiotics or not, always see your dentist if you notice any of the signs of infection.
Links:
Discussion highlights
Questions
Plenty of other community members had questions relating to the same problem — a horrible taste in their mouths after they had a tooth removed:
- What is going on?
- Any ideas what this could be?
- Has anyone experienced this before?
- I actually quite like that taste that you're all describing :-DI just needed to know it was nothing to worry about and that I wasn't going to die or anything
- Did u feel like the stitches on the sides hanging and getting in the way?
- So why was I still having some pain and this god awful nasty taste in my mouth still?
- This might be a stupid question but how does stuff get into the hole when the hole is stitched close?
- Or do some surgeons leave it open?
- Any ideas ?
- What cured it?
- Does anyone have an update?
- The same thing happing to me rn what do I do
- How long did you recover from all these symptoms ?
- Hopefully it doesn't suck too horribly.Random question for anyone still following this thread, anyone feel sick because of the taste and feeling?
- Did you ever find out what it was?
- Was it a dry socket?
- What should I do?
- do you still have any stitches in?
- Can anyone tell me how to resolve this issue and what is causing it?
- Did you ever find out why you had the 2 sysmtoms together ?
- Has anyone experienced a tear in the side of their mouth after their extraction?
- Did you ever figure it out?
- Any ideas on this?
- I have the exact same thing right now and the taste is horrible :( did you find out what it was?
- Now I'm not experiencing that much pain its controllable by my meds which I'm glad but scared that the bad odor might mean I have an infection although without the unbearable pain and not being swollen, what could it mean?
- What can I do to get rid of the bad odor or at least control it?
- I’m having the same horrible taste like dieting flesh, it’s been 2 full days I’m sick to my stomach , how much longer will this last ?
- I'm wondering if it's dried blood that got into my throat?
Symptoms
People experiencing the same problem described it in these ways:
- But it's the taste and the breath that are bothering me more than anything.
- I have this nasty taste in my mouth where it was taking out.
- The gum around there also hurts but in between the other teeth.
- I got my wisdom teeth removed a week ago and the taste in my mouth is awful.
- I almost threw up today due to it!
- ya the same thing is happening to me, and it tastes like the amoxycillin pills ive been taking for the infection, and it is absolutely terrible, i could deal with the death and decay taste after the first few days, but this is absolutely the most discusting taste i've probably ever experienced please tell me whats going on
- I just got mine out 7 days ago, and you're right, the taste is absolutely disgusting - almost unbearable.
- 5 days after a permanent tooth replacement, this ugly smell was really strong so I really didn't want to leave the home.
- I also had a metallic taste in my mouth, so that is when I realized that this was causing this ugly smell.
- My gums were really sensitive and they were bleeding all the time.
- After terrible pain I have been feeling in my mouth, I went to a dentist and he had to extract my teeth.
- However, it has been 4 days after the extraction and I am experiencing horrible taste in my mouth.
- Its thie only pain I have left, and it throbs and feels a terrible tooth ache.
- I dont mind the pain, but the taste is awful.
- Earlier today i noticed a disgusting taste in my mouth, almost the same taste as i would imagine that a yeast infection smells like, a few days after I had my wisdom teeth removed.
- About three of four days ago, it started tasting like something crawled in my mouth, took a c**p, and died.
- My bottom right side tastes awful, there's a big exposed hole and even though I'm rinsing with salt water and cleaning it out with a homemade syringe (my surgeon didn't give me one), the taste keeps coming back.
- i am 7 days from my surgery of all 4 wisdom teeth and yesterday started with the taste, i have been doing the rinses and pain is getting better so i am not worried about infection or dry socket at this point.
- I've been dealing with that disgusting taste for three days now, and couldn't figure out why it wasn't going away no matter how many times i rinsed with Listerine.
- 4 wisdom teeth out on Friday and by Monday night I felt like I had a skunk in the back of my mouth.
- The procedure went well and I have had minimal pain but this taste is awful.
- My left side has also been very sensitive and sore.
- I had the same foul taste and odor coming out of the extraction sockets along with severe pain.
- My jaw is still throbbing and oozing this flavour 5 days later.
- I had my upper wisdom tooth taken out yesterday and have been experiencing a horrible metallic like taste and smell in my mouth.
- My lower jaw hurts and under my chin is very sore.
- I'm going through this right now and the taste makes me want to throw up.
- The taste in my mouth is absolutely vile.
- The pain I can deal with, but this horrible taste I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.
What is it?
Others joined the thread to speculate on the possible causes behind the horrible taste, or to say the phenomenon was normal:
- He said that it's fairly common when you have food getting stuck in the holes.
- But atfer reading up on it seem like it just mean everything is healing
- Part of it is the bacteria that builds up on your tongue.
- Factors that effect the mouth and cause bad breathe:Food stagnation between the teeth.
- Gum disease.
- Excessive bacterial activity on the tongue, possibly due to postnasal drip (catarrh coming down the back of the throat from the sinuses and nasal passages).
- A dry mouth, which can be common as we get older and is also caused by a number of medications.
- Throat or tonsil infection.
- Bad taste after wisdom tooth extraction happens to EVERYONE about a week after surgery.
- The taste is caused by dying and disintegrating tissue/blood, and it will go away in several days.
- I wouldn't be troubled about terrible taste from an mining site awaiting about one week has accepted.
- Just be at peace knowing that you are not alone, and it will go away almost instantly after you irrigate it.
- Basically the bad smell/taste is food particles, water, and air mixing, which is just as gross as it sounds.
- i am 7 days from my surgery of all 4 wisdom teeth and yesterday started with the taste, i have been doing the rinses and pain is getting better so i am not worried about infection or dry socket at this point.
- i was thinking it was the novacane oozing out because it was like just an hour after the extraction.
- I actually quite like that taste that you're all describing :-DI just needed to know it was nothing to worry about and that I wasn't going to die or anything
- HOPE ITS EITHER STAGANT SALYVA OR MY MEDS
- It is very common to hace a foul taste or odor after extractions.
- Usually it is because people don't clean or brush properly following extractions or are not rinsing their sockets with warm salt water.
- Another reason is the healing process.
- Normal healing tissue has a whitish appearance and some say foul smell.
- It's old rotting food and gunk deep in your sockets that smell like sh*t get a syringe immediately and irrigate them!
- The problem is that food is getting trapped in the holes and is sitting there rotting.
- I asked the dental assitant and she said sometimes food particles get in tht hole and begin to decay causing the taste and smell.
- No need to worry, the taste is horrible but it will go away in time.
- If so, there is food stuck in the stitches causing the bad smell and taste and that will go away when they remove the stitches.
- As long as you're not feeling a huge amount of pain you are ok.
- Your mouth has several wounds in it that are constantly wet from saliva, of course it will smell bad.
- Based on several responses from those in the field, the strange taste and smell following an extraction are normal symptoms of the healing process.
Dry socket
Many people suggested that people experiencing a horrible taste in their mouth, or dealing with bad breath, could be suffering from dry socket:
- To me it sounds like a dry socket, or maybe that's just because I had two of them.
- Dry socket is when the blood clot is lost too soon, which occurs more often in women than men but can happen to anyone.
- The typical symptoms are increased pain in the area that doesn't seem to get better with medication, a bad taste or smell coming from the removal area, and sometimes you can actually see the bone.
- I'm worried about dry socket, and wondering if I should go to my dentist just to make sure.
- I thought it was a dry socket.
- Because of this I ended up with a dry socket(caused by vomiting because of pain meds) and food in my socket after a few days.
- I suspected that I may have a dry socket but I'm going to see my dentist in a couple days for a check up.
- I bet it was dry socket
- A dry socket will do that too, but those are also accompanied with sharp unrelenting pain.
- I have the exact thing happening to me right now I'm going to the dentist today its most likely a dry socket because I smoked weed the next day to quell the pain
Suggestions
So, what should a person do when confronted with a horrible taste in their mouth after a tooth extraction? Here's what community members had to say:
- I had this bad taste starting around day 5, and it mostly went away after I went to my follow-up appointment and the surgeon irrigated the holes with the syringe.
- The taste has gone away about 95% now since I have been using the syringe on my own with tap water, salt water, and sometimes mouthwash diluted with water.
- I had alot of mints and nothing seemed to help.
- You have a bacterial infection and need to see your doctor/dentist/or oral surgeon ASAP for antibiotics.
- It helped me a lot when I got a tongue scraper.
- it's nasty what you get out of your mouth every night.Drink a tooooon of water.And irrigate the holes.
- Flood out any excess food after meals.
- Because the loss of a tooth foliage a hole in your chewing gum which tends to corner food, you should be rinsing strongly with something to try to wash the plug two times a day.
- You should better go to your dentist again before this infection spreads.
- (Basically, it sits there in the heat of your mouth, and turns into a horrible stink pit.) They gave me this little syringe with a hooked end to irrigate the holes.
- You fill it with watered down mouthwash and put the hooked end a little bit into the hole (Not too far, you don't want put it in too far though).
- Squirt it in there hard to make sure your getting stuff out.
- You should make an appointment with your oral surgeon, and he will tell you all this.
- you can also irrigate the area with a gentle warm salt water rinse - 1/4 tbsp salt in 8oz hot water kills bacteria/soothes pain and after 3 or 4 sip/swish/spit repetitions the taste/smell is gone and your mouth feels clean (seems safer than artificially flavored mouthwash in a fresh wound).
- Make an appointment with your oral surgeon or dentist- they'll put a medicated gauze or paste in the site which will make it feel (and smell, and taste) better.
- He/She will probably also give you a syringe with a plastic tip already attached to help clean the area out.
- i am 7 days from my surgery of all 4 wisdom teeth and yesterday started with the taste, i have been doing the rinses and pain is getting better so i am not worried about infection or dry socket at this point.
- I have used salt and water, watered down mouth wash, i think i have eatten 15 mashed potatoes and not knowing how much apple sauce.
- At your follow up appointment your oral surgeon should give you a syringe to irrigate the holes after you eat.
- The dentist should give you a curved syringe when the stitches come out that you can use to squirt out the nasty gunk.
- YOU MUST GO TO YOUR DENTIST.
- So just make sure you're rinsing and brushing your teeth a bit more often than usual and you guys should be fine!
- Rinse with salty water, brush your teeth slowly (not the extraction site) and don't talk to people.
- Stick to the routine, always rinse with the syringe after every single meal/snack.
- Hell, rinse every hour if you have to, it doesn't hurt (by rinse I mean get some salty water in your mouth and tilt your head left and right then let it drain - don't spit and don't rinse vigorously).
- What also helps and my surgeon told me, is to take a syringe and with warm water, and stick it in the extraction hole just a little and rinse it out.
- I do this 2 times a day and when I do rinse about 8 in each wich you should NOT do.