Dental Alveolitis: causes, symptoms and treatments

Alveolitis is the inflammation of the dental alveolus, which is the small cavity in the jawbone in which the tooth is lodged and fixed. Extremely painful, it appears following the extraction of a tooth.

Nutrident explains how dental alveolitis is formed, how to prevent it, and how to treat it.

What is dental alveolitis?

This oral pathology is an inflammation of the tooth socket that occurs after a tooth extraction.

You may need to have a tooth pulled. This is the case when one of them is too damaged to be repaired or for wisdom teeth that do not have the necessary space in your jaw or that grow in an uncontrolled way.

A blood clot forms, just as a scab forms when you scratch yourself. The clot helps stop the bleeding, while protecting the wound from bacteria. This clot can be dislodged before your socket heals. This happens when you eat, drink through a straw or brush your teeth.

The clot may also be slow to form if your blood doesn't clot fast enough. It is then more fragile, for a longer time.

If the clot disappears, the nerve endings in the alveolus are exposed and dental alveolitis can develop.

Dry or suppurative alveolitis

Dry alveolitis does not produce pus, unlike suppurative or purulent alveolitis. The latter may take longer to appear, sometimes a few weeks. It is most common on the lower jaw, which is bathed in saliva and food debris if you do not brush your teeth after eating. This form of alveolitis requires the use of antibiotics.

How to recognize alveolitis?

It is normal to feel pain after a tooth extraction because the flesh is damaged. The pain should subside within 24 hours.

If an alveolitis forms, in the following days (or weeks), you will feel intense and stabbing pain in the tooth, which may radiate to the ear.

You will find it difficult to eat and opening your mouth will also hurt. You may experience a bad taste in your mouth and develop halitosis (bad breath).

How to prevent and treat dental alveolitis?

In order to avoid the risks of dental alveolitis, you must adopt impeccable oral hygiene in the days following the extraction.

Avoid smoking and eating or drinking sugar. Patients with diabetes, as well as women in the first half of their menstrual cycle, are at greater risk. Avoid spitting to avoid dislodging the clot.

It takes two to three weeks to properly treat a tooth socket. The dentist cleans the socket and then protects it with a bandage. The compress is soaked with an antiseptic and possibly antibiotic product in the case of suppurative alveolitis. He may also perform a curettage to facilitate the formation of a new blood clot.

Depending on the extent of the socket, the dentist will prescribe painkillers and antibiotics in the case of purulent socket.

If you need financial support to cover part of the cost of care, don't hesitate to turn to a dental insurance plan. Our free mutual insurance comparison tool is a very practical tool to give you an overview of the rates applied by the different structures.

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