I had my wisdom teeth removed. Everything went well except for one tooth, which had a pocket. When my dentist poked at the area a green pus came out that smelled worse than anything I have ever smelled before. I can’t describe how awful it was. I use Listerine every day, but that doesn’t seem to be  helping. My dentist used something to blow air into the area, but I can tell the problem is still there by the smell. What is it and is there anything to fix it?

Kimball P.- Pencil Bluff, AR

Kimball,

When you’ve had a wisdom tooth extraction it leaves a socket. It seems like the problem you’re facing is an anerobia bacteria in the socket. The reason your dentist used air is because oxygen is poisonous to this type of bacteria. You don’t want to leave an infection around. I recommend two things to fight this.

First,to attack it directly, ask your dentist for an irrigating needle. Use this to pump a mixture of 3% peroxide and salt, equal parts of both ingredients, directly into the socket. Do this after each meal. Secondly, ask your dentist for a 150 mg prescription of Clindamycin. This will attack it from the blood stream. Do this for ten days, by then the infection and the smell should be gone. After ten days, you can irrigate the socket once a day as it fills up with tissue.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn, Alabama dentist Dr. Raymond Bolt.