"Wisdom teeth in Peterborough: more information would help"

I recently had all of my wisdom teeth taken out at my local hospital. I was given no aftercare information, only a box of paracetamol.

Two days later I started having really bad pain all along my jaw and painkillers did not seem to help. I went onto the Internet to see if this was normal to have so much pain. Every article I read about wisdom teeth extraction stated not to use a straw for drinking (something I did) not to spit out the blood (which I did).

As I had no information to read about do's and dont's I did everything wrong.

It has now been five days since surgery and I am in constant pain unable to work. I have self-diagnosed 'dry socket' which apparently is common and I am to see a dentist today.

I feel very let down by the hospital as you would expect to have some literature to read up on after surgery. Dry socket is common after this procedure so you would have thought I would have been at least told about it. Any costs I incur at the dentist will be sent to the hospital.

I thought I was doing everything right, I have not even had a cigarette for six days as I wanted my recovery to be as quick as possible. I worry for other people who may not have access to the Internet who would think it was normal to have so much pain and not know that they actually have an infection.