HN12- Dry Socket: New Etiology and Management

Overview

Dry socket (or alveolar osteitis) has been considered as the most common complication among those following dental extraction, many local or systemic factors are involved in the incidence of dry socket, such as local trauma, previous infection, use of contraceptives, smoking, comorbidities, etc., but according to present literature, there is no clear etiology of dry socket and the most current accepted hypothesis ,that is centered on disorder in blood clot cannot explain alone all the clinical aspects of dry socket .
Based on bacterial culture and consequently on antibiotic prescriptions of serial cases we hypothesize an infection process to explain the pathophysiology of dry socket. According to our findings, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (found in culture), a biofilm forming bacteria is accused to be the principal cause of dry socket and hypothesis based on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and infectious process can better explain all clinical aspects seen and manifested in dry socket, including: onset of symptoms, exposed alveolus, severe pain, presence of lymphadenitis. Further investigations on larger number of cases are needed to confirm our findings.