Why Does Severe Bleeding Happen after Bottom Wisdom Tooth Extraction?

Inside the bottom jaw and below the 3 molar teeth (1,2,3 in in Fig.1) lies a big tube (canal: C).  The molar #3 is the wisdom tooth.  Its root tips (particularly the one with *) are the closest to the canal among the 3 molar teeth.  Inside the canal are blood vessels and nerve.  Sometimes the blood vessel inside the canal is unavoidably broken (Fig.2 red lines) when the wisdom tooth is removed (black area).  Blood gushes into the socket (Fig.3 (cropped from Fig.1 around the wisdom tooth) arrow) and fills the socket and beyond (pink area).  Blood does not clot (become hardened) easily under pressure from the broken and leaking vessel.  Constant bleeding is annoying and frightening (Fig.4 arrow, liver-like clot outside the socket of a wisdom tooth).  It needs immediate attention.

Return to Kid, Senior Dental Care

Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 01/08/2015, last revision 01/10/2015