That lingering anxiety is the worst part for me. Even after my extraction site looked fine, I kept second-guessing every twinge—like, is this normal, or am I messing something up? I swear, I still chew on the opposite side without even thinking about it. My dentist said it’s okay to eat normally, but honestly, I don’t fully trust it yet. The whole dry socket thing freaked me out so much that now I’m hyper-aware of every sensation in my mouth. Maybe some people bounce back faster, but for me, the mental side sticks around way longer than the physical pain ever did.
I totally get the paranoia—honestly, I’ve seen folks come in weeks after an extraction, convinced they’ve got dry socket because of some weird twinge. Most of the time it’s just normal healing, but our brains love to play tricks. I still remember after my own wisdom teeth came out, I chewed everything on the “safe” side for way longer than necessary. You’re definitely not alone in that. Sometimes the mental recovery is trickier than the physical stuff, for sure.
