I’m right there with you on the “what if” spiral. I had my first ever stitches after a tooth extraction last month, and I swear I spent more time googling “how long do stitches take to dissolve” than actually healing. The instructions said about a week, but by day ten, I was convinced I’d be living with dental floss in my cheek forever. Every time I ate something, I’d panic that I’d ripped one out or made things worse. There was this one stubborn bit that looked like it was hanging on for dear life, and I couldn’t stop poking at it with my tongue, which probably didn’t help anything.
Honestly, I kept thinking, “Is this normal, or am I going to be the first person whose stitches just never dissolve?” I did end up calling the dentist, half expecting them to laugh at me, but they were super nice about it—apparently it’s pretty common for them to take longer, especially if you heal slowly (which, of course, I do). They said as long as there’s no pain, swelling, or weird smell, it’s usually fine. Still, I felt like a bit of a hypochondriac.
Did anyone else get kind of obsessed with checking the stitches every few hours? Or is that just me being a bit neurotic? I wonder if there’s such a thing as “stitch anxiety”—if not, maybe we should coin the term...
Also, has anyone had them actually not dissolve and need to get them removed? The idea of going back in for someone to snip them out sounds… not great.
Did anyone else get kind of obsessed with checking the stitches every few hours? Or is that just me being a bit neurotic?
Not just you at all. I literally had to stop myself from grabbing a mirror every time I passed the bathroom. I was convinced mine were getting looser or tighter depending on what I ate—like, how is that even possible? The urge to poke at them is unreal. I actually did have to go back for one stubborn stitch that just refused to dissolve... and honestly, the removal was way less dramatic than my brain made it out to be. Still, “stitch anxiety” is 100% real in my book.
The urge to poke at them is unreal.
That’s so relatable. I remember being convinced my stitches were “acting up” just because I’d smiled too wide or drank something hot. It’s wild how your mind can amplify every tiny sensation. From a healing perspective, a stitch lingering a bit longer is usually harmless, but the mental side of it is something else... Did anyone else notice if certain foods or activities made you more anxious about them? For me, anything crunchy felt risky, even though it probably wasn’t.
