A Massachusetts woman has gone viral after revealing the disastrous results of having her wisdom teeth removed, leaving social-media users in shock.
When Emily Duval, 23, went to see her dental surgeon to get two wisdom teeth extracted on July 17, she thought it would be straightforward because it is a simple enough procedure. She told Newsweek that she felt pretty calm afterward as the procedure appeared to have gone well, but, within days, it became clear that something wasn’t right.
Duval’s face was incredibly swollen after the removal, and for the first few days, she assumed it was just a normal reaction. But, by the third day, she felt her skin stretching even further as the swelling increased. Duval said it felt as if her “face was going to explode.”
“I didn’t think anything of it because, last year, I had my bottom tooth removed when it got infected. It was swollen at first then, but, after two or three days, I was back to normal. But, this time, everything was different,” Duval, of Boston, said.
“It was extremely painful and dealing with my 2-year-old toddler, who’s always throwing himself everywhere, made everything so much worse.”
With almost the entire bottom half of her face swollen, Duval knew it wasn’t a normal reaction, but she was repeatedly told that swelling is normal.
As her pain intensified, Duval had to make two trips to the emergency room in the days following the dental procedure. She was given antibiotics and told to use a cold compress on her jaw to reduce the swelling.
It was clear that Duval had an abscess that was caused by the wisdom teeth removal, but staff at the ER told her to go back and see her oral surgeon the following week to get it resolved.
“It just kept getting worse and worse, but the dentist told me that swelling is normal, and that days three to five are usually the worst. But they didn’t prescribe me antibiotics like I had the first time I got a tooth removed,” Duval continued.
“When I went back to my oral surgeon the next week, they drained the abscess and then I got a wick inserted for two days.”
The Mayo Clinic says that an abscess is a pocket of pus caused by a bacterial infection. It is usually the result of an untreated dental cavity, an injury, or prior dental work.
The usual symptoms include a throbbing toothache, fever, facial swelling, swollen lymph nodes, pain or discomfort when chewing. It is also noted that an abscess won’t go away unless it is treated, and even if it ruptures naturally, it will still require dental treatment.
How Did TikTok React?
Several days later, and Duval is feeling so much better, and the swelling has now completely gone. She is still having trouble opening her jaw all the way, however.
On July 20, she posted a video on TikTok (@emzvibes) to show the swelling of her face that was said to be “completely normal.” The clip amassed plenty of attention online with over 7 million views and more than 520,000 likes.
The footage horrified social-media users, who became invested as Duval continued posting videos of her journey.
“I didn’t think my video was going to blow up like that,” Duval told Newsweek. “I just wanted to shed light on my experience because I knew the swelling was definitely not normal at all.
“If you don’t need your wisdom teeth taken out, don’t do it. The healing process is not worth it,” she added.
With almost 5,000 comments on the initial TikTok post, many people urged Duval to seek medical advice, while others found humor in her unusual appearance.
One comment reads: “I’ve never seen a swelling like this and I work in dentistry.”
Another person wrote: “Mine got this big and it was a dry socket! Go to the dentist ASAP.”
A third posted: “I literally looked like Quagmire for three days it was THE WORST.”
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