A Massachusetts woman has gone viral after revealing the devastating results of having her wisdom teeth removed, leaving social media users in shock.
When Emily Duval, 23, went to see her dentist to have two wisdom teeth extracted on July 17, she thought it would be simple because it’s a fairly simple procedure. She said Newsweek that she felt quite calm afterwards as the procedure seemed to have gone well but, within a few days, it became clear that something was wrong.
Duval’s face was incredibly swollen after the removal, and for the first few days, she assumed it was just a normal reaction. But on the third day, she felt her skin stretch even more as the swelling increased. Duvall said he felt like “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. At first it was swollen, but after two or three days I was back to normal. But this time, everything was different,” said Duval, from Boston.
@emzvibes / TikTok
“It was extremely painful and dealing with my 2-year-old, who is always falling all over the place, made it all that much worse.”
With almost the entire lower half of her face swollen, Duval knew it wasn’t a normal reaction, but she was told repeatedly 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 swelling.
It was clear that Duval had an abscess caused by the removal of the wisdom teeth, but the staff at the ER told her to come back and see her oral surgeon next week to get it resolved.
“It just got worse and worse, but my dentist told me that swelling is normal and that three to five days is usually the worst. But they didn’t prescribe antibiotics like the first time I had a tooth pulled. “Duval continued.
“When I went back to my oral surgeon the following week, they drained the abscess and then put a wick in for two days.”
The Mayo Clinic says an abscess is a pocket of pus caused by a bacterial infection. It is usually the result of an untreated cavity, an injury or previous dental work.
Common symptoms include a throbbing toothache, fever, facial swelling, swollen lymph nodes, pain or discomfort when chewing. It is also noted that an abscess will not go away if left untreated, and even if it breaks naturally, it will require dental treatment.
How did TikTok react?
Several days later, and Duval is feeling much better and the swelling is now completely gone. However, she still has trouble opening her jaw.
On July 20, she posted a video on TikTok (@emzvibes) to show off her facial swelling which is said to be “totally normal”. The clip garnered a lot of attention online with over 7 million views and more than 520,000 likes.
The video sent shockwaves through social media users, who invested as Duval continued to post videos from her trip.
“I didn’t think my video would blow up like this,” Duval said 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 to get your wisdom teeth out, don’t. The healing process isn’t worth it,” he added.
With nearly 5,000 comments on the original TikTok post, many people urged Duval to seek medical advice, while others found humor in her unusual appearance.
One comment says: “I’ve never seen swelling like this and I work in dentistry.”
Another person wrote: “Mine got so big it was a dry socket! Get to the dentist ASAP.”
A third posted: “I literally looked like Quagmire for three days, it was THE WORST.”
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