I referred my mom to my dentist who is fantastic while she didnt see my dentist she saw someone else at the same place. she was having horrible toothache and they saw she had a wisdom tooth that was badly decayed for at least 2-3 yrs they said but my moms old dentist didnt happen to notice it last time she went for a visit to him!!!anyways they pulled it and when we left i asked does she need antibiotics just cause i remember my hubby having them but that was for all 4 teeth being pulled and he had a rough time hers was a basic pull.So the dentist said no she didnt need them. so about 8 hrs after having it puled my mom starts to not feel well and in the night went into emergency where they told her she had a bad infection in her body (im thinking from the decay over time) and that she had had it going through her blood stream for a week now. she is angry and said she wont go back to my dentist again! because they didnt give her anti. in the first place but i told her if anything its the dentists fault (the first one from yrs back) that didnt see this cavity so it didnt need to get to this point! but i think she is thinking its the new dentist...she doesnt want to go back because she figures how do I(me) know antibiotics are normally prescribed but the dentist didnt?!?! is it standard to give them always? is the dentist to blame?

Many people are told when they are young to have wisdom teeth removed for exactly this reason. Unfortunately, people don't listen and do nothing until a big problem faces them.

Once a tooth is pulled, the source of the infection is gone as well. What kind of infection did the ER say she had? Could have been something brewing and the bodies natural healing mechanism (immune system) was triggered by the extraction and that's when she started not feeling well.

Did the ER give her antibotics?

When I got my dentures they left 3 wisdom teeth in, my mother and father both had infections due to wisdom teeth. This is why I will make sure I go every year and have them Xrayed! Sounds to me like it was the old dentists fault.

Hope

I have my first dental cleaning in ten years today (had a root canal done last month) and am sure the dentist will say I need at least one of my wisdom teeth out. They came in when i was in my mid twenties (already had kids) and was told by my then dentist that I didn't need them out. I wish she had taken them out then (I'm 41 now).