On June 5th, I had a lower molar extracted and it turned into a dry socket about three days later. My dentist packed the tooth a total of four times in about a ten day period and would not pack it anymore even though I was still in alot of pain. He said it needed to start healing and gave me a syringe to keep it rinsed out, some Vicodin and an antibiotic. Here it is July 7 and I am still in alot of pain. I have maybe two days in a row that are relatively pain free and then without any known reason, the pain will suddenly return. I have noticed that some of the pain is triggered when I rinse out the socket with warm salt water. I am doing this very gently but nevertheless, it always seems to irriate the socket and trigger pain. I know this procedure has to be done to keep the socket clean in order to prevent infection. Since suffering this dreaded situation, I have done some extensive research on dry socket and everything I have found says this can go on for several months. I went to an oral surgeon for a second opinion/consultation. He said I have a "classic" dry socket and that there will be good days and bad days but could not tell me how long this will go on. I know I cannot be on Vicodin for a very long period, nor do I want to, and I have been trying to not take it except for at night when it seems the pain always gets worse and just use Motrin, Advil but they really don't do very much for the pain. Anyone out there with a similar experience? Please let me know how you dealt with this. I cannot remember the last time I have been pain free and had a decent night's sleep. This condition is very debilitating, stressful and depressing. I feel like my life has been on hold for over a month with little or no relief.