The Drysocket Visitor
As recounted in the notes of dental hygienist, Room 12B, Colchester NHS MaxFax Clinic
In late October 2016, a patient arrived with no record, no GP referral, and no apparent teeth — but pain radiating from an old molar void.
He gave no name. He carried an X-ray image rolled into a tube of waxed gauze. The receptionist noted the smell — burnt chalk and mint antiseptic. His mouth hung open. Not wide. Just enough.
The triage nurse asked what hurt. He pointed to the empty place beside his jaw.
“It sings,” he said. “Especially when I lie.”
In the examination room, he sat perfectly still. The dentist, a quiet man named Dr Singh, gently palpated the gumline. No inflammation. No swelling. But when his glove entered the socket, it kept going — past the bone, past what was physica... See more