Dry socket -Prevalence and risk factors in a Pakistani Population

The term dry socket was first used by Crawford in 1896 (1). It is one of the most common postoperative complications and many different terms have since then been used to describe the condition. For example: Alveolar osteitis, localized osteitis, postoperative alveolitis, alveolalgia, alveolitis sicca dolorosa, septic dry socket, necrotic socket, localized osteomyelitis and fibrinolytic alveolitis. In his thesis Birn used the name “fibrinolytic alveolitis” (2) to describe the complication. This name reflects his theory of etiology and is probably the most accurate one, but not used widely in the literature. The more generic name, dry socket, tends to be used in most cases. In this article the condition will be referred to as dry socket from now on.