After a tooth extraction; what next?

After a tooth extraction or removal, it is important to avoid doing anything that will raise blood pressure around your mouth. This is really important to note because if ignored, it leads to further increase in bleeding. Your dentist will normally tell you to bite firmly on a gauze pad for a while after the tooth extraction. You will be told to change the gauze as the bleeding continues until there is a good reduction in the rate of bleeding.

Within an hour after a tooth extraction, blood clot forms in the socket. So during the first hour after the removal, bleeding is normal and the rate of bleeding reduces as time passes. When bleeding stops, healing starts with the blood clotting. Within a month or two months after the tooth removal, the socket is gradually filled with soft gum tissue. It takes six months or more for bone to completely cover the socket.

However after a tooth extraction, it takes different rapidity to heal different people.

• Avoid rinsing your mouth for the next 24 hours. After 24 hours, you can then use salt water (salt and warm water mixture) to rinse as this enhances healing and also help in cleaning your mouth.
• Avoid smoking cigarette and chewing tobacco.
• Do not contact the affected area with your tongue or fingers to prevent you from damaging the blood clot on the socket.
• Don’t drink alcohol as this does not help matters at all. Alcohol tends to encourage bleeding and delay healing.
• Avoid taking hot/spicy foods and drinks after a tooth extraction.
• Sucking through a straw must be avoided too.
• Be careful not to chew on the side that the extraction took place. Chewing on that side allows food particles to pile up in the removed tooth’s socket.
• Avoid tough activities after a tooth extraction and rest as often as possible.

• Drink lots of fluids but avoid letting it make contact with the affected area.
• Consume soft and nourishing meals on the tooth extraction day. After a tooth extraction, it is important to keep to a healthy diet. Good diet on its own part enhances healing.
• Carefully clean the teeth next to the affected areaT
• Take a Vitamin C supplement. This will improve healing too.
• If prescribed, continue to take the antibiotics giving to you by your dentist for the specified duration. This is very important to complete treatment.

Some hours after a tooth extraction, you can apply an ice pack to reduce pain and swelling in the area.
You would encounter some discomfort in the first few days after a tooth extraction but do not panic. To relieve you, you can take the normal over-the-counter pain reliever (like ibuprofen or paracetamol) you take if you have a headache. But beware of taking Aspirin as this will make your mouth bleed.

Keep your mouth clean always, especially around the extracted tooth’s socket. Make sure the socket is free from debris.

You may still encounter some slight bleeding for around the first day. This is usually seen when a small amount of blood mixes with a large amount of saliva in your mouth. If you notice this blood, do not rinse but apply pressure to the tooth’s socket by using a clean handkerchief.

Usually after a tooth extraction, the anesthetic used by the dentist leaves the mouth insensitive. You will hardly feel pain but do not be too carried away. So avoid doing anything that will raise the blood pressure around the extracted tooth area.

Be calm through the day and keep your head up to avoid bleeding. It will do you good to keep your head up even when you rest on the bed. You could place your head on support (like pillow) high enough to keep your head high.