Dos and Don’ts after Tooth Extraction for a Speedy Recovery
Do you experience discomfort in a specific tooth? Perhaps you have a wisdom tooth causing concerns with pain and infection in the mouth, making it evident that dental extraction is imperative to relieve the pain.
Tooth extractions are reasonably standard and performed on many patients for infections, impaction, injuries, and medical reasons. When suggested tooth extractions in Mississauga, ON, you will likely think about the elevators, and forceps dentists use to loosen teeth before eventually pulling them out.
You might think dentists favour extracting teeth without realizing that dental professionals suggest the treatment as a last resort after exhausting all other options to save your tooth. Therefore if recommended tooth removal by your dentist, consider the proposal beneficial to your dental and overall health.
How Painful Is the Tooth Extraction Procedure?
Tooth extractions without anesthesia cause immense pain because the dentist must remove a part of your body attached to your jawbone. Thankfully, dentists are not age-old barbers who performed extractions before dentistry came into being.
The introduction of dentistry also brought in advances like anesthesia of different types to ensure you don’t experience any discomfort when getting a tooth removed for infections or other reasons. Therefore you will likely not feel any pain during tooth removal, whether visible or impacted.
Dentists provide adequate anesthesia near the affected to numb the area before they begin working on the affected tooth, loosening it with elevators and removing it with forceps.
Unfortunately, if you need wisdom teeth extraction for impaction, you might require more potent anesthesia because the dentist must create incisions in the gums to expose the impacted tooth and occasionally remove it in pieces if it is challenging to extract.
While you will not experience any pain during the removal, you can expect discomfort after you return home. The dentist places dental gauze over the extraction site to help with blood clot formation. You also get a set of instructions on the things you can or cannot do until you recover from the dental extraction.
It is vital to follow your dental professional’s instructions to recover without complications in the shortest time possible.
The Dos and Don’ts after Tooth Removal for Speed Recovery
Things You Should Do
- Keep the dental gauze over the extraction site until it becomes saturated with blood, and change it if necessary.
- After tooth removal, especially under surgery, the dentist recommends you get adequate rest for 24 to 48 hours and avoid strenuous activity. The suggestion is to give your body sufficient rest to ensure swift recovery.
- Your mouth remains sensitive after the surgical procedure. It will be challenging for you to have complex foods that might irritate the surgical site. Therefore the dentist suggests you have soft foods like soups, eggs, yogurt, mashed potatoes, applesauce, and dairy produce for at least three to four days after tooth removal. Besides the sensitivity, soft foods are suggested to ensure you don’t dislodge the blood clot in the extraction site.
- You can expect swelling on your cheeks after tooth extraction. However, you can use ice packs intermittently at 15-minute intervals on and off to alleviate the swelling.
- You must take any medications prescribed or suggested by the dentist to help manage pain after tooth removal.
- If you develop any complications such as fever, swelling, and bleeding, please do not hesitate to contact the dentist because it indicates signs of infections that need prompt treatment.
Things You Shouldn’t Do
- Do not consider eating solid foods to prevent opening up the surgical wound. In addition, eating solid foods can dislodge the blood clot to make you a victim of a dry socket, a painful condition needing sedative dressings from the dentist and delaying your recovery. Therefore you must refrain from eating sugary treats, meat, chewy foods, and hard nuts.
- Do not consider smoking, consuming alcohol or using tobacco in any form because your healing slows down from these products. The chemical from tobacco inhibits healing, and alcohol dries out your mouth resulting in similar conditions.
- Do not clean or floss your teeth for 24 hours after tooth removal. Following 24 hours, you can use a soft-bristled toothbrush to brush gently around the extraction site without using aggressive strokes to prevent damaging the extraction site.
Following the recommendations of your dentist and the guidelines mentioned in this article, you can recover without complications after getting a tooth extracted for reasons like infections, injuries, or impaction.
Pearl Dental Care performs tooth extractions on many patients giving them accurate instructions on recovering speedily without complications. If you need tooth extractions for reasons described earlier, arranging an appointment with this practice helps you recover from the procedure without complications.