At Link Dental Excellence, we want to help you keep all of your teeth. Even so, there are times when a tooth extraction is the best option for maintaining your oral health in the long term. Tooth extractions are typically a fast process. The most critical part of this process is recovery. We need to control the bleeding immediately following the tooth extraction to encourage a proper healing process. We will have you bite down on a gauze pad for 30 to 45 minutes after the extraction to form a blood clot. Not disturbing the blood clot for the next 24 hours is essential. That means you should avoid sucking through straws, or you risk developing a dry socket. We recommend placing an ice pack on the outer cheek for the swelling. Once the swelling has decreased, a warm compress can be placed in the same area for comfort. You can also gently rinse your mouth with salt water to clean the extraction area.
When you have a tooth extracted, a blood clot develops shortly after the surgery, which is your body beginning the healing process. If this blood clot becomes dislodged before your mouth has fully healed, it can cause pain. This is called a dry socket.
Tips for avoiding dry sockets are:
It’s important to stick to soft foods for the first couple of days following your tooth extraction. You don’t want to disturb the blood clot that has formed, so some foods you can eat are:
Tooth extraction is the removal of a tooth from its socket in the bone. Tooth extraction usually occurs when a tooth has been broken or damaged by decay, and there is too much damage for the tooth to be repaired by a filling or crown.
However, there are other reasons for tooth extraction, including extra teeth growing in that are blocking others, baby teeth that haven’t fallen out in time for the permanent teeth to come in, braces, wisdom teeth that are commonly removed, or medical reasons.