After a tooth extraction: care in the first days

How you look after the gap in the first days decides how smoothly it heals. The most important thing is to protect the blood clot that forms in the empty socket.

The first hours

• Bite firmly on the gauze for 30 to 45 minutes. If it is still bleeding, replace it with a fresh, clean pad and bite again for another 30 minutes.
• Do not chew until the numbness has gone, so that you do not bite your cheek or tongue.
• Do not rinse hard, spit or touch the area with your tongue or fingers for the first 24 hours.
• Do not use a straw or smoke or use tobacco. The suction can pull out the clot. Stay off tobacco as long as you can.

Eating and drinking

Have soft, cool or lukewarm food on the first day, such as dahi, khichdi, soup or mashed food. Chew on the other side. Avoid hot, spicy and hard food, and avoid hot drinks for the first day.

Swelling and pain

• Use a cold pack, wrapped in cloth, on the outside of the cheek, for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, on the first day.
• Sleep with your head raised on an extra pillow.
• Swelling is normal and often peaks on the second or third day, then settles.
• Take pain medicine only as the dentist or doctor advised, and follow the dose.

From the next day

• Rinse gently with warm salt water after meals and at bedtime.
• Brush the other teeth as usual. Go gently near the gap and do not brush the socket itself.
• Keep drinking water, and avoid alcohol for a few days.
• Stitches that dissolve will go on their own. If you have other stitches, come back when you are told.

What is normal

Some oozing of blood-stained saliva on the first day, mild soreness, a stiff jaw and some swelling. A whitish or yellowish layer in the socket after a few days can be normal healing tissue.

When to call the dentist

• Bleeding that does not stop after pressing firmly on gauze for 30 minutes
• Pain that gets worse after the third or fourth day, or spreads to the ear. See dry socket.
• Fever, pus or a bad taste that does not go
• Swelling that keeps increasing after day three
• Trouble swallowing, breathing or opening your mouth. This needs help the same day. Read dental emergency: when to go today.

When to see a dentist

Keep any check-up visit you are given. Dental care is available at both our clinics, in Sayan and on Chhaprabhatha-Variyav Road. Use the booking button below to ask for an appointment.