Safety Recommendations for an Extracted Tooth

So you recently got your tooth extracted. You can barely feel your jaw and there is an open wound in your mouth. Your doctor leaves you instructions on what and when you can eat and drink and how to rinse your mouth until you recover.
Still, if you follow all the doctor’s prescriptions obediently and do nothing from the banned list, there can still be some problems with tissue recovery if you don’t take additional safety measures. There are some things to avoid if you want your wound to heal sooner.

Things NOT to Do After a Tooth Extraction:

1. No heat
   The rise of your body’s temperature will increase blood circulation. This is a risk factor for developing bleeding or inflammation. You can take a warm shower. No hot baths, no staying in the sun for a long time, no sauna – in the first three days, this is very important.
2. No nicotine and alcohol
   Both smoking and drinking alcohol increases your risk of having bleeding, irritation or infection in your wounded oral mucosa. It is necessary to avoid not only a couple of days after but before the procedure too, because these problems may complicate the process.
   Alcohol will dissolve the blood clot that is necessary for protecting a fresh wound against bacteria. This is why drinking for three days after the operation is not recommended. If the process got complicated and your doctor prescribed you antibiotics, this term extends up to two weeks.
3. No sports
   Not even speaking about sports, even movements should be controlled in the first day after the procedure. Any physical strain will increase blood circulation and arterial pressure that can cause bleeding. If you have stitches in your mouth, the chances of their failure will be very high with physical strain.
   These rules are not so difficult to follow but now you see how important it is.

How to Clean Your Teeth Safely?
Keeping your mouth clean is very important when you have a wound in it. The bacteria must be removed to avoid getting into the wound.

This is how you should clean your teeth after a tooth extraction:

Use a smaller amount of toothpaste not to irritate the wound

Don’t touch the wound

Clean your teeth thoroughly and carefully, especially those near the wound

Rinse your mouth gently

What If Your Gum Has Inflamed?

This may happen if you damaged the blood clot in the wound:

The pain doesn’t stop and got even worse after the first day

The wound smells bad

You have a fever that doesn’t stop or grows after the first day following the procedure

If you notice one or several of these symptoms, reach out to your family dentist immediately.