Oral Surgery - Extractions

Teeth require extraction when they are damaged beyond repair or when space is required for orthdontic procedures. After removal of a tooth your dentist will give you specific instructions to follow to make sure your recovery is as quick and painless as possible. Below are a few instructions.

• For the first 24 hours, try to avoid eating hot food, don’t smoke, don’t drink any alcohol and try not to disturb any blood clot which might have formed.
• Don’t rinse your mouth for 24 hours after extraction. After that, rinse gently with warm salty water – half a teaspoon of salt in a glass of water is enough.
• Brush your teeth as normal to keep your mouth as clean as possible.
• You may feel some small pieces of bone work their way out of the socket – don’t worry, this is perfectly normal.
• There may be some swelling and a bit of discomfort in the first two to three days. If you need to, take some ordinary painkillers – aspirin, ibuprofen or paracetomol will be fine.

If you feel pain a few days after the tooth has been removed, it might be where the blood clot has broken down leaving an empty hole in the gum. This is called a ‘dry socket’ and will need to be looked at by your dentist. Simply go back and the dentist will pack the wound to ease your discomfort.

Your dentist may have given you some gauze to place onto the area where the tooth has been removed – if not, a clean cloth handkerchief will do just as well (but not a paper tissue).

• Roll it into a small firm pad large enough to fit over the gap (probably around 1cm by 3cm).
• Sit up and gently clear away any blood clots around the gap using the gauze or hanky.
• Put a clean pad over the gap (from tongue side to cheek side) and bite down on it firmly for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Take the pad off and check whether the bleeding has stopped. If not, apply a fresh pad and contact your dentist

These cans sometimes be troublesome if there is not enough room in your mouth for them to erupt normally. They cause a condition named pericoronitis which can be very painfull. According to N.I.C.E guidelines wisdom teeth should be removed after a second bout of pericoronitis.

A specific type of dental X-ray called an OPG is used to assess wisdom teeth. Their ease of removal depends upon their depth and angulation. Many can be removed by your dentist at his surgery but a few require specialist referral and may require a GA.