No Laughing Matter: Smooth Recovery from Wisdom Tooth Extraction

On YouTube or Instagram, you’ve probably seen at least one hilarious video of someone groggily coming out of their wisdom tooth extraction and saying random things. They may comment on how much they love a parent or friend or may share an insight that is significant to them but incoherent to everyone else. When the video ends, you laugh, but this funny moment is actually important and serious for recovery. If you or your teen is going to have wisdom teeth extracted, you’ll need to know how to handle the situation beyond hitting the record button.

In this blog post, you’ll learn about what to do to ensure a smooth recovery from wisdom tooth extraction.

Top Priority: Blood Clot

The most crucial element to getting better after this procedure is having a blood clot form and stay over the site. In the few hours after you get home, clean gauze needs to be worn until the clot develops, which will shield the sensitive healing tissue underneath from harmful bacteria.

The instructions your dentist provides are intended to help you keep that blood clot in place. If it comes off too soon, the site could become infected, or you could develop a complication called dry socket, which is painful. As a result, you should follow your dentist’s directions closely!

Right After Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Other than gently biting down on clean gauze, when you get home from the dentist’s office, you must rest. In fact, you shouldn’t participate in strenuous activities for at least 48 hours. You should lie down with your head elevated and even try to sleep, which will help the body in the healing process. Once the anesthesia wears off, you can take over-the-counter pain reliever and apply a cold compress in 20-minute increments to minimize discomfort.

Diet Following the Procedure

At some point, you’ll need to eat, so when the time comes, you may have soft foods and should stay away from hard, crunchy ones. Eggs, yogurt, mashed potatoes, and oatmeal shouldn’t disrupt the clot and are delicious and nutritious!

After a few days, you can slowly reintroduce other foods back into your diet, but you should be extra careful when chewing food with your back teeth with the sites so nearby. After about a week, you can resume eating normally with less concern for injury or complication.

Although capturing the funny, light parts of wisdom tooth extraction on video can still be part of the aftermath, you should take this period seriously if you want you or your teen to bounce back from the surgery as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

About the Practice

With a diverse group of dentists on staff, Amherst Dental Group can treat a variety of oral health problems, including wisdom tooth issues. Except for complex impacted wisdom teeth, which we refer patients to an oral surgeon, we can perform the extraction procedure in-house and take advantage of sedation dentistry to make your experience more comfortable. For more tips for wisdom tooth extraction recovery, contact our Williamsville office online or call us at 716-689-8882.