What You Should Eat
After your wisdom teeth are extracted, you should consume liquids like broths and smoothies and then slowly graduate to soft foods like mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. You should avoid hard foods (because of their difficulty to chew and jagged edges) the days following treatment to give extraction sites time to heal. For a full list of items you can eat or drink, speak with our team.
Caring For Your Extraction Site and Managing Discomfort
After your procedure, you will continue to brush and floss to keep your mouth clean. However, be very gentle when brushing near extraction sites. You do not want to disturb the healing process. The day after your surgery, you can rinse your mouth with warm salt water to keep your mouth clean and reduce swelling. In addition to taking medication to manage discomfort, you can apply cold compresses to the outside of your face the first 24 hours after surgery.
Dry Socket and How To Avoid It
Dry socket is a condition that occurs when the blood clot that forms over an extraction site is disturbed. The blood clots that form over wisdom teeth extraction sites are important for healing. If the clot becomes dislodged, patients will have to return to our office to have the site reopened for a new clot to form. Dry socket not only affects recovery, it affects comfort, too. You can avoid dry socket by not touching extraction sites with your tongue or finger. Food with sharp edges may disturb blood clots, too.
Call our practice if you have questions about wisdom teeth extractions!