To ask for your tooth extraction advice

[MrsBDarcy]

Other than not eating any sugar of course. Now regretting every sweet thing I've ever eaten. I've just had to have a tooth out as an emergency and feeling very sorry for myself having not had this before. I had awful teeth as a kid but mostly got on top of them years or ago with no fillings in years. The dentist was so lovely but it was quite traumatic and the numbing stuff is wearing off and I'm so scared of dry socket as my husband had this a few months back and was in such pain with it. What can I do to best improve my chances of quick healing ?

I had dry socket years ago. It sucked. I don't know how it happened as I took care of my mouth, but I must have rinsed my mouth or something and the clot came off. It was pretty grim, but luckily I was seen by a dentist swiftly. They packed the socket with clove (I think? This was years ago!) and the pain was gone immediately.

It is quite rare though. Take it easy and eat with one side of your mouth. I also second the not using straws. They're tempting but might make it worse. I reckon a solid diet of ice cream and McDonald's milkshakes should do it.

I had my impacted wisdom teeth out. Stitches and all. Sleep propped up, rinse with hot salty water, hot from the tap is fine. In the first day or so just hold the water in your mouth over the site but don’t swill it spit just let it run out your mouth into the sink. Make sure you eat if your are having ibuprofen. I was eating yoghurt and smoothies as I couldn’t chew. Then the ibuprofen made me throw up, throwing up with stitches isn’t nice!

It's nearly 24 hours. I'm sleepy and feel like I just want to doze but tbf that's most lockdown saturdays. I'll try salt water soon and planning scrambled eggs later. Treat! I'm still scared of dry socket but hope that by keeping soft food and salt I'll escape it. Dull pulsing pain which is manageable and I think more due to the tugging

I got an infection and it felt like someone was poking a skewer of Knitting needle into the hole, yours sounds different.

@nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut

No straws or smoking or anything else that involves sucking or creates suction in your mouth.

Nothing very hot and nothing fizzy. Chew on the other side and avoid bitty food like rice that might get stuck.

Wait 24 hours then start doing warm salt water rinses 3 times a day but don't swoosh it. Just let it run over the extraction site. No mouthwash for a week. Just salt water.

Your main priority is not to dislodge or dissolve the blood clot in the socket as that is what protects it. You lose that before the bottom and walls of the socket have healed over, you get dry socket.

Ibuprofen will take down the swelling and inflammation so I'd choose that over paracetamol or codeine if you need painkillers. You can take 3 of the normal 200mg ones if needed, its a safe dosage as long as you don't have any medical reason not to.

This is excellent advice and in line with the advice my dentist gave me after an extraction in Feb - I've had no problems at all despite a foul dental history.

I always end up with dry sockets. The pain was so bad the last time I tried to avoid eating with it and almost passed out in the dentist office. Make sure you're looking after yourself and taking it easy!

I had one out a few weeks ago and @nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut helped me then too and thanks to their excellent advice I avoided dry socket I stressed about it really bad for a good week after the extraction though and that side of my mouth felt weird for a good 10 days or so.

I still have a hole in my gum that food gets stuck in so I use a calpol syringe to flush it out with water after dinner because rinsing doesn't always empty it. Don't do this for the first couple of weeks when it needs left alone though!

My dentist always told me that the quicker you get back to eating normal food the better, chewing stimulates blood flow which aids healing, just do a saltwater rinse after every meal to remove any bits stuck in the hole. I had a wisdom tooth out last autumn, had my tooth out at 9.45, had toasted teacake at 12.00pm, ate a normal tea & ate some crisps later. He said the quicker the healing starts, the quicker the pain goes away. I also used arnica tablets for the bruising.

I'm not down with searching for previous threads but thank you all and @nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut for services to MNetters and our teeth. Or holes in gums. I've had jacket potatoes insides today with cheese and risotto tonight but extra mushy! Chewing felt weird when I tried bread in my soup. I'm salt washing and eating one sided and feel like I've got a lisp. I hate the gap. I need to look at options. What are the options? Implant ? Is there anything else?

All are welcome. voice of bitter bitter experience talking

Is it a front one or a molar? Because if its a molar, take a look at your other teeth first. If they are very crowded and packed tightly together then I'd say don't replace it.

My dentist advised me not to as my teeth are badly crowded to the point that two actually grew in sideways as it was the only way they would fit and another through the roof of my mouth. Add in a couple of supernumerary ones and its a wonder I got away with only a slight lisp.

But by not replacing the offending molar, they have all drifted slightly and I can now floss between all of them and get teepee brushes between my other molars and its really helping with cleaning.

Have you thought about a snap in denture if you do replace it? They're pretty good apparently, a cross between an implant and a denture. They put a screw type thing embedded in your jaw like with an implant and then the denture can be clicked in and out so you remove it for cleaning. Bit cheaper than full implants but better than gluing your teeth in. I haven't had to replace any teeth, as most of the ones I've had out weren't supposed to be there in the first place (thank you hyperdontia!) but I did look into these.

Oh I'm sorry 😞. But thank you very much for your help. It's really really appreciated. I'll see what happens as it heals. It's a premolar that's gone. RIP my tooth
Bloody 70/80s sweets 🍭 🍬 🍬🍭.