After you visit Dr. Christopher Chan in Pasadena for your wisdom teeth extraction, your body will naturally develop a blood clot over the surgical site. This is your body’s way of protecting and healing your jaw bone and nerve endings. However, in some circumstances, this blood clot can become dislodged and if it does you will end up with a painful condition known as dry socket. Dry socket leaves Pasadena patients with intense pain in the open socket where the tooth used to sit, and along the nerve endings that go across the sides of the face. Dr. Chan wants to help you avoid this painful condition, so keep reading to learn some important tips to keep the pain away.
After you visit Dr. Chan in Pasadena for your wisdom teeth removal, your body will naturally develop a blood clot over the surgical site. This is your body’s way of protecting and healing your jaw bone and nerve endings. However, in some circumstances, this blood clot can become dislodged and if it does you will end up with a painful condition known as dry socket. Dry socket leaves Pasadena patients with intense pain in the open socket where the tooth used to sit, and along the nerve endings that go across the sides of the face. Dr. Chan wants to help you avoid this painful condition, so keep reading to learn some important tips to keep the pain away.
How To Avoid Dry Socket
As you will see, the occurrence of dry socket is mostly attributed to a sucking motion or eating hard foods before you’re cleared to do so by Dr. Chan. When you leave Foothill Center for Dental Implants and Oral Surgery after your wisdom teeth extraction, be sure to follow his instructions to a “T” so you will heal well and avoid dry socket. Here are some specific tips to avoid this painful complication after wisdom teeth extraction:
1. Do Not Use Straws
Avoid using straws for at least one week after your wisdom teeth extraction to avoid causing dry socket. The sucking motion required to use a straw can dislodge the much-needed blood clot covering your surgery site.
2. Do Not Smoke
Pasadena men and women know that smoking is bad for your health – in every way. And your oral health is no exception. When it comes to smoking after wisdom teeth extraction, you should go ahead and decide that you won’t do it. Smokers have a very high risk of developing dry socket after the procedure because the fast inhalation and smoking motion can dislodge the blood clot from the surgical site. And don’t think that cigarettes are the only culprit. Smoking anything can dislodge the blood clot, and trust us, the pain that comes from dry socket isn’t worth the risk.
3. Eat Soft Food
After you visit Dr. Chan in Pasadena for your wisdom teeth extraction, you should maintain a liquid diet for the first day. After that, it’s important that you ease yourself back into your normal diet. Only eat soft foods for the first few days such as applesauce, mashed potatoes, and bananas. Do not eat anything crunchy or hard until our doctors have given you the okay.
4. Practice Proper Oral Hygiene
Dr. Chan will send you home with specific instructions on how to care for your mouth after your wisdom teeth extraction properly. These instructions will include proper oral hygiene guidelines. You won’t want to brush your teeth with a toothbrush the first day after your surgery, but instead, you should gently rinse your mouth. Remember, you don’t want to do anything to dislodge the blood clot from your surgery site. However, keeping your mouth clean with good oral hygiene will help prevent infection.
Call Our Pasadena Office Today
If you’ve been experiencing pain from your wisdom teeth and think you may need to have them extracted, or you’re already on the books for a removal, knowing how to avoid dry socket is one of the most important things when it comes to tooth removal. Trust us; you don’t want to experience this painful complication.
If you have any questions, or you think you may have an infection at your surgery site, call Dr. Chan, our dual degree, board-certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and Dental Implant Specialist at his Pasadena office today at (626) 792-3161.
