Dr. Sharon Sims and our dedicated team want you to have the best and most successful oral health possible, which is why we recommend taking advantage of the healing process after you have had a tooth extracted.
If you properly recover after treatment, you won’t run into any complications and you’ll quickly return to the strong and healthy smile you deserve. So, to help you heal properly, your dentist recommends doing the following things:
-Keep the pain and discomfort down by taking the pain medication your dentist prescribed to you. We also recommend icing outside the extraction area to reduce the swelling. You can ice the area for 10 minutes at a time.
-Promote healing by biting firmly but gently on a gauze pad. This will reduce bleeding and allow a clot to form. Make sure to change the pad before it is completely soaked with blood or after you’ve used it for three or four hours.
-Rest for the first 24 hours and limit your activity for the first couple of days. As you lie down, prop your head up with pillows to reduce the bleeding.
-Avoid things that might damage the site, like rinsing, spitting, using a straw, and smoking.
-Only eat soft foods for the first couple of days after the treatment. You can gradually add harder foods as the extraction site begins to heal.
-Keep the mouth clean by brushing the teeth and tongue and by flossing your smile. However, as you practice good oral hygiene, it’s best to avoid cleaning the extraction site. Brushing and flossing the site will only promote infection.
We are here to help you in any way we can, so if you have any questions or if you would like to know more about healing after a tooth extraction in Shreveport, Louisiana, then please feel free to give our office a call at 318-631-1100. We are more than happy to give you the information you need so you can have a top-notch oral health.