How To Speed Up Your Tooth Extraction Recovery

One of the first steps of the dental implant process is to have your tooth or teeth removed. Then once your gums have had time to heal, one of our dentists at Gentle Dentistry will surgically place the dental implant itself. To make sure that your gums heal properly and that you don’t get an infection, we have created a brief list of care instructions. Although we will send you home with a detailed list of instructions, a little reiteration never hurt.

Rinse It

Don’t rinse your mouth until it has been about 24 hours since your extraction; then, you can mix ½ teaspoon of iodized table salt with 8 ounces of water and gently rinse your mouth with it. Because salt is a natural disinfectant, it will help prevent you from developing any sort of oral infection. Additionally, rinsing will also help to get any trapped food or germs out of the incision site as it heals.

Eat Soft Foods

If you have been looking for an excuse to eat mashed potatoes and ice cream, look no further than a tooth extraction. Because you won’t be able to chew most foods, we encourage our patients to eat a soft-food diet so that you can give your recently pulled tooth plenty of time to heal without getting exacerbated.

Don’t Brush The Extraction Site

Make sure that you continue brushing and flossing your teeth at least twice a day but also make sure that you avoid brushing the extraction site. When you are brushing near it, use soft, gentle strokes so that you don’t apply too much pressure near it and rip your stitches open.

These are just a few ways to help speed up your recovery process after you have your tooth pulled. If you experience worsening pain, bleeding, or swelling, make sure to contact our office right away because this may be signs of an infection.

To learn more about having your tooth pulled or how to get ready for dental implants, schedule a consultation with us at our Tampa office today and call us at (813) 734-7102.