Metal Mouth Message Board

Just had one of my teeth extracted (no pain whatsoever), but a few questions, if anyone can help...

- how quickly before the gap properly healed over? I'm pretty sure if i tried to eat even pasta tonight, it would start bleeding again if i bit down with something caught in the gap. Will it be ok to start eating soft food within 24 hours, or is it soup only for a couple of days?

- do i need to worry about getting any food in the gap where the blood clot is healing over. I've got an antiseptic mouthwash to start using after 6 hours, but can i eat before then?

- did anyone suffer any pain in the days after the extraction? The anaesthetic's worn off, and i've taken a couple of painkillers, but no pain at the moment.

- Having lowers fitted in a couple of days (what a week!), and the gap will be filled by some kind of temporary tooth. How does this work? Surely you won't be able to bite onto it, if it's just resting on a very recently healed wound? Presume it's attached via archwire to the rest of my upper linguals?

Guess tooth cleaning around the extraction site also has to be done pretty carefully! And gentle use of mouthwash!

Any thoughts welcome?

Hi

I ate on the day of the extraction - but carefully so I didn't get food stuck, I cut it into very small pieces, it took a while.

For me yes food did get stuck in the extraction sites more so on the bottom than the top (I had 1st premolars removed). The best way I found to remove it was rinsing with water - although I think you are not meant to do this for the first 24 hours. After that salt water rinses (1/8 teaspoon in a tumbler of water) is recommended. I was advised not to poke around at the site to remove food, just rinse. Mine healed a week. I ruined a pillowcase with a bit of bleeding on the first two nights, even though I didn't think I was still bleeding. I didn't have any pain or need painkillers

Temp tooth, mine is stuck onto tooth next to gap. If yours is the same, it's just for appearance, not strong enough to eat on.

Hope that helps

hi rolo,

Thanks for your message. I've just had a whole carton of soup, and a couple of smoken salmon fillets - all very soft, and no problems whatsoever. Haven't got anything stuck in the gap, but it is upper pre-molar, and trying to eat on the other side of my mouth, so perhaps easier to avoid getting food stuck than with a lower extraction.

Have been drinking lots of water, but avoided vigorous swilling, but was told to use a mouthwash this evening (after 6 hours).

I sort of expect it might bleed a bit at night, but thanks for the heads up - i'll take off the decent pillowcases!

Thanks also for info on fake tooth - how long did you have it for, and did they replace it with another smaller one before the gap closed to a point where it was no longer necessary. Guess you had to chew only on one side for that time, as see what you say about it just being cosmetic, and not something to bite down on. With the spacers at the back, and then a fake tooth, i'm running out of areas to chew in!!

How long were you told to avoid alcohol for?

thanks!

I think I might of had a glass of wine the same day as the extractions, four of them, as I got linguals fitted at the same time - I deserved a treat! Not sure it was recommended though.

The fake tooth, yes, they grind them down to make smaller and maybe add bits to reshape them to look okay as the gap closes. On the top I'm waiting for an adult canine (impacted) to make an appearance, so that's taking a little longer. On the bottom, no fake teeth, but six months in and the gaps are down to about 2-3 milimeters. Yes, if you have temporary teeth in more than one area, eating could take some care.

Good luck with your treatment