Oral Surgery

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Sometimes, there may not be enough room in your mouth for your wisdom teeth and, as they start to come through, they push against the teeth already there or may start to come through at an angle. When this happens, you might feel some pain or discomfort, the best thing to do is to visit your dentist. The dentist may take an x-ray of your mouth to evaluate the situation. From this they will be able to decide whether the teeth need to come out or not. Extractions can be done under sedation if required. 

Having a tooth out is the same as having an operation, and because of this, you must look after the area to speed healing and to reduce the risk of infection. 

• For the first 24 hours, try to avoid eating hot food, don’t smoke, don’t drink any alcohol and try not to disturb any blood clot which might have formed.
• Don’t rinse your mouth for 24 hours after extraction. After that, rinse gently with warm salty water – half a teaspoon of salt in a glass of water is sufficient.
• Brush your teeth as normal to keep your mouth as clean as possible.
• You may feel some small fragments of tooth work their way out of the socket – don’t worry, this is perfectly normal.
• There may be some swelling and a bit of discomfort in the first 2 or 3 days. If you need to, take some ordinary painkillers – aspirin, ibuprofen or paracetamol will be fine.
• If you feel pain a few days after the tooth has been removed, it might be caused by “dry socket”, this is caused by the blood clot breaking down and leaving an empty hole in the gum. This should be examined by your dentist.