After a dental patient has wisdom teeth removed, he or she needs to use some strategies to decrease discomfort and speed healing. Although any type of oral surgery is not to be taken lightly, wisdom teeth extraction tends to relatively routine with an extremely low risk of complications. Most patients begin experiencing some pain after they get home, and the pain relief substances provided at the clinic wear off. They can use pain medication prescribed by the Oral Surgeon in Cranford NJ to eliminate this discomfort. Since these medications tend to make people drowsy, the individual is likely to go to sleep and snooze through the worst of the symptoms. In the morning, the patient will feel much better.
That level of pain relief medication probably won’t be necessary after another day or two goes by. The patient then can switch to an over-the-counter medicine such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, or stop taking any medication altogether. If any pain or swelling continues beyond the first day, an ice pack or heat pack held on the side of the face can help.
The patient needs to rinse the sockets in the gums with warm salt water three or four times a day. This is soothing to the gums and also helps clean the open spaces. No matter how careful someone is, a tiny bit of food may get inside there. An Oral Surgeon in Cranford NJ usually sends a plastic syringe home with the patient, so this person can precisely rinse the affected areas with a directed stream of water. You can visit here to get additional information.
In regard to food, the person who has just had wisdom teeth removed will feel better when relying on softer foods for a few days. Soup, pasta, pudding and yogurt are some examples. The main problem with eating hard, crunchy food is that it can hurt the gums if it gets near the back of the mouth while chewing. Foods such as popcorn and rye bread with caraway seeds should be avoided because the kernels and seeds can get stuck in there and may be difficult to remove, even with the syringe provided by a medical group such as Westfield Oral Surgery.