How to Take Care of Mouth After a Tooth Extraction?

Tooth extractions are relatively common and performed for various reasons, including tooth decay, injuries, gum disease, et cetera. For example, tooth extractions near Greenville, NY, perform tooth removal procedures on children needing orthodontic treatments or affected by issues like tooth decay.

Tooth extractions are not pleasant, and your child will express anxiety at having their teeth removed. Unfortunately, the removal becomes necessary to help maintain the dental and oral health of the child and provide them with a beautiful smile.

Why Are teeth Removed?

The primary reason for tooth removal remains tooth decay, gum disease, injuries, crowding, and impacted teeth. The pediatric dentist in Scarsdale, NY, makes every effort to preserve your child’s tooth and recommends removal only when essential.

For example, if your child has overcrowding and needs orthodontic treatment to straighten their teeth, the dentist recommends extracting a couple of teeth to make space for the remaining teeth to move into their proper positions. Unfortunately, if your child has tooth decay that is challenging to restore with fillings or root canals, extraction becomes the only alternative. Therefore while not favoring the tooth removal procedure, dentists recommend it in cases where your child’s oral and dental health benefits from it.

What Is the Procedure for a Tooth Extraction?

If your child needs extraction of a visible tooth, the procedure used for the removal is straightforward, merely requiring local anesthesia in the mouth to numb the tooth and the surrounding gums. The dentist loosens the tooth using elevators before removing it with forceps.

Unfortunately, if your child must undergo an impacted tooth extraction, they must undergo a complicated surgical procedure when they receive more potent anesthesia before the dentist makes incisions in their gums and removes the impacted tooth using special dental instruments.

Caring of Mouth after Tooth Removal

Tooth removal, whether simple or surgical, requires your child to care for the mouth after the procedure. The Scarsdale dentist provides after-care instructions to ensure speedy recovery from the process without complications. The after-care instructions include the following:

• Rest:during the initial 24 hours following tooth removal, your child must get sufficient rest and avoid physical activity or exercise. When lying down, children receive help by keeping their heads elevated using extra pillows.
• Blood Clot Formation:You must ensure your child bites on the gauze pad placed by the dentist on the extraction site to prevent excessive bleeding. Depending on the bleeding, the gauze pad can remain on the extraction site for nearly three to four hours and changed every 30 minutes. If the bleeding continues beyond several hours, contacting the dentist is recommended.
• Ice Packs:Ice packs help alleviate swelling in the cheeks so long as they are used intermittently for 15 minutes on and off on the first day.
• Medications:Your child must take the painkillers or antibiotics prescribed by the dentist to alleviate pain and prevent infections. You must not allow them to stop the medication before completing the entire course. If the discomfort doesn’t subside within 48 hours and is accompanied by bleeding, you can contact the dentist for advice.
• Dietary Restrictions:Children are accustomed to having crunchy and hard foods and will likely not prefer soft foods recommended by the dentist. Unfortunately, you must encourage them to have soft foods such as yogurt, applesauce, ice cream, et cetera until they can incorporate solid foods into their diet.
• Not Disturbing the Extraction Site:Your child requires a few days to get accustomed to the gap in their mouths. Meanwhile, you must encourage them not to poke at the opening with their tongue or toothpicks to prevent delays in healing and create a dry socket. Dry sockets are painful and require additional treatments from dentists besides delaying your child’s recovery.
• Brushing and Flossing:the mouth must remain clean even after tooth removal. However, your child might not find it comfortable to brush and floss on the day of the extraction. However, they can rinse their mouth with salt water rinses to help keep infections and bay.

So long as your child follows the dentist’s instructions, they can recover without complications at the earliest to receive further treatments that they might require to benefit their oral health.

Tooth removals are pretty standard even among children. If your child needs tooth extraction, please do not hesitate to visit Smile Scarsdale Pediatric Dentistry & Family Orthodontics for them to receive comfortable and non-invasive tooth extraction.