Do you really need this piece of info?
Prick. Pluck. Tinkle. Finally, it’s a big relief! You’ve discovered the joy of a tooth hurting no more. But wait! What follows is often a source of botheration. That’s swelling we are talking about.
Unless you are one of the very few blessed souls who somehow, manage to escape complicated, painful situations only God knows how, you are bound to confront the post-extraction swelling of the gums. The most important consideration to you aside from finding out that your gums are tender and puffy is that how you want to deal with it. Here we decided to pass some low-down that you can apply and appreciate.
Quick tips to fight the swelling
- Cold Pack: It is about applying cold packs on your face, around the site of extraction. This can be either using an ice bag or a surgical glove, which you will fill with ice. Or, a plain cold pack. If you get nothing, just a bag of frozen vegetables (e.g. peas) would do. Just ensure the cold pack conforms to your facial shape. Or, you may just have an ice-cream or a Popsicle. If you do this almost immediately after the extraction, chances are you’ll face less amount of swelling. Or, maybe no swelling at all! However, it is always better if you wrap the cold source in a piece of thick cloth or a towel and do not stretch it beyond 15 minutes at one go. Keep it off for 15 minutes again and then re-apply. If you got your teeth pulled from both sides, alternate between the two. Do this within 4 hours of the extraction. Else, it won’t have any effects.
- Medication: The next step towards minimizing the swelling is following your dentist’s prescribed course of medications, from the start to the end. Failing to do that would trigger the complications further and might make them go out of bounds. Don’t flinch from doing so even by a single bit!
- Choose your food wisely: It doesn’t take to be a rocket scientist to understand that the less you make an injury, sooner it will heal. That’s why, AVOID HARD, SOLID FOOD BY EVERY MEANS for the first 72 hours. Opt for liquid, semi-solid or soft, solid food instead; which could range from heavy soups to mashed rice in lentil soups; oats, porridge, curd rice, upma, idli etc. If you can’t do without non-veg food, bone-broth with minced meat would make a wonderful choice. Also, have them cold. Anything warm touching the site of extraction within first 48hrs can lead to profuse bleeding.
- Re-positioning your head while you sleep: Keep your head above the level of your chest to reduce blood pressure to some extent at the site of trauma. This will, in turn, reduce the swelling and also the throbbing or dull painful sensations. This you can do by using 2 or 3 pillows under your head’
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