This article is about how to avoid dry socket. Dry socket is a painful dental condition that is also refereed as alveolar osteitis. When a tooth is pulled, a blood clot is formed in the socket to safeguard the bone and nerves inside the teeth. Sometimes that clot can dissolve after a couple of days after the removal of tooth. This leaves the bone and nerve in contact with air, food, liquid and anything that you intake in the mouth. This can lead to infection and severe pain that can last for a few days. This article will tell you all the best ways to avoid dry socket. Read below to collect all the related information.
How Dry Socket Occur?
Many a times the blood clot is the result of trauma or force to the socket. Actually, there is no valid reason to pinpoint what results to dislodged blood clot or one that fails to form in the initial place. But identically there are some risk reasons that increase the chances of forming a dry socket. Read below to know the reason of dry socket.
- Using oral contraceptives.
- Failure to properly care the wound.
- Excessive smoking and use of tobacco.
Tips to Avoid Dry Socket
Contents
1.) Seek a Dentist or Oral surgeon
Sear for the dentist who has good experience in tooth extractions, and importantly, stop smoking before your extraction process as smoking and using other tobacco products can cause dry socket. Consult and talk to your dentist about a program that will help you permanently to avoid dry socket. Ask to your dentist or oral surgeon about the prescription or medications and supplements that can help to solve your problem. This can be done before surgery, but below are some important way that you can use after your surgery.
What you can do after surgery
2.) Activities to Perform after Surgery
After your surgery, plan to rest for the day or two. You can resume with your normal activities after two days, but avoid excessive exercise and sports activity for at least a week. It might result in the collection of the blood clot in the socket and cause dry socket. This is the best ways you can avoid dry socket.
3.) Water
Drink plenty of water after the surgery. Make sure you don’t drink alcohol, caffeine, carbonated or hot beverages for 1 or 2 days. Do not use a straw to drink anything for a week because the sucking action can dislodge the blood clot in the socket. This is one of the ways to avoid dry socket.
4.) Food to Consume after Surgery
Try to eat soft foods, like yogurt or applesauce first day. Start eating semisolid foods when you feel you can tolerate them. Stay away from, chewy, very hot and spicy foods that can get stuck in the socket because this can irritate the wound. This is one of the known ways to avoid dry socket.
5.) Cleaning your Mouth
Following surgery, make sure you gently rinse your mouth and brush your teeth, but avoid the area that is affected because of tooth extraction. After the 24 hours of surgery, gently rinse your mouth with lukewarm salt water at the interval of every two hours while awake, repeat this for a week after your surgery. This will help you to avoid dry socket. To make the salt water rinse all you need to do is mix 1/2 teaspoon of table salt in 1 glass of lukewarm water.
6.) Avoid Tobacco Use
Avoid smoking for at least 48 hours after surgery. It is very dangerous in this condition as it increases the risk of dry socket. If you are addicted to chew tobacco, it is highly recommended that don’t use it for at least a week. Use of tobacco in any form or products after the surgery can delay healing and increase the your suffering. This is the best way to avoid dry socket.
Treatment for Dry Socket
7.) Dry Socket Treatment
If you find yourself in the three to five percent of oral surgery, chances that can lead to dry socket, consult your dentist soon possible. Your dentist will remove out the socket to flush the remains and apply medicated dressings to make the area safe and free from the chance of dry socket. This usually brings relief, but your dentist can also provide medication to reduce the pain. Along with this medication, follow your dentist’s advice to practice at home to avoid dry socket.
8.) Use Clove Oil
This is the known natural pain reliever for dry socket, clove oil has been used right from ancient times to treat every dental problems and also for pain alleviation. It contains antiseptic and analgesic properties that is very useful to reduce the pain and mouth problems. This spice, also used as an ingredient to add flavor to food, it can also help to relieve the pain of dry socket. The oil made from clove is very strong in taste and flavor. It also has anti-septic and anti-oxidant property that kill the bacteria infection inside the mouth and help to reduce the pain caused. Clove oil is available in a market at medical store or you can easily buy it online.
9.) Cold Tea Bag
Give a cold tea bag compression to dry socket, all you need to do is take the used tea bag and freeze it and take it out from the fridge after few minutes and apply it on the affected area. Press your teeth against the other region, which is affected with pain. The tannic acid present in the tea helps to reduce and alleviate the pain. This is an effective home treatment to avoid dry socket.
Another good way is to take cold compression. Use ice to give a cold compress on the side of your face where you are experiencing the pain. Apply cold packs for the first 48 hours of your surgery.
Fill a bag with ice cubes, or wrap ice cubes in a clean thick cloth and apply on the skin from outside where feel the pain.
10.) Lemon and Salt
This effective mixture of salt and lemon juice contains a natural antiseptic that helps to prevent further infection in the dry socket. Make a mixture using this 2 ingredients apply it on affected gums. You can also intake fresh lemon juice as it is a good source of Vitamin C which helps in quick healing and avoid dry socket.
11.) Paste of Dry Salt, Turmeric and Mustard Oil
The herbal paste of turmeric, salt, and mustard oil can be used effectively to avoid dry socket. All you need to do is apply the paste directly on the affected area. This gives relief and is considered to be one of the excellent home remedies to avoid dry socket. It also keeps the good dental health.
12.) Pain Killer
You can also take a pain killer from any good medicine stores. Though pain medication will not help to heal the wound or avoid infection, but it will definitely help you to reduce the pain caused by a dry socket. Your doctor may recommend a prescription that includes pain killer medicines, that are available over the counter like aspirin or acetaminophen. Make sure you do not give aspirin to children. Regular use of aspirin can cause complications with the liver and brain of children. Try to take these medicines under the guidance of a doctor.