Wisdom Teeth Extraction and Smoking After

When the third set of molars start to cause pain or become detectable, it is time to talk to your dentist.  To avoid your other teeth from shifting or causing extreme discomfort, the dentist will need to address the health of your molars.  For most people, this is the time the dentist removes their wisdom teeth.  Depending on the state of your wisdom teeth, the dentist may have to remove them from below the gumline or even bone.  Wisdom teeth extraction is considered a surgery and will require preparation as well as recovery.

While this is a surgery, it is very common and most people between 17 and 21 have this oral procedure.  Depending on the health of your molars, the dentist will help prepare you for your surgery and your recovery.  Your recovery could last up to a week, depending where your molars are located in your mouth.  If your teeth are not visible, you will have a longer recovery than if your teeth have already broken through the gums.  You will not have to worry about being admitted to a hospital overnight; instead, you can plan on arriving for your appointment and leaving within a few hours.

The day of your surgery

Your recovery starts as soon as the dentist finishes the procedure.  Depending on the type of anesthesia the dentist used, you will most likely wake up in the dental chair.  If you were under stronger and deeper sedation, then you may be moved to a recliner to help you slowly adjust to a more conscious state.  Be sure to ask as many questions of your dentist about what to expect and plan on bringing a friend or family member to help you get home.

As the anesthesia wears off and you start to regain more alertness, then you will start to recover feeling in your mouth.  You will have pain, your mouth will swell, and these are good signs that the healing process has started.  There may even be some blood in your mouth during the first day.  To help the swelling, you should plan on using ice packs regularly.  To help the pain, the dentist will talk to you about the best medications for your situation whether those are over the counter or prescription pain pills.

As you start to recover at home and the swelling and pain set in, you will start to feel closer to normal and experience hunger or the desire for a cigarette.  The best things to eat are soft foods or smoothies without straws.  You should avoid smoking cigarettes, alcohol and caffeine- these will not help your healing and can make it worse.  Alcohol can thin your blood causing more bleeding and can keep the swelling from decreasing.  Caffeine can also affect the healing process Cigarettes not only contain nicotine which can increase your swelling but to smoke the cigarettes you need to inhale.  The act of drawing a breath with a cigarette can create a suction in your mouth which is very disruptive to the blood clots or scabs that are forming and in place in your extraction sites.  Additionally, the cigarette smoke contains a number of other potentially harmful products that can discourage healing from your surgery.

Long-term recovery

Within three to four days, you should start to feel better and see a decrease in swelling and pain.  The wound from the incision may take months to heal over, but the gum tissue should start to close.  To avoid longer recovery times or possible infections, you need to avoid excessive exercise, smoking, spitting and drinking from straws.  These behaviors can lead to loosening or dislodging of the sutures on your extraction sites.  Those are very important to keeping a moist, closed wound and help the healing process move along as best as possible.

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