Luckily, dry socket after wisdom tooth removal is very rare and only happens in about 5% of people who have their wisdom teeth removed. Symptoms include facial pain near the extraction site, sensitivity to temperature, and increased pain about two or three days after the surgery. Dry socket needs to be treated by your oral surgeon or dentist, as it will lead to a longer and more painful healing experience. Here are some tips to effectively avoid dry socket and have your mouth heal up quickly after wisdom tooth removal!

Take It Easy

Vigorous exercise or strenuous activity can dislodge the blood clots protecting your extraction sites. It’s crucial that you rest following your wisdom tooth removal. Dry socket can happen to just one extraction site, or it can happen to all four, so you need to be careful. Experts recommend avoiding exercise or strenuous activity for at least one day following the procedure, but it’s important to listen to your body and rest for as long as you feel you need to.

Rinse Gently

It’s inevitable that you’ll need to rinse your mouth after the procedure from brushing and perhaps doing salt water rinses. When you do rinse, do it very gently. Swishing forcefully can cause the blood clots to abandon the site and you’ll be left with exposed bones. Gentle brushing and oral care is vital, and take care to rinse gently after brushing or with your salt water rinses.

Avoid Straws and Smoking

Sucking actions by the mouth can remove blood clots as well. For this reason, you’ll want to avoid straws and smoking. If you’re a daily smoker, do your best to avoid smoking for at least 24 hours following the procedure, and talk with your dentist about resources for quitting. Forceful spitting can also create a sucking action in the mouth and is best avoided.

Do Not Touch or Brush the Affected Area

There’s no reason to touch your extraction sites following the procedure. Your oral surgeon will have packed the area with gauze to help a blood clot form and protect your bone. It’s best to avoid contact with the area until your wounds are healed. Also, avoid brushing the area. Salt water rinses can help to remove bacteria, but follow your oral surgeon’s instructions for healing.

Eat the Right Foods

There are certain foods that are best avoided post wisdom tooth surgery. These involve foods that can leave small particles in your mouth, including popcorn or peanuts. You’ll also want to avoid sticky foods such as candy. Soft foods that are easy to eat such as soups, yogurt, and smoothies can be soothing as well as protect your extraction site.

You can effectively avoid dry socket after wisdom tooth removal by following these tips! Always contact your oral surgeon if your pain increases rather than subsides after a few days. By being gentle with your mouth, eating soft foods, and resting, your wisdom teeth extraction sites will heal up quickly and you can avoid dry socket!

Image courtesy of Artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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What Are All-on- Four Dental Implants?

All-on- Four dental implants allow you to get only four to six dental implants and get a custom set of teeth that permanently attach to the implants for a beautiful, perfect smile. The cost is lower than getting a full set of dental implants and you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of dental implants without having to replace all of your teeth with them.

Benefits of All-on- Four Dental Implants

All-on- Four dental implants allow you to take advantage of the benefits that dental implants offer while only getting four or six dental implants. This includes the strength and stability that dental implants give, as they’re anchored securely into your jawbone and they never need to be replaced. With dentures, people often worry about them falling out, sliding around, or appearing uneven in their mouths. None of these are concerns with All-on- Four dental implants, which are secure and fully functional for your smile.

Enjoy eating, smiling, and talking with your beautiful set of teeth securely attached to your dental implants. Dental implants also allow you the benefit of re-growing some of the bone in your jaw, therefore helping to keep your cheeks from appearing sunken from tooth loss and retain a youthful appearance.

All-on-Four dental implants offer you complete functionality, restore your appearance, and allow you to be confident and comfortable with your smile again. All-on- Four dental implants may even be able to be completed in one day if your dentist makes your acrylic teeth replacement in-office.

Who Is a Candidate?

All-on- Four dental implants are meant to permanently replace your missing teeth, so talk with your dentist about whether or not you’d be a candidate for the procedure. You need to have the proper amount of bone in your jaw in order to support the dental implants. It’s also important that your mouth and gum tissue is healthy to maximize your chances of healing after the procedure.

Dental implants offer you a great alternative to dentures, but All-on-Four dental implants can offer you an easier procedure that competes with the security and functionality that dental implants offer. Restore your smile and ask your dentist about All-on-Four dental implants if you’re missing all, or many, of your natural teeth to see if you’d qualify for this procedure!

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Medications

Certain medications can cause an unpleasant taste in the mouth. If you’re on several different ones, you may have to consult your doctor about which one it could be! Sometimes being on certain medications can cause everything you eat to have an odd or unpleasant taste, while other times, you sense of taste may be inhibited. Medications that can cause an adverse taste in the mouth include: Azelastine (nasal spray), Antabuse (to help with addiction), certain antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, and even chemotherapy drugs.

Tobacco or Alcohol Use

Tobacco products can cause an unpleasant taste in the mouth as well as drinking alcohol, especially if you do these two things regularly. The bad taste in your mouth won’t go away until the root cause is identified. If you use chewing tobacco or smoke, chances are that bad taste in your mouth could be caused by the chemicals in these products. Drinking alcohol could also lead to a chronic bad taste in your mouth. This is because overconsumption of alcohol can lead to production of excess bile by the liver, which can be absorbed into the bloodstream and make its way to your mouth to produce a foul taste. This can also happen when your liver is affected by poor diet and toxins as well.

Infection

An infection in your mouth could be the culprit behind that unpleasant taste. If you’re not brushing and flossing regularly, you’re leaving your mouth susceptible to oral infections that could alter your sense of taste. These infections could include gum disease, tooth decay, cavities, or even abscesses. While brushing and flossing regularly is vital for your oral health, you should also visit your dentist regularly to ensure you’re not experiencing infections such as gum disease or tooth decay. Dentists can often spot the signs of infection long before you experience any symptoms such as chronic bad taste!

Injury

If you’ve had a recent head injury, that bad taste in your mouth could be the result of some nerve damage. Usually people who have experienced a head injury and have bad taste find that it goes away as the body heals itself. Talk with your doctor if you’ve experienced a head injury to see if it could be the cause of that lingering bad taste.

Brushing and flossing may keep your chronic altered sense of taste at bay, but it won’t solve the problem. Talk with your doctor about which of your medications could be causing it, or you may have an infection or be experiencing the effects of using tobacco and alcohol regularly. Solve that bad taste in your mouth by discovering the root cause!

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Gingivitis

Gingivitis is the beginning stage of gum disease. Gingivitis involves inflammation of the gums, but it might not be too severe. It could involve some redness, tenderness, or bleeding. Generally, the symptoms are minor so you may not even notice anything unusual, especially if you aren’t keeping up with your oral health. Gingivitis happens when plaque builds up on the teeth due to lack of oral care.

Gingivitis can be reversed with proper brushing and flossing, although it would help to get a good cleaning from your dentist to ensure plaque is gone. Your dentist can also advise you on proper brushing and flossing techniques to help reverse your gingivitis.

Mild to Moderate Periodontal Disease

If steps are not taken to reverse gingivitis, it can progress to periodontal disease, which is another name for gum disease. At first, you’ll likely have a mild to moderate case of periodontal disease. What this means is that your symptoms worsen: the redness, swelling, and bleeding. You may also notice you have chronic bad breath. The once mild infection begins to worsen and spread, further affecting your gums and consequently, your teeth.

At this point, you will most certainly need to visit your dentist for a deep cleaning. Your dentist will likely need to scrape the plaque off (called scaling), clean underneath your gums, and even your roots out (planing). Your dentist will thoroughly clean your teeth and their surfaces, your roots, and your gums. This will remove any bacteria and help to reverse your periodontal disease.

Advanced Periodontal Disease

It’s vital to remember that although your dentist can clean your teeth and remove the infection-causing bacteria, you will ultimately be the one responsible for the health of your teeth and gums. You may need to change your diet, clean your teeth more often, or increase your intake of calcium and vitamin D in addition to other nutrients. If you don’t do your part in helping to reverse your gum disease, it can return and even move to advanced periodontal disease.

The bacteria in advanced periodontal disease continue to attack your gums and teeth, leading to more damage. Bone loss as well as tooth loss can occur. You may have “oozing” gums from the infection. You will likely develop tooth sensitivity, which could be extreme, and even painful chewing in addition to all the other symptoms you already have. In addition, the harmful bacteria also enter your blood, which could result in a variety of other dangerous health problems. In order to try and reverse this, you will need surgery to clean the bacteria and careful treatment from your dentist.

Gum disease can be reversed, but it’s vital that you seek treatment as soon as possible. The earlier your gum disease is addressed, the more successful your treatment will be. If you’re experiencing red, swollen, or bleeding gums, schedule a visit with your dentist!

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