
Bleeding after tooth extraction is something that normally happens in a lot of people. When a tooth is pulled out, bleeding is necessary for clot formation which, in turn, is needed for proper healing. However, there are instances where bleeding persists due to inability to form a clot. If this happens, there must be an underlying problem that necessitates further examination by your dentist.
Continue reading to increase your understanding of tooth extraction — how and why it’s done, what to expect after the procedure, and how to manage bleeding and other complications. In particular, we will focus on how to prevent or stop any persistent bleeding after tooth extraction.
After your kid’s tooth extraction, your dentist will place a small piece of gauze on the extraction site and tell your kid to bite down on it. This puts pressure over the wound and causes the initial bleeding to stop. Your dentist will provide you with extra gauze to bring home, in case your kid needs more to stop the bleeding.
Depending on the severity of bleeding, your dentist might have to replace the gauze once or twice before you leave. When some of the bleeding stops, you will then be sent home on the assumption that the bleeding will completely stop soon.
At home, be sure to check your kid’s gauze every now and then. Replace it once it’s soaked in blood.
Avoid too much bleeding by refraining from these activities for a couple of days after the procedure:
If you’ve followed these tips yet your kid still ended up experiencing profuse bleeding for days, contact your dentist for some instructions on what to do next.
Regardless of whether a baby tooth or all the wisdom teeth were pulled out, postoperative care is very important. You should watch out what your kids eat and tell him/her to avoid chewing for just a couple of days.
What if they’re hungry or thirsty? Here’s a list of what you can give your kid after tooth extraction or surgical removal of the wisdom teeth.
Your kid wouldn’t want to eat that much a couple of days after the procedure, but you should encourage him because proper nutrition promotes faster healing. Offer him/her eggs, yogurt, and other high-protein foods.
Your dentist will administer local anesthesia, so your kid won’t feel anything as the tooth or teeth are removed. For the extraction of wisdom teeth, some dentists will also use sedatives, so your kid will fall asleep during the procedure. When he/she wakes up, the procedure is done but the following should be expected:
To combat these, your dentist may prescribe some medications like acetaminophen and ibuprofen. These medications are non-addictive and totally safe even for kids.
For optimum healing, do your best to ensure that your kid won’t develop dry socket. Dry socket is a painful complication of extraction, which could occur when blood clot on the extraction site fails to develop or is dislodged. Without a proper clot, the bone and nerve are left exposed, making them prone to infections. The signs of dry socket are the following:
Heavy bleeding is also another complication of tooth extraction. Minimal bleeding after the procedure is alright, but if the bleeding gets profuse and uncontrollable, you should go back to your dentist immediately. Your dentist should be able to identify the source of the problem and suggest appropriate care. Excessive bleeding could sometimes indicate a condition known as arteriovenous malformations, or AVM. About 5% of AVMs affect the jaw.
If you follow your dentist’s advice and take really good care of the extraction site, the wound should begin to close up after a few days. If the wisdom teeth are removed, wound closure will take a bit longer. After a couple of months, the extraction site should be fully healed and closed.
Bone healing takes at least three months to complete, but your kid won’t notice this once the overlying gums close up. If you see that the extraction site is taking too long to heal or seems to not be healing at all, set up an appointment with your dentist to identify any possible causes.
There are several reasons why a tooth should be removed. The most common reason is extensive tooth decay that renders the tooth impossible to save. Another is when a baby tooth is retained longer than it has to be, thus impeding the eruption of the succeeding permanent tooth. And for most individuals, the wisdom tooth may have to be removed due to impaction (inability to erupt) or eruption in an odd position.
Although many kids and adults will require tooth extraction at some point in their lives, not everyone has to have their teeth removed. If you encourage your kid to practice proper oral hygiene and take him/her to the dentist regularly, tooth decay and/or misalignment or malpositioning of the teeth will be caught early on. An appropriate treatment will be rendered even before the problem gets worse. As for wisdom teeth, there may be other indications for their removal and these include:
More often than not, the wisdom teeth are removed even before any symptoms appear to avoid future complications. Take note, though, that some individuals don’t need to have their wisdom teeth removed while others never had these teeth at all.
Wisdom teeth, if they’re going to erupt, will come out anytime around age 17 to 21, or sometime during the mid-20s. If they don’t erupt at this age, chances are they are impacted, or they didn’t form.
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