How long until you are fully healed from wisdom teeth

If you need to have your wisdom teeth extracted, you’re probably nervous about the procedure itself, but you might worry even more about the recovery—after all, just about everyone has a story to share about their cheeks swelling up or having applesauce for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for days after the surgery. Follow our post-surgical instructions and you might be surprised that the recovery isn’t quite as bad as you had anticipated. Here’s what you can expect.

Recovery Time After Wisdom Tooth Extraction

How long does it take to recover from a wisdom tooth extraction? This is one of the most common questions patients have about the procedure, as they need to plan for time off of work or school.

The recovery time depends on whether or not your wisdom teeth are impacted. A simple extraction, which involves loosening a fully erupted wisdom tooth from the jawbone and removing it with forceps, has an easier recovery time than an extraction involving an impacted tooth, which requires incisions in the gum and possible removal of bone to access the tooth. If all four of your wisdom teeth are impacted, your recovery will be more uncomfortable than if you only had one impacted wisdom tooth.

A simple extraction can have a recovery time of three to four days, while an extraction involving impacted teeth can require a full week of recovery at home. You may continue to have some degree of pain and swelling for another week after that, although you should be able to return to all of your normal activities.

What to Expect During Your Wisdom Tooth Extraction Recovery

To ensure that your recovery goes as smoothly as possible, with minimal pain, it’s important to follow our aftercare instructions to the letter. Here are some of the most important points:

• Keep yourself comfortable by using your pain medications as directed. Don’t try to tough it out by skipping your medications; this can impede your recovery by making it hard for you to get the rest you need.
• Make sure the extraction site is clean. The day after surgery, you will need to begin saltwater rinses and you also can start brushing your teeth again. We may give you an irrigating syringe to use at the surgical site too. Keeping your mouth clean reduces the risk of infection after surgery.
• Take it slow when it comes to your diet. You’ll need to eat soft foods for a full week, then gradually introduce other foods back into your diet, avoiding anything that is hard, crunchy, or chewy until your gums and jaw have healed.
• Plan on resting. With a week off of work or school, it might seem like the perfect opportunity to catch up on cleaning or your at-home workouts, but vigorous activity can increase swelling, pain, and bleeding.

After about the third day post-surgery, you should start to notice that you feel better with each passing day, with less swelling and pain. If the opposite occurs and you’re feeling worse as time goes on, it’s a sign that you may have an infection or other complications. Contact us right away so we can evaluate your symptoms.

Learn More About Wisdom Tooth Extraction

If you need to have one or more wisdom teeth extracted, call us today at 505-821-2111 to schedule an appointment for a consultation.

While you can get back to your normal, day-to-day routine after just a few days, it will take up to 2 weeks to fully heal and recover from a wisdom tooth extraction at Jackson Family Dentistry. 

Wondering what to expect after Dr. Ben Heffter or Dr. Pako Major removes your wisdom teeth? Read on, and we’ll provide you with a quick overview of the healing and recovery timeline.

Immediately After Surgery

Right after surgery, you’ll have gauze packs placed over your surgical sites to absorb blood. As blood clots form in your mouth, you may need to swap these a few times if they become soaked with blood. 

You will likely experience some pain or discomfort after your numbing and sedation wear off. You should drink plenty of clear liquids and eat a diet of liquid foods like milk, broth and thin soups, yogurt, and other such foods that don’t require chewing.

In addition, don’t use a straw or spit forcefully for at least 2-3 days. This could dislodge your blood clots. You can brush your teeth normally, but do not brush the extraction sites. Use a prescription oral rinse or salt water rinse to keep your extraction sites clean. 

1-3 Days After Surgery

During this time, you should avoid heavy exercise and exertion. After about 2-3 days, you can usually start eating slightly more solid foods like mashed potatoes, applesauce, pudding, and jello. 

Pain and discomfort tend to peak and then fade within 1-3 days after surgery. You may notice other symptoms like bruising, swelling, and inflammation around the extraction sites. This is normal.

3 Days To 1 Week After Surgery

The 3-7 days after your surgery will be when most of your pain, discomfort, and other symptoms will begin to fade. After a week, you will be able to eat more solid foods, but you should still avoid very tough and crunchy foods. You can eat things like pasta and rice.

You can also start brushing the extraction sites very gently after a week. Brush your other teeth normally, then gently brush the site to remove any food or other debris.

2 Weeks After Surgery 

About 2 weeks after surgery, your extraction site should feel almost completely normal. It may not look fully healed and it may be tender and sensitive to the touch, but otherwise, it should not interfere with your daily life at all.

You can go back to eating pretty much all of your favorite foods, and brushing and flossing your teeth normally. It will still take a bit longer for the underlying extraction site to fully heal, but this process will continue without you having to do anything special to care for your mouth.

Need Your Wisdom Teeth Removed In Jackson? Contact Us Today!

Having your wisdom teeth removed can be intimidating. But at Jackson Family Dentistry, Drs. Heffter and Major use the latest techniques and technology to simplify the process, and we offer sedation dentistry to keep you comfortable throughout your appointment. 

Contact us online or give us a call at (262) 677-3003 to schedule a consultation with Drs. Heffter and Major right away, and find out if your wisdom teeth need to be extracted.

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