Tips for a Faster Dental Recovery (Part 2)
This title look familiar to anyone? For those who read part 1 of this edition of Tooth Talk, we went over the many ways that you can recover after a dental treatment or dental surgery, starting with how to deal with things like toothaches, headaches, and other forms of residual pain. In this entry, we’ll be going over on another way to recover after you’ve gone through dental work.
Bleeding & Infections
On our last blog entry, we said to be careful with your stitches and healing wounds. Today, this blog entry will be about dealing with any infections or bleeding issues that you might have after your treatment. As stated before, some pain is expected to come after your dental treatment, but if the pain increases or persists within three days after the procedure, you might have an oral infection. Get in touch with your dentist or surgeon for further instructions and information on your infection. One type of infection that can come after a dental procedure is osteomyelitis.
Osteomyelitis is an infection of the bone that’s usually caused by bacteria and found within the mouth. This infection of the lower jaw can cause those with osteomyelitis to have a fever, and the affected area to become tender and swollen. Those with osteomyelitis must take antibiotics for an extended period. Another infection that’s possible for one to get after a dental procedure is alveolitis, otherwise known as dry socket.
Alveolitis develops after a lower back tooth (Wisdom tooth, etc.) has been extracted and the normal blood clot in the socket is lost. Some discomfort is said to lessen after two or three days, and can often be accompanied by earache. Although alveolitis can go away after one to two weeks, dentists can place a dressing soaked with an anesthetic in the socket to help both eliminate the pain and help with the recovery process.
As for issues with excessive bleeding, as always, make sure to contact your dentist if the problem lasts for more than a few hours. Regular signs of bleeding are common after a dental procedure, but if excessive bleeding is spotted, it may be the result of a wound. Your dentist may need to close the wound via either stitches or sutures if this bleeding continues to be a problem.
That’s all the time we have for now, but if you’re interested in reading more blog entries akin to Tooth Talk, make sure you check out our company blog, where we post blog entries on just about anything and everything dental related. Until next time, have a pleasant day.