The final teeth emerging in your jawbone are the third molars, also called wisdom teeth, because they erupt in the late teens before 21. They appear in your top and bottom jaws in all four corners of your mouth and are located at the very back. Wisdom teeth emerge when your jaws don’t have sufficient space to accommodate them, and their location makes it challenging for you to brush and floss them.
Although some people develop wisdom teeth correctly without problems, many are unfortunate to have impacted or incorrectly growing teeth at awkward angles to cause the other teeth to shift. In addition, the lack of appropriate dental hygiene because of their location makes you a victim of dental infections like tooth decay and gum disease.
If the Vancouver dental clinic detects you have impacted wisdom teeth, they recommend surgery to remove them from your jawbone. Wisdom teeth extraction is relatively common and performed on many patients by the clinic to prevent unnecessary complications in your mouth.
The mention of surgery to extract wisdom teeth can make you wonder how long you might need to heal. However, if you adhere to the oral surgeon’s instructions after having wisdom tooth extractions, you can recover quickly without complications. It indicates the care you take of your mouth determines the speed of your recovery.
What Can You Expect from the Surgery?
Wisdom teeth are unlike your remaining teeth and located at the back of your mouth, making them challenging to access even for cleaning appropriately. However, if you are one of the fortunate few with normally erupted wisdom teeth, you can have the teeth removed in a straightforward process needing merely local anesthesia. Simple extractions merely need loosening the visible third molars with elevators before removing them with forceps.
Unfortunately, if you have impacted or crooked wisdom teeth hidden below your gums, the procedure for removing them is complex. The surgeon provides local anesthesia in the mouth besides sedation to ensure you don’t remain anxious about the removal. As a result, you think the surgery requires minutes when you might spend over 40 minutes in the surgeon’s operating room.
After you are anesthetized and sedated, the surgeon must make incisions in your gums to expose the hidden wisdom tooth and remove bone covering it (if any), loosen the tooth if possible or cut it in pieces for comfortable extraction with forceps.
As you recover from the anesthesia, you can return home by arranging transportation for yourself because the sedatives make you incapable of operating vehicles. You can expect pain and swelling, besides some bleeding in your mouth, on the day of the surgery. However, an ice pack helps alleviate swelling on your cheeks, and pain relievers suggested by the surgeon assist in managing pain. The surgeon recommends that you have soft foods after dental extractions in Vancouver to help avoid irritating the surgical site. However, alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco use are restricted besides using straws for drinking because it can result in complications.
Healing Time from Wisdom Teeth Removal
Three to four days is the time most people require to recover from wisdom teeth surgery if they have visible molars. However, if your teeth are impacted or positioned at an awkward angle, you might need an entire week. In addition, the wound from the surgery will take months before healing completely. Therefore you must continue caring for your mouth until the healing process is complete because you can develop infections weeks after surgery.
You can resume daily activities the day following wisdom tooth removal. However, you must avoid activities that might dislodge the sutures or the blood clot in the surgical site. Therefore you must avoid strenuous exercise, smoking, drinking with straws or spitting.
From 72 hours of the surgery, your symptoms should improve significantly, and the pain and bleeding should disappear within a week. However, if you experience complications that might indicate infections or nerve damage, such as fever, challenges breathing and swallowing, swelling worsening with time, and bleeding that doesn’t subside despite holding gauze to the surgical area, you must seek help from the surgeon at the Vancouver clinic to ensure your healing proceeds smoothly.
Wisdom teeth removal is a relatively standard procedure to correct or fix problems with your third molars. Recovery from the surgery requires about 72 hours but can extend for a week or more, making it essential to follow at-home instructions provided by your surgeon to help heal and avoid complications.
Enhance Dental Center performs many wisdom teeth extraction surgeries providing patients with comprehensive instructions on caring for their mouth after the surgery. If your wisdom teeth need removal, consult with the practice to have the teeth extracted and recover without complications.
The post How Long Does It Take to Heal from Wisdom Tooth Extractions? first appeared on Enhance Dental Centre.