Guides
Tooth Extraction and Aftercare
The first few days after a tooth extraction are mostly about telling what is normal from what is not: how long the bleeding should last, why the pain can get worse a few days later, and what you can eat and drink. These guides take you through those days and through the question that follows them, which is what to put in the tooth's place.
Tooth Extraction and Aftercare
- Bleeding After a Tooth Extraction Won't Stop: How Much Is Normal, and When Is It an Emergency?Pink saliva is normal, but bleeding that fills your mouth is not. How to stop the bleeding at home, what difference it makes if you take a blood thinner, and which symptoms mean you should go to A&E.
- The First 3 Days After a Tooth Extraction: What to Do and What to AvoidThe rules for protecting the blood clot: gauze, food and water, rinsing, brushing, smoking, exercise, wudu and prayer. What normal healing looks like, and which symptoms mean you should see your dentist.
- Dry Socket: Pain That Gets Worse a Few Days After an ExtractionPain that gets worse instead of easing 2–3 days after an extraction and spreads to your ear may be dry socket. How to recognise it, how it differs from infection, what your dentist does and why you should not poke at it at home.