After tooth extraction, the blood clot that forms in the socket protects the site and supports healing. During the first few days, protect this clot while keeping the rest of your mouth clean. The following advice is general guidance; the personalised instructions given at your appointment take priority.
The first 24 hours
- Bite on the gauze as instructed by your dentist, usually for 20–30 minutes. Do not eat or sleep with gauze in your mouth.
- Do not rinse, spit, suck at or touch the wound. Do not use a straw.
- Wait until the numbness has worn off before eating. Choose soft, lukewarm food and chew on the other side. As part of our clinic’s aftercare advice, avoid milk, milky drinks and dairy products such as yoghurt, kefir and cottage cheese during the first few days. Follow your treating clinician’s instructions on how long to avoid them.
- Rest and avoid exercise and heavy lifting. Do not smoke or drink alcohol.
The following days
After 24 hours, gentle brushing and a mild, warm salt-water mouth bath can help keep your mouth clean. Do not scrub the socket or direct a strong water jet into it. Ideally, avoid smoking throughout the initial healing period.
A little blood-stained saliva, pain and swelling can occur. After surgical extraction, symptoms may be strongest on the second or third day, then should gradually improve. Take pain relief as agreed with your clinician.
A whitish coating on the wound: fibrin or pus?
A whitish or yellowish-white coating that adheres to the wound surface may be fibrin, a normal part of healing. This coating alone is not pus and does not mean that the wound is infected. Do not scrape it off, wipe it away or try to wash it out.
Thick discharge from the wound, particularly together with increasing pain, worsening swelling, fever or an unpleasant smell or taste, may indicate infection. The colour of the wound alone is not enough to tell the difference. If you are unsure, arrange a clinical review.
When should you seek help?
For fresh bleeding, place slightly damp, folded gauze over the wound and bite down continuously for 30 minutes while sitting upright. Repeat once if needed. If bleeding does not stop, contact your treating clinician or an emergency oral surgery service; do not wait if bleeding is heavy.
If you develop increasing pain, fever, pus discharge or growing swelling, contact your treating clinician promptly. Outside opening hours, or if your clinician is unavailable, contact an emergency oral surgery service. Urgent but non-life-threatening problems after extraction should be assessed by an emergency oral surgery service. Difficulty breathing, inability to swallow saliva or rapidly spreading neck swelling may indicate a life-threatening emergency: in these situations, call 112.
Detailed answers to common questions
Our related articles cover eating, bleeding, pain, oral hygiene, wound healing and returning to everyday activities.
If your extraction was performed at Potidental Clinic, please call us with questions or to arrange a review. For urgent symptoms outside opening hours, contact an emergency oral surgery service.
Clinical source: UCLH – tooth extraction aftercare .
If the extraction involves a wisdom tooth, read more about wisdom tooth surgery .
For related advice on recovery and symptoms, see inflammation around a wisdom tooth .