Gentle soft foods: yoghurt and a smoothie on a table

Quick answer

After a tooth extraction: bite firmly on the gauze for 30 to 60 minutes, rest for the day, and protect the blood clot in the socket. For 24 hours: no rinsing, no spitting, no straws, no smoking, no alcohol, and no poking the site. Manage swelling with a cold compress in the first day and take pain relief as directed before the anaesthetic fades. From day two, rinse gently with warm salt water after meals. Increasing pain on day two or three with a bad taste suggests dry socket; call the practice the same day.

The first hour

Keep firm biting pressure on the gauze for 30 to 60 minutes; pressure is what forms the clot. Take your first dose of pain relief before the local anaesthetic fades, as staying ahead of discomfort beats chasing it. Then go home and be unproductive; today is not a gym or big-meeting day.

The first 24 hours: protect the clot

  • No rinsing or spitting, however tempting; both can lift the clot
  • No straws, no smoking: suction is the clot's enemy, and smoking is the single biggest dry-socket risk
  • No alcohol and no vigorous exercise today; both promote bleeding
  • Oozing is normal. A pink tinge in saliva can continue for a day. For fresh bleeding, bite on a fresh gauze pad or a cool, damp black-tea bag for 30 minutes; tannins help clotting
  • Swelling: a cold compress on the cheek, 15 minutes on and off, through the first day

Days 2 and 3

Start gentle warm salt-water rinses after meals (half a teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water), letting the water fall out rather than spitting hard. Brush your other teeth normally, keeping the brush shy of the socket. Eat soft and lukewarm: eggs, pasta, yoghurt, soup that isn't piping hot. Chew on the other side.

Dry socket: the one complication worth knowing

If the clot is lost, the bone beneath is exposed: pain that noticeably INCREASES on day two or three, often radiating to the ear, with a foul taste. It isn't dangerous but it is miserable, and we can dress the socket to relieve it quickly. Increasing pain after day two is a same-day phone call, not something to push through.

Call us on (02) 9723 5757 for: bleeding that won't settle with pressure, pain increasing after day two, swelling that worsens after day three, fever, or numbness that persists beyond the anaesthetic. Trouble swallowing or breathing is an emergency department, immediately.