Post-Tooth Extraction Questions?

Hi,


I had a tooth extracted from the very back of my mouth yesturday afternoon; ever since I've been eating only soft foods (on the other side of my mouth) and rinsing (not swilling) my mouth out with warm salty water after each meal and before bed.


Does anybody know how long it should take on average before I can start eating normal foods again on the side of my mouth that it was extracted from? The area where it was extracted has gone an odd yellowish colour but I am not getting any pain from it, just feeling odd that the tooth is missing. Is this normal?





Thanks

Post-Tooth Extraction Questions?
Hm, everything sounds great according to your description, but more on that yellowish color--is that an infection? Sorry, don't mean to scare you, but depending on what kind of yellowish color it is, it may or may not be harmless. I would check back with your dentist just to confirm. Sometimes, the novocaine/anesthesia or whatever they used to numb the pain can temporarily discolor the extraction site (at least from my experience) but the yellow color could also be a bad sign.





For me, it took me a couple of weeks at least until I could eat regular food. However, I still tried to avoid overly hot/hard/spicy food until the actual hole was completely closed. Overall, I would just recommend chewing foods from the other side until the hole has completely healed. As for rinsing your mouth out with the saline solution--keep it up! It will help it heal. The only tip I can give you is just to make sure that little pieces of food don't get stuck in your extraction site! This will definitely cause infection. So rinse out any food particles carefully from around that area.





Keep your chin up--it's a pain in the butt, but it will be over before you know it :)