So I had a tooth extracted...

**Lëzen** · 05-12-2010 06:38 PM

...yesterday morning, in fact. The instructions given to me by my dentist seemed pretty simple - bite down on a piece of gauze for about an hour, refrain from rinsing my mouth out, and eat only cool, soft foods (nothing hot) for 24 hours. I'm assuming that by lunch time - where 25 or so hours will have elapsed - I can eat more solid, hot stuff again...

However, the extraction site tastes strongly of metal, which leads me to believe there's still at least some minimal bleeding, since blood would theoretically taste like iron. I'm not sure whether or not this is evidence of the necessary blood clot having formed...or not formed, for that matter. Do you think I should just go about my post-initial-24-hours routine under the assumption that everything's A-OK with the clot, or should I have my doubts and continue to shy away from regular food?

**Spartiate** · 05-12-2010 06:46 PM

I've had a total of 9 teeth extracted. Sometimes I've had to bite down on those stupid gauze things for like 2 days cause the holes wouldn't stop bleeding, so yeah it's normal if it's still bleeding a little. If it's just a taste and you can't see any blood then it might just be old blood. If you eat hot foods the worst that could happen is that it'll start bleeding again. Try not to get any food stuck in the hole before it heals, bad for infections.

**Puffin** · 05-12-2010 06:47 PM

I've had my two baby canine teeth extracted, which hurt like hell. I remember biting on some toast and the bleeding started again, and this was a day after the extraction. Just to be safe, I'd wait a bit longer before consuming regular food, but that's just me.

Usually a clot doesn't taste like anything, so there's probably still a bit of bleeding.

**Lëzen** · 05-13-2010 01:58 AM

Another thing I noticed is that there's a strange white patch on the extraction area. Someone on Yahoo! Answers seemed to indicate that their dentist said it wasn't atypical, but I'm not entirely convinced. Maybe I'm just paranoid?

**Zhaylin** · 05-14-2010 09:23 PM

Back in 1997 or so I had all my teeth removed. I went in 4 times (half of the top, the other half, then on to the bottom). It was hell to say the least.
Some areas took more than 24 hours.
The white patch sounds like a clot.
Also avoid smoking and drinking through a straw- those things can pull up the clot and it takes longer for you to heal.

I don't know about hot food being a problem. I ate a lot of extremely tender roast beef with butter and seasoned salt. It was the only thing I actually wanted to eat lol. I just chewed on the undamaged side of my mouth.

(((((hugs)))))
Hope you heal quickly.