My cheek is swollen after tooth extraction, what should I do? Tips from the professionals

Situations in which swelling is not a cause for concern

In many cases, swelling that occurs after tooth extraction is normal and should not cause alarm.

There is no need to worry if:

The swelling is mild and does not increase over time. If tooth extraction turned out to be traumatic or was carried out against the background of severe inflammation, then slight swelling is allowed to appear, which should go away on its own in a couple of days.
Body temperature is slightly elevated, but does not increase over time, or is completely within acceptable values. Removing a tooth when it is inflamed can cause a slight increase in temperature, which, if the source of pain has been eliminated, quickly subsides.
There is no increasing pain. A sign of normality is the presence of slight pain (after all, removal is a surgical procedure during which soft tissues are injured), gradually decreasing over time. If the pain does not go away, or its strength increases, then this indicates either increasing inflammation or the occurrence of any complications.
The hole left after the operation is closed with a blood clot. Naturally, after the procedure, the hole is filled with rapidly clotting blood. This clot reliably protects the tissue, preventing the development of an inflammatory process.

After removal, the cheek may look swollen for one day - this is a period during which you should not worry. If after 24 hours there is no obvious deterioration and the swelling decreases, there is no need to waste time on a visit to the dentist. But if at least one of the symptoms listed above is present, this indicates the need to make an appointment with a dentist as quickly as possible in order to prevent the situation from worsening.

How to eliminate cheek swelling

It is impossible to completely remove the tumor until the inflammatory process stops, but you can reduce it and minimize discomfort and pain. This can be done with ice and cold compresses. You need to apply a compress every half hour, but no longer than 10-15 minutes, otherwise it can cause hypothermia and tissue necrosis.

In addition, you can drink painkillers, analgesics, take baths and rinses with an antiseptic solution. Take antibiotics if prescribed by your doctor. This will eliminate the infection and speed up tissue healing.

In general, swelling of the cheek is a normal phenomenon if it occurs a couple of hours after tooth extraction and goes away no later than the seventh day after it. In all other cases, immediate specialist consultation, diagnosis and treatment are required.

When you can't do without a doctor's help

If any of the situations listed below arise, you need to go to the dentist, who will take the necessary measures (wash the hole, put in medicine, take measures to release pus, etc.).

So, you can’t do without a trip to the dental clinic if:

The swelling that appears after removal does not subside, but, on the contrary, grows. In this case, there is no point in continuing to wait, since it is obvious that the situation will not resolve itself. Swelling may indicate inflammation or suppuration. In some cases, swelling can develop to large sizes, affecting the area under the eye.
There is pain that does not decrease over time. Severe pain for a couple of days is acceptable only with a particularly difficult removal, accompanied by sawing out the bone: in all other situations, the pain should decrease and completely disappear after 1-2 days.
The temperature rises.
Feeling unwell does not go away.
There are difficulties opening the mouth and making swallowing movements.
There is no blood clot in the hole left after tooth extraction. Perhaps the clot simply fell out or was washed out when rinsing the mouth. If there is no clot, then the risk of inflammation increases, which is accompanied by very severe pain. It is useless to wait patiently for the pain to go away on its own: the dentist, having assessed the situation, will administer the required medicine, which will quickly relieve the discomfort.

Sometimes swelling does not appear immediately, but 3-4 days after surgery. Typically this is due to the fact that:

the blood clot in the socket has festered;
inflammation began in the hole.

This condition is called alveolitis. With this inflammatory lesion, self-medication using antibiotics and other medications is pointless. Only a doctor can alleviate the patient’s condition by clearing the hole of small food debris and placing medicine inside.

Sometimes a hematoma may form on the gum. In the first few days after its appearance, it may not cause attacks of pain or lead to swelling of the cheek, however, when obvious signs of suppuration are visible, leading to pain, you should consult a dentist, who will most likely open the hematoma.

Cheek swelling during wisdom tooth removal

Extraction of extreme molars (wisdom teeth) is considered one of the most difficult tooth extraction operations. It is accompanied by an incision of soft tissues and suturing, so inflammation after it is inevitable. Swelling after wisdom teeth removal lasts longer and is accompanied by pain.

Moreover, an elevated temperature may persist for several days, the patient may have difficulty swallowing, and experience pain when opening the mouth and during speech.

In this case, there is a risk of infection and serious inflammation, therefore, after depulping the extreme molars, it is necessary to take antibiotics and rinse the mouth with antiseptic solutions.

When should swelling occur?

There are situations when the development of noticeable edema is inevitable. They arise:

After an operation of increased complexity. Removal accompanied by damage to nearby tissues (for example, when it is necessary to saw out bone or incisions in the mucous membrane) leads to the appearance of edema. In some situations (for example, when the eighth tooth is removed), facial asymmetry is likely to occur.
When removed due to severe inflammation. Then an infection remains in the hole, which can become the main cause of swelling. If the operation is carried out in compliance with all the rules, then the dentist, seeing inflammation, is obliged to thoroughly rinse the wound with an antiseptic solution, and then apply the medicine. Sometimes antibiotics are prescribed. However, even then it cannot be said that the inflammatory process will not begin.
When cutting the gums on which there is an abscess, the dentist makes an incision to release the pus located in the soft tissues. If there was already a slight swelling during the procedure, it may increase slightly in size, which is normal.
When contacting people suffering from certain diseases. Quite often, according to the observations of dentists, patients who have high blood pressure complain about swelling of the cheek after tooth extraction, leading to the accumulation of a subcutaneous fat layer on the face. In such people, swelling may well appear even with normal removal, which proceeds without any complications.

What to do if alveolitis begins?

As mentioned above, alveolitis is an inflammation of the tooth socket. Here, in addition to normal tissue swelling, you will also experience redness of the mucous membrane, acute pain, and an odor from the socket (as pus and food debris accumulate there). These symptoms are increasing every day.

Alveolitis cannot be treated at home. By taking antibiotics, ointments, rinses and other “home” measures, you can either achieve nothing at all, or transfer the process into a chronic form, when, with minimal symptoms, the bone in the area of removal will dissolve and as a result we will get a huge defect in the bone, which will be difficult to correct. Alveolitis in Samara should be treated only together with a surgeon, strictly adhering to his recommendations.

What does a surgeon do for alveolitis?

Anesthesia is given;
When everything has become numb, the surgeon cleans the tooth socket again (removes pus, tooth fragments or bones, if any, rinses the socket with solutions of antiseptics and antibiotics);
After treating the wound, there are two options: some kind of drug can be put into the hole. Or they can simply fill it with fresh, clean blood and wait for a new clot to form;
After cleaning, antibiotics, rinses, and epithelializing drugs are prescribed.

After such measures, a noticeable improvement occurs on the second or third day (pain and swelling begin to subside), but healing of the hole takes longer - up to three weeks.

How to get rid of swelling at home

If there is no reason to see a doctor, but you want to get rid of the swelling as soon as possible, you can try the following methods:

Immediately after removal or surgery, apply a cold compress (water bottle, wet cloth). The application must be repeated throughout the day once every half hour for 5 minutes. ATTENTION! Using a cold compress on the second, third, etc. day is unacceptable.
Use special decongestant ointments.
Sleep with your pillow raised high.
After a few days, cold compresses are replaced with warm ones. A single session of the procedure should not exceed half an hour. Vasodilation and increased blood flow promote faster recovery.
use corticosteroids. Since this type of drug has many side effects, it is better to consult a doctor before taking it. You should resort to these medications only in cases of extreme necessity, when pain due to swelling interferes with normal daily activities.
These methods should be used if there are no complications: in other cases, it is recommended to consult a doctor for a detailed examination.

Is it normal for the gums to be swollen?

Sutures after tooth extraction.

During the process of tooth extraction, soft tissues are damaged, and in some cases sutures are also required. As a result of manipulation, the dentin swells, and this is considered normal. Other symptoms should alert you: inflammation, suppuration, increased body temperature.

The intensity and volume of swelling directly depends on the duration of the operation and the complexity of its implementation. Swelling is only the result of the tissue reaction to the intervention.

Among the main factors influencing the occurrence of complications, experts identify the following:

doctor's qualifications;
type of painkillers used during surgery;
complexity of the case (extent of tooth damage, neglect, presence of flux, etc.);
quality of antiseptic treatment;
presence of bad habits;
infections in the oral cavity.

The swelling itself occurs for the following reasons:

due to the absence of a blood clot , which protects the wound from infection;
poor-quality tooth extraction (tooth fragments, interradicular septum, and part of the root remain in the soft tissues);
allergic reaction to painkillers or antiseptics;
unscrupulous treatment by a doctor of the hole , as a result of which pathogenic microorganisms enter it, forming pathogenic microflora;
a cyst remaining after tooth extraction (in this case, the oral cavity is sanitized and antibiotics are prescribed).

There are also factors whose presence predetermines the development of gum swelling:

if a soft tissue incision is made to extract a tooth;
with inflammation of the dentin socket;
traumatic tooth extraction procedure when mechanical force was applied to the jaw;
when removing third molars;
if the patient has pathologies of blood vessels, blood pressure, blood circulation, and has previously been diagnosed with diabetes.

Weak immunity during any operation provokes the development of complications, as is the case with swelling after a tooth has been pulled out.

Complications of edema and methods of dealing with them

Often, swelling is accompanied by one or more complications from the list below:

bleeding. A little bleeding is normal. If there is more blood, the wound can be pressed with a gauze pad moistened with an antiseptic (for example, Chlorhexidine). If bleeding does not go away for more than 2 days, you should not delay visiting a doctor;
numbness. After any dental procedure, the area around the mouth may lose sensation. There is nothing wrong with this if the side effect goes away within 12 hours;
the occurrence of pain, which is acceptable even after surgery. The main rule is that pain should decrease within a couple of days. In some cases, the pain can be so severe that a person cannot chew food (the condition should last no more than 5 days). To alleviate this condition, you can take painkillers (for example, paracetamol);
the occurrence of a dry socket after surgery (especially important for smokers). In this case, a blood clot, without which the healing process is impossible, does not form. The condition is often accompanied by a feeling of pain and an unpleasant taste in the mouth. The most effective way to combat it is to wash the wound several times a day, followed by applying an antiseptic bandage.

Severe pain after removal and surgeon error -

When a tooth has been removed, the gums hurt so much that even strong analgesics help little - the reason most often turns out to be the incompetence of the surgeon. Unfortunately, many surgeons do not strive to minimize trauma to bone tissue and gums during the removal process, which leads to severe pain. Below we list the main medical “flaws” in the process of tooth extraction -

When cutting out bone with a drill - according to the rules, when cutting out bone around a tooth, the doctor must use a surgical handpiece that supplies coolant to the drilling area.
In 90% of cases, handpieces without such cooling are used in surgical rooms (24stoma.ru). As a result, the bone suffers a thermal burn and superficial necrosis, and the patient suffers acute pain after removal. If you have had a bone cut out and your gums hurt after tooth extraction: what to do in such a situation will depend on the condition of the socket of the extracted tooth. If the clot is dense and there are no symptoms of inflammation other than pain, you should wait and take strong NSAID-based analgesics. If the socket is empty and there are signs of inflammation (see below), you need to go for a second visit to the dentist and clean the socket.

Sharp edges of the bone stick out from the socket (Fig. 4-5) - if the bone walls have sharp edges after tooth extraction, then they can injure and break through the mucous membrane (Fig. 4), and even stick out from under it. Or if the interradicular bone septum of multi-rooted teeth has a large height, then it may not be completely covered by a blood clot, protruding from under it.
The origin of this problem is that the doctor either did not bite down the sharp edges of the bone and the high interradicular septum with forceps, or did not apply sutures to the too mobile gum around the tooth in order to bring the edges of the wound closer together. The presence of exposed bone fragments can be determined by the characteristic pain when touching such fragments with the tongue, as well as the occurrence of acute pain in response to cold/hot water. Sometimes they can be seen with the naked eye in the mirror.

Moving bone fragments in the wound - the surgeon can leave large, inactive bone fragments in the socket of the extracted tooth, which are formed when the tooth dislocates/rocks. Their presence can lead to severe pain and inflammation of the extracted tooth socket, as well as the need for a second visit to the surgeon to remove them.

An incorrect removal strategy is the most common mistake. The fact is that different doctors (due to differences in experience and intelligence) remove exactly the same teeth in different ways. This leads to the fact that one surgeon can torment the patient for 1-2 hours, trying to use only forceps and elevators when removing and regardless of the trauma caused to the bone, while another will decide to immediately saw the tooth into 2 parts (removing them separately), and spending only 15-25 minutes on the entire removal.

“Empty hole” (Fig. 6) –

if the doctor used too much anesthetic with a vasoconstrictor (this component promotes vasospasm at the site of anesthesia), then the hole after removal may not fill with blood. Doctors usually don't test for this, but simply apply a tampon and send the patient home. In an empty socket, the bone tissue will be exposed and will react with severe pain.
Read also: TOP 24 best electric toothbrushes: 2022 rating (including regular and sonic) by quality and price

The doctor did not put sutures - before removal, the mucous membrane around the tooth is peeled off from it with a trowel, which leads to the fact that the edges of the mucous membrane around the socket of the extracted tooth will be mobile.
Often, even seeing the need for suturing, surgeons are too lazy to do it. Ideally, at least 1 suture should be applied even after the removal of small single-rooted teeth, not to mention multi-rooted ones. Studies have shown that suturing the socket can reduce the intensity of pain by 30-50%, reduce the risk of developing inflammatory complications by up to 90%, accelerate wound healing, and almost completely prevent the loss of a blood clot from the socket and the risk of bleeding. I can recommend to you - always, before removal, ask the doctor to suture the hole (even if you have to pay an extra 250-500 rubles for 1 or 2 stitches). This will save you a lot of nerves.
If the doctor does not prescribe antibiotics after a complex removal, there is a high risk of developing inflammation of the socket and, as a result, severe pain. Antibiotics should only be prescribed by a doctor, so you should go for a re-examination and complain about pain.

What to do in all these situations -

How long does the gum hurt after tooth extraction in these situations - normally, pain should last no more than 1-2 days after simple removal, and its severity should be mild or moderate. Moreover, pain, swelling (if it also appears) and other negative symptoms should gradually decrease. After complex removal, pain can be severe and normally last 3-5 days, but starting from the next day they will also begin to decrease.

If the intensity of the pain does not decrease within 2 days, if you feel bone fragments in the wound with your tongue, if you experience pain in the socket when responding to cold/hot water, if a blood clot has fallen out of the socket, if there is an unpleasant odor from the socket... – you need to urgently go to the surgeon for a second appointment (without waiting for your gums to become inflamed after tooth extraction).

Important: in some cases, pain can also be caused by the patient’s mistakes in how he cares for the socket of the extracted tooth. For example, very often patients begin to rinse their mouth intensively, believing that this will be better. But this leads to the blood clot falling out of the socket and causing severe pain. Read about what you can and cannot do after removal in our article: → “Memo for the patient on how to behave after removal”

Diseases that occur after tooth extraction and cause swelling

When teeth are removed (in particular, molars, canines and incisors), the following diseases may occur:

alveolitis, when suppuration of the hole occurs. Accompanied by swelling of the cheeks and cheekbones. The temperature rises, general weakness occurs, and bad breath appears;
osteomyelitis is a disease in which the jaw bone becomes inflamed (the process is accompanied by the formation of pus). The cheek swells at the site of inflammation, and the pain affects the entire row of teeth. It becomes painful for a person to open his mouth and talk. The disease is accompanied by severe headache and fever; in some cases, blood poisoning is possible (if you do not consult a doctor in time);
neuritis. The facial nerve is affected, which is accompanied by acute pain. Quite often it occurs when teeth with long roots are removed. With neuritis, the cheek becomes swollen and numb; numbness also affects the palate, larynx and tongue.

When to see a doctor?

If the swelling increases over the course of a week and does not subside, you should make an appointment with your dentist. You should also consult a doctor if the following symptoms appear:

temperature rise to 38-39 degrees,
putrid odor from the mouth,
increasing pain,
difficulty opening the mouth,
swelling of the eyes, neck and other places.

These signs indicate the development of serious complications. This could be gumboil, alveolitis, or dental cyst. A dentist will help determine the exact cause. Do not delay your visit to a specialist and do not wait for the swelling to subside.

How to prevent complications?

To avoid swelling and subsequent treatment, it is recommended:

Keep your head held high for at least 12 hours after surgery (or better yet, 24 hours). To do this, while lying down, you need to place several pillows under your head;
do not touch the hole with your tongue or fingers;
do not use warm compresses for 36 hours after surgery;
do not smoke or drink alcohol for 72 hours after surgery.

Correct behavior after surgery is no less important than the procedure itself: if you adhere to the above rules, the swelling will go away either in the shortest possible time or will not occur at all.

Preventive measures

Since the likelihood of swelling after tooth extraction is quite high, the following recommendations should be followed to minimize the risk of cheek swelling (the same rules apply in cases where swelling has already formed and needs to be removed as soon as possible):

use oral baths (the salt liquid is only kept in the mouth without rinsing, since otherwise infection of the hole may occur);
use anesthetics to relieve pain. As a rule, these are Ketanov, Ibuprofen and other similar drugs that reduce the inflammatory process and relieve pain. The most important thing is to follow the dosage indicated in the instructions;
follow the diet. If an operation has been performed, then on the first day you should not eat hard or hot food, as it can cause injury to the already damaged gum. During the week after surgery, the basis of the diet should be soft and non-spicy foods. Until the swelling goes away, it is better to chew on the other side of the mouth, doing it slowly;
Avoid taking hot baths, as this may cause bleeding from the socket;
When brushing your teeth, skip the operated area until the swelling goes away.
On average, swelling subsides within 2-3 days from the date of surgery: if this does not happen, you will have to contact the dentist again for an examination and additional research if necessary.

Other causes of cheek swelling

If you have a tooth removed and your gums are swollen, the cause does not necessarily lie in soft tissue damage. Swelling is possible due to the following:

performing an operation if the patient has a flux;
complex course of the operation - due to tooth growth in the wrong direction, strong inclination, removal of large teeth with large, intertwined roots;
inflammation and infection of soft tissues or tooth roots before surgery;
allergies or other forms of individual intolerance to anesthesia and medications used during removal - therefore it is important to know exactly what components you are allergic to before removal;
poor antiseptic treatment of the oral cavity and mistakes made by the doctor during tooth extraction;
chronic diseases leading to complicated recovery - neuralgia, hypertension, as well as a general decline in the body’s immune functions;
ignoring prescriptions received from the dentist - for example, independently adjusting the dosage or deciding not to take antibiotics.

Most often, patients' swelling does not subside after tooth extraction due to lack of normal care - skipping medications, complete absence or insufficiently frequent disinfection treatment.

Possible complications

Patients face complications due to incorrect care, complex or incorrect removal. Dentistry distinguishes 5 types of complications:

Alveolitis - to put it simply, this is dryness of the socket. A blood clot always forms in the latter. It does not need to be removed, since the clot protects soft tissues from the penetration of bacteria and infection. If it is accidentally removed, the mucous membrane becomes susceptible to the pathogenic influence of bacteria, and suppuration may develop. Sometimes the inflammation shifts and spreads - a large area of the jaw, cheekbones and eyes become inflamed.
Osteomyelitis is bone inflammation. With osteomyelitis, acute pain is felt in the upper and lower jaw, and swelling only increases.
An abscess is suppuration inside the gum. Can move, leading to loosening of the tooth root.
Flux is a severe inflammation of the jaw, in which the temperature rises and acute pain appears in the area of the jaw and temples.
Neuritis is an inflammation in which the motor activity of the facial nerve is disrupted. Neuritis is indicated by swelling of the cheek, palate, tongue and larynx.