Risks of Alcohol After a Tooth Extraction
After your dentist removes your tooth, a blood clot will need to develop at the extraction site to allow granulation tissue to form. Typically, this process takes about 1 week. If the clot doesn’t form or is dislodged too soon, it can lead to a painful condition called dry socket, which can make your recovery slow and painful. You can avoid dry socket and other complications by skipping your glass of wine with dinner. Alcohol can hinder your body’s natural healing process while also increasing the risk of infection.
Your dentist will suggest avoiding alcohol for at least 7 to 10 days after your extraction to allow your tissue to heal. Instead, they will recommend drinking plenty of water. You’ll stay hydrated to aid the healing process.
If you’re taking any prescribed or over-the-counter pain relievers, they can have adverse reactions when mixed with alcohol. You’ll need to wait a little longer until after you’ve stopped taking certain pain relief medications to have a drink.
Enjoy a Stress-Free Recovery
Besides cutting alcohol from your day and drinking plenty of water, your dentist has a few additional tips to make your recovery easier:
- Rest for at least 24 hours after your tooth extraction.
- Bite on gauze for a few hours after your procedure to allow a clot to form. Change the gauze as needed.
- Apply a cold compress to the outside of your mouth near the surgical site to reduce swelling, pain, and bruising.
- Do not rinse your mouth vigorously to prevent dislodging the clot.
- Don’t drink through a straw for at least 24 hours.
- Avoid spitting for at least 24 hours.
- Don’t smoke or use tobacco for at least 3 days.
- Eat nutritious, soft foods until your pain subsides.
- Maintain your oral hygiene routine.
- Follow your dentist’s aftercare instructions.
Your dentist will explain the entire procedure and recovery during your initial consultation. If you have any questions after your extraction, don’t hesitate to contact their office.
About Dr. James D. Geer
Dr. Geer earned his dental degree from the University of Texas at Houston and continued his training in oral surgery. He focuses on the surgical removal of wisdom teeth. As a member of the American Dental Association and the Academy of General Dentistry, he has the qualifications you can trust. Contact our office today to schedule your consultation.
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If you notice some grittiness in your mouth, do not be alarmed. Some of the bone graft particles will work their way out of the extraction site. We cover the graft with a dissolvable sponge. Do not be alarmed if this falls out during the healing period.
Bleeding
After tooth extraction, it’s important for a blood clot to form to stop the bleeding and begin the healing process. That is why we ask you to bite on a gauze pad for 30–45 minutes after the appointment.
If the bleeding or oozing persists, place another gauze pad and bite firmly for another 30 minutes. You may have to do this several times. You may also moisten a regular black tea bag, apply it to the extraction site, and hold firm pressure. The tannic acid in the tea bag will help stop the bleeding.
After the blood clot forms, it is important not to disturb or dislodge the clot as it aids healing. Do not rinse vigorously, suck on straws, smoke, drink alcohol, or brush teeth next to the extraction site for 72 hours. These activities will dislodge or dissolve the clot and retard the healing process.
Pain and Swelling
After the tooth is extracted, you may feel some pain and experience some swelling. An ice pack or an unopened bag of frozen peas or corn applied to the area will keep swelling to a minimum. Take pain medications as prescribed. The swelling usually subsides after 48 hours.
Use the pain medication as directed. Call the office if the medication doesn’t seem to be working. If antibiotics are prescribed, continue to take them for the indicated length of time, even if signs and symptoms of infection are gone.
Oral Hygiene
Mouth cleanliness is essential to good healing. Clean your mouth thoroughly after each meal beginning the day after surgery. Brush your teeth as best as you can. Rinse with warm salt water (a ½ teaspoon of salt in an 8-ounce cup of warm water) 3–4 times a day. Continue this procedure for the first week after surgery.
Activity
Limit vigorous exercise for the next 24 hours as this will increase blood pressure and may cause more bleeding from the extraction site.
Diet
Drink plenty of fluids. Avoid hot liquids or food on the day of surgery. Soft food and liquids should be consumed on the day of surgery. Return to a normal diet as soon as possible unless otherwise directed, but try to avoid chewing on the surgical site.
After a few days, you will feel fine and can resume your normal activities.
Please review these tips for the safe use and proper disposal of prescription medications.
If you have heavy bleeding, severe pain, continued swelling for 3–4 days, or a reaction to the medication, call our office immediately at (360) 293-2808. Our after-hours emergency number is (360) 647-4027.
Many people forget that alcohol is a toxin, and, when consumed too much or at the wrong times, can significantly impact your health. This includes jeopardizing the health of your Columbus Ohio dental implants with a complication known as avascular necrosis (AVN).
Fortunately, unlike cigarettes, alcohol has a mild impact on your oral health. As long as you don’t drink right after your implants are placed and you drink only in moderation, your dental implants should not be affected.
What Is Avascular Necrosis?
AVN is a condition in which your bone begins to die. In avascular necrosis, the bone is dying because there are either too few blood vessels or the blood vessels that are there become clogged. Any kind of trauma that leads to bone healing, such as placing of dental implants by a Columbus Ohio dentist, can lead to AVN, and it’s more likely in people who smoke because smoking impairs the formation of blood vessels.
It’s thought that alcohol consumption causes AVN because it reduces your body’s ability to absorb fat, leaving more fat in the blood. The fat clogs the tiny blood vessels in bone, causing the bone to starve and die.
Drinking Right after Implant Placement
The time when your dental implants are most vulnerable to alcohol is during the first 72 hours after they are placed.
Alcohol can impact your body’s normal healing response. When you heal, your body has to rebuild all the things that were damaged or lost, including skin, collagen, bone cells, and blood vessels. Alcohol interferes with the healing signals so some aspects of healing are delayed, especially blood vessel formation. As the new bone grows, there are not enough new blood vessels to supply it, leading to starvation and death.
This risk is so significant that even one drink during the 72 hours after healing can trigger AVN, so it’s important to avoid drinking any alcohol after your implants have been placed.
Heavy Alcohol Consumption
But even after your dental implants have healed, they may be at risk if you have very heavy alcohol consumption. This can lead to an inadequate blood supply that can trigger AVN related to any minor trauma or potentially even normal bone remodeling, which is more dynamic in the jaw than in other places.
What do we mean by “heavy alcohol consumption”? Studies have not been performed looking at this risk specifically for dental implants, so we have to consider what’s been determined about other areas of bone. Perhaps the largest study of the subject looked at the risks of AVN in the femoral head, where it’s more common.
The study found that people who are regular drinkers all have a slightly elevated risk for AVN, but people who consume 20 drinks a week or less (400 mL of alcohol) have a mild risk. But people who are in the top 10% of drinkers may have a risk that’s perhaps 18 times higher than that of nondrinkers.
In absolute terms, the risk may still be small, but we have to take it into account.
If you want to learn whether you’re a good candidate for dental implants in Columbus, OH, please call (614) 848-5001 for an appointment with an implant dentist at Firouzian Dentistry.