Blood clot and dry socket are two very related terms, just like the golf ball and the hole. As long as the blood clot is in the tooth hole, everything is fine. But the moment it is outside, things won’t be good by any means.
How will you tell the difference? What does blood clot after tooth extraction look like? We are assuming you are not an expert. Don’t worry.
We are here today to help you get a good overall idea about the blood clot after tooth extraction. We hope you will know things better after reading this article. What are we waiting for then? Let’s dive into it.
Table of Content
What Does Blood Clot After Tooth Extraction Look Like?
Let’s face this question first. What really is a blood clot after tooth extraction? Your body generally responds to any injuries or wounds by forming a blood clot around the injury area.
Well, your teeth are also a part of your body, a crucial part, to be specific. The moment there is any injury or surgery wound, your body will immediately respond. A blood clot will form in the tooth extraction area. Usually, the clot-forming process starts right after 12 hours from the surgery.
But the time may vary. You will be fine if the blood clot forms within 24 hours of the tooth extraction.
If you expect jelly-like blood clots after tooth extraction, you are pretty much right. Your extraction site should look like a bloody red area. And yes, the blood clot will be small. You may not be able to see it with bare eyes or in front of the mirror.
With time, the blood clot will become even smaller.
How Do You Know About the Progress of the Healing Then?
What should a tooth extraction look like when healing? After the first two or three days, you may see the extraction site as white.
You may see it white because of the granulation tissue (consisting of blood vessels, white blood cells, and collagen) or because of medical paste or the trauma.
Well, seeing the extraction site is also scary as it means you developed a dry socket. But the main indicator of having a dry socket is having incredible pain. It does not matter whether you have the white color or not.
The main symptom of good healing of tooth extraction is that your pain will decrease with time. Even if you have a dry socket and bearable pain, you should be okay with this.
How Important Is Forming a Blood Clot in the Tooth Hole?
What do you do when you injure yourself or get surgery wounds? Most likely, you cover up the wound with bandages. What is the purpose behind covering the injury area? You do that to avoid infection and for the sake of fast healing.
Do you see the importance now? Yes, your dentist will most likely apply a medical paste consisting of medicines. But the blood clot is totally yours and forms according to your body mechanism. That’s why forming the clot is always crucial.
The blood clot will protect your surgical wound. It can even protect your gum from infection by keeping debris and food particles at bay. So, yeah. You should always pray for the blood clot naturally.
What to Do if a Blood Clot Does Not Develop
Although it is natural for a random human being to form a blood clot at the tooth extraction site, things can be different. You may have previous issues with forming blood clots. For this exact reason, you may not be able to form a blood clot in the extraction site.
What do you do then? Obviously not something stupid. You should always be extremely careful about things related to tooth extraction. The swelling and pain can be painful as hell. What you can do in this situation is –
Use Gauze
As the blood clot should form within 24 hours, you will know if the clot does not form by seeing the amount of bleeding. One of the main importance of blood clots is to stop bleeding as soon as possible.
If you see the bleeding is not stopping, even after 24 hours, you should immediately inform your dentist. He will most likely tell you to put pressure on the extraction site with gauzes until further steps.
Follow Your Dentist’s Instructions
Don’t panic. Although it is not usual, it is not unique as well, not to form a blood clot in the tooth extraction site.
Your dentist will most probably apply a medical composite at the tooth hole. This medical paste will do the blood clot’s job. You will be able to heal the surgery area with the help of it.
And always follow your dentist’s instructions. It will help you to deal with the situation better.
Tooth Extraction Blood Clot Fell Out After a Week
People often come up with the question, “tooth extraction blood clot fell out after a week, what should I do?” Or, “wisdom tooth blood clot fell out after a week, what to do?”
Well, regardless of the type of tooth, you should be more than okay regarding dry socket after a week. The fear of dislodging the clot (eventually developing dry socket) diminishes after five days in general. So the clot doesn’t fall out after a week usually.
Let’s assume you are hundred percent sure of the fact that your blood clot gets dislodged after a week. What do you do then? Even at that moment, if you don’t feel pain (which should be the case), you would be okay.
When Does The Blood Clot Go Away After Tooth Extraction?
The blood clot will go away the moment you are totally healed from the tooth extraction. The clot forms within the first 24 hours and remains until you totally heal yourself from the wound.
The clot will become smaller by the time, though. Because new tissues will take the place of the clot and gradually fill up the entire hole. When you heal completely from the extraction, the site will look like a place as if there were never a tooth.
And to answer the question, it generally takes two weeks to heal the tooth extraction site fully. If your lower or wisdom tooth is removed, you may need even more time, around four weeks. Hence, the blood clot will go away after four weeks of the tooth extraction.
Be true to your teeth and they won’t be false to you!
What To Do If The Blood Clot Is Dislodged After Tooth Extraction
It depends on your situation. If you have dislodged your blood clot prematurely or lost blood clot 5 days after tooth extraction, you are most likely to develop a dry socket. And a dry socket means unbearable pain.
In that case, you should contact your dentist immediately. Don’t try to get over-the-counter medication all by yourself. It may worsen the situation even more. If you don’t feel pain, you should not become worried even if you dislodged the blood clot at a primary stage.
Although in most cases, the extraction site will heal itself in this case, you should contact your dentist. This sentence brings the question, “how do I know if I have a dry socket without pain?”
Well, the only other way to tell that you have a dry socket is to taste blood in your mouth after two or three days of tooth extraction. Is that a problem? We don’t think it is a big problem. Yet, consulting with your dentist will fasten things in healing.
Conclusion
We tried to do our best to help you with your questions. Now we think you have a pretty good idea about the question, “What does blood clot after tooth extraction look like?”
The creamy and jelly-like tiny little white thing within the tooth hole is the blood clot.
Keeping the blood clot protected alongside following your dentist’s every instruction is the best possible way to keep distance from complications. We hope you do that well. Good luck with that.
FAQs
Is tooth extraction blood clotting white?
Yes, the blood clot of a tooth extraction site is white. Don’t mix it up with the dry socket, as the site will also look white in that case. The best possible way to differ is to observe the pain.
How do you know if you lost the blood clot after tooth extraction?
If you lose the blood clot, you will develop a dry socket. And dry socket in tooth extraction is very synonymous with intolerable pain.
You will know about the loss of the clot by having unbearable pain. There is another way to tell. After two or three days of extraction, you may have lost the blood clot if you taste blood within your mouth.
How long does the blood clot stay after tooth extraction?
Pretty much until the extraction site heals completely. If you need two weeks to recover completely, the blood clot will stay for two weeks. If four, the blood clot will stay for four weeks.
When you are completely healed from the extraction, you will no longer need the blood clot to protect the site.
Can gauze pull out blood clots?
We are not trying to scare you. Technically, it can. If you use gauze on the first day and do not change it quite often, you will be okay. But changing frequently or using gauze even on the second day may be problematic.
If you do these things, you either have issues with healing or may dislodge the clot.
