What To Do If You Feel Sore Throat After Tooth Extraction

A wisdom tooth may leave several problems in your mouth after extraction. 

These complications might include: 

• Pain 
• Swelling 
• Bleeding 
• Dry socket 
• And more importantly, the sore throat!

A sore throat is one of the weirdest issues that you may feel after a wisdom tooth extraction.

However, at the same time, it is fairly common to some people after their tooth extraction, and is not a thing to worry about! 

Some people may experience long-term discomfort in their throat, for which they need a working solution. 

Luckily, there are so many natural and herbal remedies through which you can get rid of sore throat after tooth extraction. 

What To Do If You Feel Sore Throat After Tooth Extraction

Here are some fundamental actions you can take when you feel sore throat after tooth extraction.

• Wear a mask
• Rinse with saltwater
• Stay hydrated
• Apply Vicks
• Take coconut oil
• Utilize some drops of honey
• Use a humidifier
• Take a long rest
• Take a warm compress
• Avoid tea and hot foods
• Pause smoking
• Avoid over-speaking
• Take soft foods
• Avoid unwanted medicines

Wear a mask

Wear a mask if you want your infection not to spread to your other family members.

It will also help you avoid irritants like dry air, smoke smells, and other dust particles.

Use it for a couple of days until your sore throat is not relieved.

Rinse with saltwater

Saltwater helps soothe your throat, plus, it also kills bacteria in your mouth.

How to use it?

Take half a teaspoon of salt and mix it into a glass of warm water.

Gargle thoroughly for about 1 – 2 minutes.

Make sure to reach the liquid to your throat to get better results.

Important points:

• Be very careful, and do not spit forcefully.
• Slightly let the saltwater drip out of your mouth without causing any force.
• If you spit forcefully, you may disturb your blood clot, causing a severe dry socket problem.

Stay hydrated

Take a little sip of lukewarm water when you experience throat soreness; this will help provide lubrication to your affected throat.

Keep your self hydrated with (only) drinking water throughout the day.

Apply Vicks

Vicks balm contains menthol, which is an effective ingredient for relieving your throat pain.

Take a fingertip of balm, and apply it directly to your throat.

Massage it gently in circular motions.

Use this remedy twice a day.

Take coconut oil

Coconut oil is a versatile item to soothe your dry and sore throat.

Gulp half teaspoon of natural coconut oil.

Gulp half teaspoon of natural coconut oil and try to hold the oil in your throat to make it work effectively.

Use this remedy twice a day until the complete relief.

Utilize some drops of honey

Natural honey can work as an antibacterial solution against your sore throat; plus, it is also effective against throat pain and inflammation.

How to use it?

• Gulp one tablespoon of honey without water.
• Please do not take it with any juice, i.e., lemon juice, or it will affect your throat and tooth extraction site.
• You can take honey 2 – 3 times a day until the complete relief from sore throat.
•  Make sure not to let honey touch your extraction site. Put a gauze pad or a piece of paper over the place before consuming honey.

Use a humidifier – if possible.

A humidifier is an excellent option to moist the surrounding air and soothes your sore throat.

Turn it on in your room or a small space so that it can work effectively.

Alternate to this, you can take a warm water bath to give steam to your throat.

It is worth it to purchase a humidifier if you are a usual victim of nose and throat soreness.

Take a long rest

It is recommended to take proper rest after wisdom tooth extraction to avoid its after-effects.

Sleeping is one of the best ways to speed up the throat recovery process.

Moving to bed early helps the immune system fight against viruses and bacteria that cause a sore throat.

Take at least 8 – 10 hours of sleep on the first day of wisdom tooth extraction.

Reduce daily work for at least three days to ease your throat issues and other complications caused after wisdom tooth extraction.

Take a warm compress

Giving a warm compress to your neck help soothing the throat. Here’s how to give a gentle compress to your throat.

• Soak a small piece of the towel into warm water.
• Squeeze it well to remove the water.
• Apply the warm towel to your throat.
• Re-soak after every 5 minutes.
• Use this remedy 2 – 3 times throughout the day.

Avoid tea and hot foods

A sore throat caused due to wisdom tooth extraction is different from what is caused by typical conditions like cold, flu, fever, etc.

For that reason, you cannot use hot tea, coffee, soups, or any other hot food items to treat your sore throat.

Because these food items can easily dislodge the blood clots and may lead to severe conditions like dry socket.

Avoid any of such hot, spicy foods and drinks as they are not suitable after a wisdom tooth extraction.

Pause smoking

Smoking not only affects the tooth extraction site but also worsen your sore throat even more.

And that’s because the chemical in smoke can cause dryness, irritation, and swelling in your throat.

So, it is good to skip smoking for at least 2 – 3 days or even a week after the tooth extraction.

Avoid over-speaking

Speaking forces your throat muscles to move, which in return can increase the throat pain.

Do not speak too much for a couple of days after wisdom tooth extraction and instead only use any online messaging platform like Messanger, WhatsApp, or E-mail to communicate with others.

Take soft foods

Avoid hard foods to reduce throat soreness quicker; foods like chips, toast, and biscuits should not be consumed until your throat fully recovers.

Instead, consume softer foods such as yoghurt, mashed potatoes, lukewarm, and less spicy soups as they are easy to swallow.

These foods will help fill your stomach without ever hurting your throat.

Avoid unwanted medicines

Consuming any inappropriate medicine will only lengthen the time to recover from a sore throat that’s caused by wisdom tooth extraction.

Do not take acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or aspirin without consultation with your doctor.

Instead, try to get rid of the problem using natural remedies, or, visit your doctor if the condition is getting out of your control.

When to see a doctor?

It is highly recommended to check yourself with a physician if the sore throat is not controlled with any methods we shared above.

Don’t skip a medical appointment if you are experiencing one of the following complaints:

• Severe pain when swallowing.
• A feel like anything is stuck in your throat.
• Nausea or vomiting
• High fever, usually 101 Fahrenheit.

Don’t let the condition go severe and discuss all the symptoms you are experiencing with your doctor.

What causes sore throat after tooth extraction?

When your wisdom tooth does not grow fully, it may become more vulnerable to infection.

That is, food particles, plaque, and bacteria may grow around the flap of the gum tissue surrounding your tooth.

It is tough to brush an impacted tooth properly, so this can cause a tooth infection or abscess.

An abscessed tooth may result in severe pain and cause bacteria to spread to your mouth, resulting in a sore throat.

Not only the sore throat, but you can experience other symptoms too.

That is, an infected wisdom tooth may also cause headaches and jaw pain, and even tenderness. You may even experience visibly red, inflamed, swollen tissue around the affected tooth.

What’s more, in severe cases, you may even suffer from a high fever and experience trouble in opening your mouth or swallowing.

And these are weird conditions!

So, it is highly recommended to have your wisdom tooth extracted on time. Otherwise, it may cause such severe problems.

And once your wisdom tooth is removed, your symptoms will go away, and you’ll start feeling better after a few days of proper rest.

Is that okay to feel like something is stuck in my throat after wisdom tooth extraction?

After extraction, some people feel like something is stuck on the left-hand side of their throat. That condition may feel like razor blades and may make your voice hoarse.

Even in some scenarios, a person may also feel swelling on either side of their throat.

That condition is usually not serious, as it may be due to the underlying infection caused by the wisdom tooth.

According to most cases, these symptoms could be a sign of tonsils, throat infection, flu, or any condition lead by the cold temperature.

Try to follow our above mentioned natural tips as they may help you get rid of this weird issue.

But if the condition is getting worse, and you are experiencing severe pain and other complexities after the extraction, in that case, it’s strongly recommended to consult with your dentist and discuss every symptom you are observing in your throat.

The Bottom Line

Sore throat is one of the weirdest problems that you can face; however, it is not too difficult to get rid of it!

But when it is caused after tooth extraction, it is quite challenging to heal it as you have to avoid lots of things that may harm your throat.

Therefore, try to follow all the mentioned tips and precautions and hope for the best.