What does blood clot after tooth extraction look like pictures

Overview

Dry socket (alveolar osteitis) is a painful dental condition that sometimes happens after you have a permanent adult tooth extracted. Dry socket is when the blood clot at the site of the tooth extraction fails to develop, or it dislodges or dissolves before the wound has healed.

Table of Contents Show

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox
Risk factors
Complications
What does a healthy blood clot look like after tooth extraction?
What color is the blood clot on an extracted tooth?
How do I know if my blood clot came out tooth extraction?
How long is blood clot visible after tooth extraction?

Normally, a blood clot forms at the site of a tooth extraction. This blood clot serves as a protective layer over the underlying bone and nerve endings in the empty tooth socket. The clot also provides the foundation for the growth of new bone and for the development of soft tissue over the clot.

Exposure of the underlying bone and nerves results in intense pain, not only in the socket but also along the nerves radiating to the side of your face. The socket becomes inflamed and may fill with food debris, adding to the pain. If you develop dry socket, the pain usually begins one to three days after your tooth is removed.

Dry socket is the most common complication following tooth extractions, such as the removal of third molars (wisdom teeth). Over-the-counter medications alone won't be enough to treat dry socket pain. Your dentist or oral surgeon can offer treatments to relieve your pain.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of dry socket may include:

Severe pain within a few days after a tooth extraction
Partial or total loss of the blood clot at the tooth extraction site, which you may notice as an empty-looking (dry) socket
Visible bone in the socket
Pain that radiates from the socket to your ear, eye, temple or neck on the same side of your face as the extraction
Bad breath or a foul odor coming from your mouth
Unpleasant taste in your mouth

When to see a doctor

A certain degree of pain and discomfort is normal after a tooth extraction. However, you should be able to manage normal pain with the pain reliever prescribed by your dentist or oral surgeon, and the pain should lessen with time.

If you develop new or worsening pain in the days after your tooth extraction, contact your dentist or oral surgeon immediately.

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free, and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips and current health topics, like COVID-19, plus expertise on managing health.

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

Causes

The precise cause of dry socket remains the subject of study. Researchers suspect that certain issues may be involved, such as:

Bacterial contamination of the socket
Trauma at the surgical site from a difficult extraction, as with an impacted wisdom tooth

Risk factors

Factors that can increase your risk of developing dry socket include:

Smoking and tobacco use. Chemicals in cigarettes or other forms of tobacco may prevent or slow healing and contaminate the wound site. The act of sucking on a cigarette may physically dislodge the blood clot prematurely.
Oral contraceptives. High estrogen levels from oral contraceptives may disrupt normal healing processes and increase the risk of dry socket.
Improper at-home care. Failure to follow home-care guidelines and poor oral hygiene may increase the risk of dry socket.
Having dry socket in the past. If you've had dry socket in the past, you're more likely to develop it after another extraction.
Tooth or gum infection. Current or previous infections around the extracted tooth increase the risk of dry socket.

Complications

Painful, dry socket rarely results in infection or serious complications. However, potential complications may include delayed healing of or infection in the socket or progression to chronic bone infection (osteomyelitis).

Prevention

What you can do before surgery

You can take these steps to help prevent dry socket:

Seek a dentist or oral surgeon with experience in tooth extractions.
If applicable, try to stop smoking before your extraction because smoking and using other tobacco products increase your risk of dry socket. Consider talking to your doctor or dentist about a program to help you quit permanently.
Talk to your dentist or oral surgeon about any prescription or over-the-counter medications or supplements you're taking, as they may interfere with blood clotting.

What your dentist or oral surgeon may do

Your dentist or oral surgeon will take a number of steps to ensure proper healing of the socket and to prevent dry socket. These steps may include recommending one or more of these medications, which may help prevent dry socket:

Antibacterial mouthwashes or gels immediately before and after surgery
Oral antibiotics, particularly if you have a compromised immune system
Antiseptic solutions applied to the wound
Medicated dressings applied after surgery

What you can do after surgery

You'll receive instructions about what to expect during the healing process after a tooth extraction and how to care for the wound. Proper at-home care after a tooth extraction helps promote healing and prevent damage to the wound. These instructions will likely address the following issues, which can help prevent dry socket:

Activity. After your surgery, plan to rest for the remainder of the day. Follow your dentist's or oral surgeon's recommendations about when to resume normal activities and how long to avoid rigorous exercise and sports that might result in dislodging the blood clot in the socket.
Pain management. Put cold packs on the outside of your face on the first day after extraction and warm packs after that, to help decrease pain and swelling. Follow your dentist's or oral surgeon's instructions on applying cold or heat to your face. Take pain medications as prescribed.
Beverages. Drink lots of water after the surgery. Avoid alcoholic, caffeinated, carbonated or hot beverages for as long as your dentist or oral surgeon recommends. Don't drink with a straw for at least a week because the sucking action may dislodge the blood clot in the socket.
Food. Eat only soft foods, such as yogurt or applesauce, for the first day. Be careful with hot and cold liquids or biting your cheek until the anesthesia wears off. Start eating semisoft foods when you can tolerate them. Avoid chewing on the surgery side of your mouth.
Cleaning your mouth. After surgery, you may gently rinse your mouth and brush your teeth, but avoid the extraction site for the first 24 hours. After the first 24 hours, gently rinse your mouth with warm salt several times a day for a week after your surgery. Mix 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 milliliters) of table salt in 8 ounces (237 milliliters) of water. Follow the instructions of your dentist or oral surgeon.
Tobacco use. If you smoke or use tobacco, don't do so for at least 48 hours after surgery and as long as you can after that. Any use of tobacco products after oral surgery can delay healing and increase the risk of complications.

Jan. 25, 2017

What does a healthy blood clot look like after tooth extraction?

After a tooth extraction, you should develop a blood clot in the socket (hole) that's left behind. It'll look like a dark-colored scab. But if you have a dry socket, the clot will be absent and you'll be able to see bone. For this reason, dry sockets usually appear white.

What color is the blood clot on an extracted tooth?

The clot is red in color and you may notice it developing a few hours after the procedure. Over the next few days, the blood clot gets replaced by granulation tissue which helps the extraction socket heal and close over. The granulation tissue is white in color but most people refer to it as the "white stuff".

How do I know if my blood clot came out tooth extraction?

Partial or total loss of the blood clot at the tooth extraction site, which you may notice as an empty-looking (dry) socket. Visible bone in the socket. Pain that radiates from the socket to your ear, eye, temple or neck on the same side of your face as the extraction. Bad breath or a foul odor coming from your mouth.

How long is blood clot visible after tooth extraction?

How long does a blood clot last after tooth extraction? The length of time of a blood clot's dissolution will vary from patient to patient. Typically, your tooth extraction site will be completely healed anywhere from seven to ten days after the extraction procedure.