Haha, the rice paranoia is so real—I was convinced I'd sprout a tiny garden back there with all the spinach bits I kept finding. Honestly, I think I spent more time staring into the mirror with a flashlight than actually eating those first couple weeks. Salt water rinses were great, but I swear by that little syringe thingy they gave me. Gross but weirdly satisfying watching all the hidden leftovers come out (sorry, TMI?).
Did anyone else feel like their mouth just didn't close right for a while afterward? Like, I knew logically nothing had changed structurally, but chewing felt... off. Took me around six weeks before I stopped thinking about it completely. Curious if that's just me being dramatic or if anyone else had that too.
Honestly, six weeks sounds a bit long to me. Usually, patients I see feel pretty normal around the two- or three-week mark. But everyone's different, and anxiety can definitely make things feel more off than they actually are (speaking from personal experience here...). The chewing thing might be more psychological than physical—you're hyper-aware of every little change, so your brain convinces you something's off even when it's healing fine. Also, about the syringe: they're helpful for sure, but just be careful not to overdo it. I've had patients irritate the extraction site by flushing too aggressively or too often. Gentle rinses usually do the trick without causing extra discomfort. Glad you're feeling better now though!
It took me about four weeks to really feel back to normal after my wisdom teeth were pulled. Honestly, I think it depends a lot on how complicated the extraction was—I had one tooth that was impacted and pretty stubborn, so the healing took longer than expected. The chewing thing you're describing sounds familiar though...I remember being super paranoid about messing up the healing area, so chewing felt weird for a while even when it probably shouldn't have.
About the syringe rinsing, I totally agree—gentle is key. I thought aggressively flushing would speed things up, but nope...it just irritated things more. It's easy to get carried away trying to "clean" everything perfectly.
Did anyone else notice certain foods made their recovery easier or worse? For me, cold smoothies were a lifesaver in the first week, but weirdly enough, hot soups seemed to aggravate the soreness more. Curious if others experienced something similar.
