Yawning After Wisdom Teeth Extraction: Should You Be Worried?
From animals to humans, we all yawn at least once every day. And that’s not a thing to worry about because it is a natural function that helps refresh our tired body.
However, if you’ve recently undergone wisdom teeth removal surgery, you might be wondering whether you should worry about yawning or not.
There are several hidden facts about yawning that many aren’t aware of, so people are often confused with many questions.
In this blog post, we’re going to clarify some of the common questions and confusion and especially, should you worry about yawning after wisdom teeth extraction or not.
Yawning After Wisdom Teeth Extraction: Should You Be Worried?
The short answer is that you should not worry about yawning after wisdom teeth extraction because it is a natural and regular function of the human body that can occur at any time during the day, and just because you’ve recently undergone a wisdom teeth extraction surgery doesn’t mean you should worry about yawning.
Yawning stretches the inside mouth muscles when your mouth is fully opened; however, that does not harm the surgery wounds in any way.
How does yawning work?
Here’s the entire yawning process:
When you yawn, you open a full mouth and inhale oxygen and release carbon dioxide out of your body, and finally close your mouth.
This complete yawning process clarifies that there is no serious harm to your wisdom teeth surgery site or any other part of your body due to yawning.
However, since wisdom teeth surgery leaves acute wounds in the extraction site, you should follow the given do’s and don’ts to be safe from any harm that can occur unintentionally.
I’m unable to yawn after wisdom teeth removal – what to do?
As mentioned above, yawning does not have any adverse effect after wisdom teeth surgery. However, in some cases, wisdom teeth extraction might also create difficulties when you try to speak, chew, sneeze, yawn or smile. You may feel severe pain in the extraction site while performing these activities.
In that case, it is highly recommended to visit your surgeon and discuss all these problems you are facing to get the problem solved quickly.
Why do people yawn?
You might be thinking, why do we yawn and the benefit of yawning to us.
There are many theories about why people yawn. One of them is that yawning helps our body to bring in more oxygen. But this theory has been considered primarily false.
Another unproven theory says that yawning helps cool your warm brain.
The idea says that you’ll yawn more in situations where you are overheated. The process of yawning, where you take a deep breath and open your mouth, helps to cool the brain a little. However, there’s not enough evidence for this theory.
One other reason we may yawn is that the body wants to wake itself after it gets tired. And you might have noticed your body becomes active and refreshed after you yawn.
The yawning motion helps stretch the lungs and tissues, letting the body flex its muscles and joints. It may even push blood toward the face and brain to increase alertness.
Yawning is also one of the ways to know that your body is tired. You can identify how it helps your body by examining the better feeling you experience after you yawn.
Why does my jaw give a cracking sound after yawning?
Some people hear the sound of a crack from their jaw after yawning.
That could be due to a weak jaw or TMJ (temporomandibular joint) disorder.
In some cases, you may also feel cracks in your jaw while chewing or speaking.
We recommend consulting with the dentist to get a proper solution.
Why I’m excessively yawning all day?
Excessive yawning usually occurs more than once per minute. Excessive yawning generally happens when you are sleepy or bored; it may also be a symptom of an underlying medical problem.
Drowsiness, tiredness, fatigue, and sleep disorders could be other reasons for yawning.
Can I yawn with a gauze pack in my mouth?
A gauze pack is used to control excessive bleeding after wisdom teeth removal. There’s no concern related to yawning while having gauze in your mouth.
How can one treat excessive yawning?
There are some ways through which you can somehow control yawning if you are uncomfortable about it.
- Try deep breathing
- Use a breathing device
- Workout
- Stick to a regular sleep schedule
- Try foods that make you fresh
1 – Try deep breathing
Your body may need more oxygen. In one research, nasal breathing reduced excessive yawning.
Take deep breaths with your nose for about 5 minutes and do this action 2 – 3 times a day.
2 – Use a breathing device
Occasionally we yawn to inhale oxygen in our bodies and release carbon dioxide, which you can do through a breathing device as well.
So give that device a shot, and we hope it works out well for you.
3 – Start working out
Working out makes you feel energetic and releases a significant amount of stress from your body.
Start by running for at least 10 – 15 minutes a day.
Working out is not guaranteed to assist you in getting rid of yawning entirely but don’t forget that doing so many little things end up making a huge difference.
Also, working out has no adverse effect, so if you start to work out, you won’t start to yawn more than you were before. Still, it might help you get rid of excessive yawning because, as we know, yawning is usually experienced when we’re tired and sleepy and working out indeed helps us in that regard.
4 – Stick to a regular sleep schedule
An improper sleeping schedule can also be the reason for tiredness the next day, which may lead to excessive yawning.
Be habitual of sleeping at the right time to finish your sleep perfectly.
If possible, try to take an afternoon nap of 10 – 15 minutes; that should also help you refresh both mentally and physically.
5 – Try foods that make you fresh
There is always that one food that, when we consume it, makes us feel fresh and energized. That special food could be tea, coffee, soda, juice etc.
Take one of those meals (as long as it doesn’t harm your extraction site) every few hours to stay energized.
The Bottom Line
Yawning is one of the most fundamental functions of the human body and, as explained above, has no proven side effects on our body.
Whether you yawn in normal condition or after wisdom teeth surgery, there’s nothing to worry about.
All you need to do is take better care of your wisdom teeth extraction site and protect it from any internal or external harm to make sure it heals sooner so you can start eating and drinking again without having to think twice about your extraction site.
