Had a tooth out t'other day. Dentist told me to rinse regularly during healing with antispetic mouthwash, or salt water as 'it does the same job, and lots cheaper'.

Is rinsing with salty water a good idea on-going, or is it just for gum healing?

And I get quite a lot of mouth ulcers … could it prevent/reduce these?

Ta

Salt water should promote healing and help prevent infection.

Stick with it for a few days.

Don't rinse too vigorously
If you dislodge the blood clot you'll certainly know about it

Long-term, rinsing with strong salty water isn't a great idea because you can't help swallowing some and too much sodium is bad for you.
Short-term, it's good for mouth hygiene.

For mouth ulcers, I sometimes put a tiny bit of table salt directly onto the ulcer using the end of a sharp knife as a spatula. It hurts like hell for a few minutes, but the ulcer starts to heal very quickly.

I had a tooth out less than an hour ago. 😥

The sheet of paper my dentist has given me says…

DO NOT rinse your mouth for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, rinse your mouth 2 or 3 times a day for a week with warm salty water.

Needless to say, all I really want now is a nice cup of tea, but apparently I'm not allowed one for at least 3 hours… 🙁

Must be something in the air, I had one out yesterday! 😆

Most "regular" bacteria cannot live in saline conditions, hence salt being a good food preservative.

I used to get a lot of mouth ulcers about 20 years ago.

A friend suggested I take vit B which cured the problem. At the time I had a serious coffee drinking habit which apparently depletes vit B.