I had a single top wisdom tooth pulled a few days back, how long does the wound usually need to heal before I'm pretty much in the clear of dry socket? How does the healing process work? Do the gums just close up near the jaw bone first and then as it closes further down the clot is pushed out and dissolved?

It really varies a lot by the person, from their health, age, and how they tend to their mouth after the extraction. Tend to it all day for a week at least, and you should see nice solid pink instead of soft red, and the clot should fall out, and you still keep it clean for a while.
That's not just vigorous swishing with salt water. Also brush your gum gently with a soft new brush. That really helps form new gum faster.

The nerves down your jaw may hurt longer than it takes the gum to heal, they may not.

Yeah I've made sure to follow the dentists instructions to the best of my ability, the only thing that may have hurt it was the shift I had to work the day after getting it pulled. I work at a grocery store and I was told too much physical work right after getting a tooth pulled may inhibit healing, Other than that, I'm gently cleaning the wound with wet gauze, doing those gross salt water rinses, and avoiding all foods that may irritate the clot.

Well hey, thanks for the info, hopefully the hole closes up pretty soon, it's already about 1/3 the size it was when I had it pulled Thursday morning.

You should not be brushing around the extraction area at all, the swishing action is enough to clean. I have never heard of strenuous work dislodging a clot from Extraction.

The dentist didn't say that strenuous work would dislodge the clot, it may just slow the healing process. He also said that gently cleaning it with a soft brush or gauze is very important right after eating along with the salt water rinse because swishing may not be enough to get small bits of food that may get stuck around the wound and that those little bits can really cause problems.

tickle, I have great respect for my oral surgeon, who says to gently brush the gum. The wet gauze is just as good. I do think it's a somewhat 'new' instruction.

Dentist have different views about aftercare of extraction sites. Don't brush but clean gently with gauze. I wouldn't give advice if I didn't have experience with tooth extraction working for dentists. No, using gauze isn't recently new, I was told that after having a wisdom tooth out 50 years ago.

There is never any need to worry about food lodging in the site while healing as long as the sluesing with salt water is being done and the gauze wiping. No chewing of solid food is to be done on that side anyway, secondly, you,will find that food particles are normally rejected by the healing process. Any time you take a drink of water, one intake should be dedicated to gently moving the water around the mouth, swallow or spit out, whichever is convenient.