Postoperative Instructions: Dental Implants

• Do not rinse your mouth or spit for 24 hours. After 24 hours have passed, start brushing your teeth. VERY GENTLY brush around the healing abutment or implant sites. Begin lightly rinsing your mouth with the prescription rinse or warm salt water. Avoid vigorously rinsing for 72 hours.
• Do not drink from a straw, smoke, or drink carbonated beverages for 3 days. Do not do any heavy lifting, pushing, or pulling for 7 days after extractions.
• Swelling and bruising are normal. Swelling will get worse for the first 3 days. Apply ice packs off and on and keep your head lightly elevated for the first 48 hours to help limit this swelling. Jaw stiffness is normal. It should resolve in 5 to 10 days.
• Intermittent bleeding the first 1-2 days is normal. Apply pressure with clean gauze directly to the area in your mouth that is bleeding, changing the gauze every 30-45 minutes as needed. Steady, consistent, firm, direct pressure for at least 30 minutes at a time is best. Bleeding should decrease over time. If bleeding persists, place a tea bag over the site that is bleeding and bite to apply direct pressure for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Once the bleeding has stopped or is very minimal, make sure to stay HYDRATED. Drink a lot of water, Gatorade, tea, juice, Vitamin Water (but no straws or carbonated drinks). Yes, you can have coffee - just not too hot.
• Stay as inactive as possible after coming home from surgery. The more active you are, the more bleeding you will experience.
• If sutures/stitches were placed inside your mouth, they will dissolve on their own in approximately 10 days.

DIET

• The day OF surgery, eat "non-chewing" foods (applesauce, Jell-O, broths, ice cream, mashed potatoes, cream of wheat, pudding, baby food, Ensure/Boost drinks, etc.).
• Beginning the day AFTER surgery, start enjoying a "soft chew" diet (pancakes, eggs, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, pasta, enchiladas, soups without rice, soft cooked vegetables, oatmeal, tamales, muffins, etc.). Continue this diet for 5 days.
• Beginning 5 days after your surgery, start using the irrigating syringe to wash out lower extraction sites. You will fill up the syringe with a warm saltwater mixture and use the syringe to flush the extraction sites, getting any food debris out. Once you are allowed to start using the flushing syringe, you can eat whatever is comfortable as long as you flush the areas and get all food debris out every day. You can flush the areas out after every meal, or you can simply do a thorough flush right before bed every night. The important thing to remember is to wait 5 full days before doing the first flushing out.

PRESCRIPTIONS

You were most likely prescribed a pain medication or instructed to take ibuprofen, or a combination of the two.

• When you leave the clinic after surgery, your mouth will be numb for at least 2-3 hours.
• We recommend eating and starting your pain medication (ibuprofen if able) before the numbness goes away. Take other prescribed pain medication as needed in addition to ibuprofen. Taking pain medication without food can cause nausea.
• If you were prescribed an anti-nausea medication, start taking it AS SOON AS you start to feel ANY nausea. Only take if needed. If you were not prescribed an anti-nausea medication and you start to have nausea, STOP eating/drinking. If nausea persists for longer than 1-2 hours, call our clinic.
• It is very important to take your prescribed antibiotics as prescribed. It is best to take antibiotics with food.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call our clinic at (205) 900-WISE. We are available 24/7. If you need to call after hours, you will reach our answering service. Tell them you have a question/concern, and they will connect you with one of our team members.