Healing After Dental Implants – What To Expect

If you’re thinking about replacing your missing teeth with dental implants in Springfield, MO, Elevate Dental Studio is here to help. Dr. Heather Cline specializes in implant dentistry, and can help you restore your smile permanently. Wondering what to expect after your surgery or have questions about how long it will take to heal? Read on and get all the details.

24 Hours After Surgery

Right after your surgery, you may start to feel some pain and discomfort as your anesthesia wears off. This is normal, and you can take any prescribed pain medication as directed, or take over-the-counter painkillers to help with pain. Icing the outside of your mouth near the treatment area can also help with pain and swelling.

Bleeding near the treatment site is normal. Dr. Cline will put a gauze pack on the treatment site, and you’ll bite down on it to help slow down and stop the bleeding. She will also give you a few extra gauze packs. Once one becomes soaked with blood, you can switch to a new one. Heavy bleeding will stop within a few hours, but you may notice some oozing blood for up to 1-3 days.

You’ll need to eat a diet of liquid or very soft foods right after your surgery, such as pudding, yogurt, ice cream, and non-chunky soup. This helps reduce pain and ensures you do not irritate the implant site. As far as oral hygiene goes, you can start brushing your teeth right away, but make sure you do not brush your implant site. You’ll want to avoid brushing your implant site directly for 3-7 days after your procedure.

1-3 Days After Surgery

Pain, swelling, and discomfort will typically peak and then begin to fade during this time. Your mouth may still also be bleeding occasionally, but this should stop by day three. We also recommend avoiding exercise and other types of heavy physical exertion during this time. Heavy exertion can contribute to bleeding, cause pain and discomfort, and slow down the healing process. Take things easy for a few days.

After about three days, you can usually start eating slightly firmer foods like scrambled eggs, soft macaroni, mashed potatoes, and other such foods. You should still avoid firm, crunchy, and hard foods.

1-2 Weeks After Surgery

After about a week, your mouth will feel much more normal. You should feel much less pain and discomfort, and you can add more foods into your diet like chicken, salmon, soft bread, and other firmer foods.

You can usually begin brushing the implant site directly at this time, though you should still be very gentle. If you typically use an electric toothbrush, consider switching to a manual soft-bristled toothbrush as you recover. This will help prevent irritation near the treatment site.

After about two weeks, your dental implant site should be fully healed. You shouldn’t feel any major pain or tenderness, and you can eat more tough, chewy foods. We still recommend avoiding crunchy and sharp foods like popcorn and chips for a few more weeks, though.

Interested In Dental Implants? Come To Elevate Dental Studio

At Elevate Dental Studio, Dr. Cline can restore your missing teeth permanently with dental implants in Springfield, MO. If you’re curious to learn more about the surgical process and you want to find out if dental implants are right for you, we’re here to help. Contact us online or give us a call at (417) 885-7040 to schedule a consultation right away.