Dr. Slavin’s post-op instructions are also summarized in the text below the video for your convenience.

Dr. Andrew Slavin gives some dental implant post operative instructions to assist you after your dental implant procedure.

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Post Operative Care After Your Dental Implant Surgery.

Dental implant surgery is similar to having a tooth removed as far as the post operative care.

We Are Available 24 Hours A Day, Seven Days A Week

First, our office number 561-833-6880 and we are available for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  So please call our office number anytime for any questions.  And you’ll either get me directly or our staff to help answer your questions.

Your Procedure Site Has A Healing Cap Installed

Implants are placed into your jaw bone, and those implants have a different care regimen as compared to teeth being removed.  Your dental implants will appear in your mouth right at the gum level with what’s called a healing cap. It looks like the top of a screw.

The healing cap is attached to the implant itself, and basically can be unscrewed by us so that another part can be placed into your implant to make the actual tooth.  It’s very important that you don’t disturb that healing screw with your tongue.

Think about the implant as being in like wet cement.  And if you push on the implant healing cap, your tongue is a very strong muscle, you could loosen the implant.  So, it’s very important that you keep your tongue on the other side of your mouth for the first couple weeks.

Remove The Gauze From Your Mouth Once You Get Home

As far as what to do in the initial days and then several days after, we are going to send you home biting on some gauze.  And when you get home, you can take the gauze out.  You can leave it out, you don’t need to put it back in.

Take Your First Pain Medication In Two Portions

It would be a good idea to take a pain medicine which we’ve given you prescription for. Take a half of a pain pill and then 20 or 30 minutes later you can take the other half.  So it’s not too much in your stomach at one time.

Start Your Antibiotic With Your After Your Next Mealtime

In addition, the antibiotic prescription which you’ve been given, you can start the antibiotic.  If your surgery was in the morning, you can start it after lunch. If your surgery was after lunch, you can start it after dinner.

You Can Start Rinsing The Following Day

You can start rinsing with the mouthwash that was prescribed the following day.  I don’t want you to do a lot of rinsing the first day because it’ll just make it bleed.

Slight Bleeding Is Normal

As far as bleeding goes, it’s very normal that you ooze a little blood for a day or two. A little bit of blood makes your saliva pink, and then you salivate a lot.  You think you’re bleeding a lot, it’s mostly saliva.

It Is Important To Use Ice For Swelling

Over the next several days you’re gonna have some swelling.  It is important to use ice on your cheek if the implant was on the top,  and along your lower jawbone if the implant was on the bottom.  I would use the ice for the next two to three days.  It’s very normal that you get swelling for three days after the procedure.

Therefore, if your surgery was on a Monday, you would swell Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, it’ll start to go down on Friday.  So it’s very important to use the ice for those three or four days to minimize swelling and minimize bruising.

Bruising Is Normal

It’s very normal that in addition to swelling, you’ll get some bruising in this area.

Use A Manual Toothbrush The Night Of Your Procedure

Brushing your teeth may start the night of the procedure.  Once the implants are placed, it’s important that you brush your teeth and brush to the area, but not on the area that the implant was done.  It’s also very important that you use a manual toothbrush not an electric toothbrush as the electric toothbrush can disturb the integration of the implant.

Conclusion

We have a better than 99% success rate over a long term with these implants.  So if you follow our instructions, you’re gonna have a great result.

Have a wonderful day and an easy recovery, thank you.

See Also: Dental Implant Surgery