Home Care Instructions

Post Surgical Care For Periodontal & Implant Surgery

Home Care
  • We recommend that you return home from your appointment right away and relax. It is advisable that you do not perform any strenuous physical activity during your first two post-operative weeks.
  • If a post-operative mouth rinse has been prescribed gently bathe the surgical area as directed.
  • You may brush and floss your teeth in the areas that are not part of the surgical site. You may take a q-tip and dip in the prescribed mouth rinse to remove plaque from teeth, taking care to stay away from stitches. After 2 weeks you may begin to gently brush the surgical area. Some light bleeding may occur but will decrease within a few days; this is part of the healing process. Areas that have had tissue grafting should also not be flossed for the first 2 weeks.
  • Please Avoid using a straw for drinking as well as heavy blowing of the nose.
Pain
Swelling and bruising is not unusual and may be reduced by the use of an ice pack (20min on, 20min off). Most over the counter medications such as Advil or Ibuprofen will be enough to control any pain, but if they are not helping we will prescribe something stronger. Do not worry if your pain peaks after 3 days, this is normal.
Medications
Antibiotics are prescribed for some surgeries to help aid with healing and preventing infection, it is very important to finish them. We also sometimes prescribe a steroid, this helps with swelling and pain control. It is very important to finish all your prescribed medications, to make the healing process more comfortable for you and also to help get the best outcome.
Diet
A soft food diet is recommended for your first 2 post-op weeks such as; overcooked pastas, eggs, bananas, soups, puree. Ensure, Boost, Carnation meal replacement drinks are also excellent food choices. Avoid sticky foods, highly spiced foods, hard/crunchy foods, and things with small seeds ie: popcorn, multigrain breads, nut mixes.
Bleeding
Slight seepage/blood staining in your saliva is expected following the surgery and no action is necessary this is normal. If heavy bleeding should occur, apply pressure with a moist gauze or tea bag for 20 mins. If it still persists please call us or head to the nearest emergency room.
Sinus graft patients may experience a post-surgical nose bleed within 2 days following surgery. Do not panic this is normal, pinching the nostrils and tilting your head back can bring this under control.
Smoking
Smoking and alcohol seriously retard the healing process in the mouth. Please do not smoke for the first 48 hrs. Some medications may be affected by alcohol.
Special care
  • Conscious Sedation patients should drink as much water as possible to flush your system of the medication. It is important that you do not drive, operate heavy machinery of make critical decisions at this time. You may feel groggy up to 24hrs post surgery.
  • Stitches may come loose or fall out before your first post-op appointment, this is okay as long as there is no profuse bleeding, pain or discomfort. Please do not try to remove stitches on your own.
  • Tissue Glue is sometimes used to help hold tissue in place, it can be grey or purple looking color. It is normal for this glue to begin to chip off on it’s own, it’s important not to pick at this glue.
  • Healing tissues tend to turn all kinds of different colors before they become pink again, this is the normal part of the healing process. It’s extremely important that you do no pull your lip out of the way to examine the surgical area, the delicate stitches may become dislodged and your gums may not heal the way they should. It is also important to keep your fingers and tongue from poking around the surgical area, we don’t want to disrupt the healing process.
  • Implant patients must refrain from any heavy biting, or pressure from dentures or partials against the implant. Any type of pressure on the newly inserted implant my disrupt the osteointegration (implant fusing to the bone) process.
Please call us at Dr. Natalia Evans Inc. Phone Number 604-986-4141 with any question and remember that your first post-operative appointment will be 2 weeks after surgery.