If you’re scheduled to have dental surgery in our Pasadena offices, you likely have a lot of questions about what your recovery will be like. While each dental surgery comes with its unique set of post-operation instructions that you should follow to a “T,” there are some standard oral hygiene tips that you should follow regardless of what type of dental surgery you are having performed. These include:
- Keeping your mouth clean. Depending on the type of dental surgery you have, your doctor will likely instruct you to not rinse your mouth for the first 24 hours post-op. But, on day two, you’ll likely be instructed to rinse your mouth out about 4 times a day with warm salt water, especially after you have anything to eat to ensure that food debris doesn’t get stuck in your wounds and cause bacteria growth.
- Don’t brush or floss directly at the dental surgery site until your doctor instructs you to do so. This is especially important if you have stitches. You don’t want to dislodge them, do you? When your doctor says it’s okay to brush and floss your dental surgery site, make sure that you do so with extra, gentle care.
- Avoiding smoking for as long as possible after your dental surgery. Smoking can cause serious complications in dental surgery patients, such as dry sockets for wisdom teeth removal patients, and delayed healing for all types of dental surgery procedures.
Additional Tips for Recovering from Oral Surgery
In addition to following the above oral hygiene tips, there are several other instructions that you should keep in mind after dental surgery, too. These include:
- Resting the day of your dental surgery. Even though you may feel that outpatient dental surgery in our Pasadena office is minor compared to a surgery performed in a hospital, you have just undergone a surgical procedure and likely received some form of anesthesia, too. Your body needs to recover. While resting, you should lie down, keeping your head elevated with pillows to allow for proper blood flow to your head. This will help reduce swelling in your mouth and prevent excessive bleeding.
- Icing your face after you return home from our Pasadena offices. When you have dental surgery, icing for 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off can help relieve swelling and post-operative pain.
- Eating soft foods as your mouth heals from your dental surgery. Harder and crunchier foods can be reintroduced as your doctor advises.
- Taking your pain medication exactly as prescribed, even if that means you need to wake up in the middle of the night to take a dose.
Learning More About Dental Surgery
There are so many different types of oral surgeries available, that exact instructions for your recovery will be unique depending on the procedure you’re having performed. The best way to understand what your unique recovery will be like is to speak in detail with your doctor at Lytle, Tate & Stamper during your consultation appointment.
To schedule an oral surgery consultation appointment in our Pasadena office, call (818) 240-1805 today.
