Dental implant aftercare is critical to the success of your treatment. Of course, your professional dentist will work closely with you both before and after the procedure to provide you with tailored dentist guidance. There are a few things you should do following your dental implant treatment.

Dental Implant Aftercare Advice from Experienced Dentists

If you properly follow these procedures and consult with your dentist, your implant recovery should go off smoothly. Remember that you may always contact your dentist if you suspect something is wrong.

Below are a few dental implant aftercare tips we ask patients to follow:

  1. Start Dental Implant Aftercare Right Away: Avoid Hot Food or Drink

Now that the treatment is over, you must focus on implant aftercare. Aftercare for dental implants begins right after your treatment.

Avoiding hot food or liquids is one of the most crucial components of initial dental implant aftercare. Try to limit yourself to cold water for a time, and your dentist will be able to tell you how long.

Hot food or drink might aggravate the stress on your oral tissue. It’s recommended to avoid disrupting the tissue surrounding the location of your implants as it heals. You should avoid contact with the region as well as hot food and drink. This involves rubbing the afflicted region with your tongue or fingertips.

Of course, you should avoid any solid foods until the local anaesthetic wears off. Your best bet will be to drink cold water. For the first 24-48 hours, drinking cold water will relieve swelling and some of the discomfort in your mouth. You will be able to lessen any disruption to the surgical site even further by sipping it.

  1. You may have some discomfort and swelling: treat with ice packs and pain relievers

So you got home safely and the surgery went well. However, your mouth appears to be swelling. What are you going to do? You shouldn’t be concerned. Swelling is a natural side effect of the implant process.

Furthermore, the swelling is likely to worsen during the first two or three days. The treatments to pain and swelling are straightforward: ice and medications. A package of frozen peas is an essential component of your dental implant recovery kit. Ice packs will alleviate and minimise swelling, hence reducing your discomfort.

Start taking pain relievers when the numbness wears off entirely. To make you feel comfortable, you may be given moderate intensity pain medicines (analgesics) such as paracetamol with codeine and Nurofen.

  1. Use a warm saltwater mouthwash for the first week after your procedure

Now that you’ve addressed discomfort and swelling, you can go on to the next and equally crucial component of dental implant aftercare. Keeping your mouth clean and free of microorganisms is critical to your healing and general dental health.

But how should this be approached? The best approach is also the simplest: saltwater. A basic antiseptic solution may be made by combining a few tablespoons of salt with a cup of warm water.

This will lower the amount of microorganisms in your mouth. As a consequence, the possibility of difficulties will be greatly minimised.

Of course, the water should not be too hot. Holding the salty water over the surgical site is the ideal technique to use.

Don’t swish it about your mouth too much. You don’t want the water to scorch you as you hold it over the implant.

  1. Brushing Your Teeth Is Still Required

Your dentist has most likely taught you that regular oral hygiene is essential for optimal dental health. That is entirely correct. Brushing carefully in the lead-up to your implant treatment can help you prepare.

What about following the surgery? Your wounds surrounding the implants are likely to be very sensitive for frequent brushing after the treatment. Our dentists advise using a small-headed toothbrush with very soft and flexible bristles.

Brushing around your remaining teeth should be resumed as usual, commencing the night before your operation.

In general, it is good to wait a few days before brushing near the dental implant site. The length of your waiting time will be determined by how the implant feels and how well the recuperation is going.

The same is true for flossing. Flossing is an essential aspect of your dental care regimen, and you should floss at least once a day. Of course, you should wait for your new dental implant to settle before flossing around it.  However, your other teeth should be OK.

Don’t be hesitant to seek your dentist for additional particular guidance in this area.

  1. Once you’re more comfortable, you can try a few other more solid foods.

Our specialists usually recommend waiting 3-4 days after the procedure; be sure to rinse your mouth after each meal to avoid contaminating the wounds with food.

As you may expect, eating solid foods will be difficult for some time following your treatment. That is why we advocate avoiding solid foods throughout your first recuperation.

However, after the swelling and pain have subsided, you will be able to eat more solid meals. But there’s a catch! After each meal, you must thoroughly clean your mouth.

Food residues can disrupt your new dental implant throughout the healing process. So continue to rinse your mouth after each meal. This will gently remove food from your mouth after meals and promote the best possible recovery!

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