How To Manage Pain After Oral Surgery?
What is Oral Surgery?
Oral surgery is performed on your mouth to remove or correct your teeth, repair the gums, or fix problems in your jaws. Some problems requiring oral surgery are broken teeth, deep decay, deep tissue infections, and dental implants.
Oral surgery is not a minor or routine procedure; it is an invasive and painful surgery. The procedure may cause bleeding, swelling, and excessive pain. The surgery can also interfere with your speech and ability to eat and drink. Mouth surgery is often required to correct or repair problems in the mouth. It is performed on the teeth, gums, or jaws.
What Are Type of Oral Surgery Procedures?
Oral surgery is an umbrella term that includes different procedures like:
- Tooth extraction
Tooth extraction is a common type of dental surgery, and it is done for different purposes. For instance, our dentist in Youngtown can recommend it if you have severe tooth decay, gum disease, dental trauma, or wisdom teeth complications. Sometimes tooth extractions are performed to prepare you for other dental procedures like orthodontic. If you have crowded teeth, the dentist may recommend extraction to remove the excess teeth and create room for the teeth alignment process.
- Dental implants
Dental implants are titanium or zirconia posts that are implanted into your jaw to support a replacement tooth or bridge. Dental implants are surgically fixed on the jawbone and require several months of recovery. These teeth replacement screws are ideal if you have sufficient bone density to support them.
- Periodontal disease
Your doctor might recommend professional treatment when you have moderate or severe gum disease. Before starting this procedure, your doctor creates an opening along your gum line, removing gum tissues, and scrubbing plaque and bacteria from your tooth roots. Your doctor will then clean your teeth and seal the surgical openings in your gum. Finally, the gum tissue is replaced and sutured into position.
Recovery from Oral Surgery
Recovery from oral surgery is usually quick and straightforward; however, the time it takes will vary from person to person. The healing time depends mostly on the type of surgery done and your body’s ability to recover.
However, most patients feel like themselves again in about one week. The more extensive oral surgery, the longer it will take to recover. People recovering from oral surgery are given medications to keep them comfortable.
Aftercare for Oral Surgery?
Pain, swelling, soreness, and bleeding are some of the side effects you may experience after the surgery. You can manage these problems with a few home remedies like:
- Rest
After your operation, it is advised that it is important to rest the first few days but avoid strenuous exercise or heavy cleaning. Don’t turn or lift anything that might dislodge the blood clots. Use extra pillows to maintain neck position when resting to keep the blood or fluid from accumulating in the surgical area.
- Ice
Wrapping ice around the side of your face delivers two benefits: pain relief and swelling reduction. The process begins by covering your cheeks with ice for 15 minutes and then resting for a few minutes. You can repeat this process if it starts to hurt.
- Managing the bleeding
You’ll most likely have some bleeding for the first few days after surgery. Try to stop the flow with the gauze. If the bleeding continues for more than a day or it is a lot for the gauze to be changed daily, visit a dental office in Youngtown.
- Protect the blood clot
Don’t use a straw, not drink alcoholic or carbonated beverages, or smoke for three days after this procedure; try not to spit too much because you could rupture the blood clot.
- Watch what you eat.
Foods like yogurt, ice cream, and applesauce are generally soothing, while those with hot, cold, tough, chewy, or spicy tastes can hurt the gums.
Schedule an Appointment
Visit Agua Fria Dental for more information about oral surgery and how you can recover quickly.