When you receive oral surgery, whether it’s a tooth extraction, wisdom teeth removal, or something else, you’ve just taken an important step in looking after your dental health—but you’re not quite done yet.
To ensure you have the easiest and speediest recovery possible, you need to know how to take care of your oral hygiene and manage any potential pain after your dental surgery.
Dental Surgery Pain Management
It’s completely normal to have a little bit of pain in the first couple days after surgery but this should become less and less as time goes on.
To manage any discomfort, you can take over-the-counter painkillers like ibuprofen. Just remember to follow the dosage recommendations of the medication and not to drink alcohol while taking pain meds!
If your pain doesn’t go away after a few days, contact your dentist so they can assess the situation.
Post-Dental Surgery Oral Hygiene
After getting oral surgery, you should be gentle while cleaning your mouth so you don’t irritate the treatment site. Continue to brush and floss but do so gently, but depending on the surgery you’ve received and your dentist’s advice you should either avoid or just take extra care around the treatment area.
The day after your surgery, just use water or a simple saltwater solution instead of rinsing with mouthwash. Mouthwash may be too harsh for the sensitive surgery area, and a saltwater rinse will still keep the area clean.
Since tobacco use can get in the way of the healing process, avoid smoking or chewing tobacco for at least a day after your oral surgery, possibly even longer depending on the advice of your dentist. Otherwise, you risk the possibility of getting an infection.
Along with these tips, the best thing you can do after getting oral surgery is to just take it easy. If possible, try not to do anything too strenuous and get as much sleep as possible.
More Questions? We Have Answers!
At Smiles Dental, we provide a suite of oral surgery services, so we’re happy to answer any questions you might have about your recovery. Don’t hesitate to contact us.
Discover the Smiles Dental difference today!
Are you ready for the happy, healthy smile of your dreams? When you choose Smiles Dental Services, you’re putting your smile in the hands of highly-trained professionals you can trust. Above all, we provide our patients with leading-edge dentistry that goes above and beyond.
