Tips for Oral Surgery Recovery

Tips for Oral Surgery Recovery

November 8, 2021

Oral surgeons perform various types of oral surgery to treat injuries, infections, or defects with your teeth, gums, or jawbone. Whether you underwent oral surgery to treat gum recession or wisdom tooth removal, you require a few days to recover from the procedure. Therefore, trying to rush into your everyday activities is a challenge you must overcome because the process you underwent will impose some restrictions on you.

If you need oral and maxillofacial surgery for facial trauma or injury, you may have to endure more pressure during the recovery because an advanced oral surgery technique like bone grafting for placing dental implants to replace missing teeth requires longer healing times than getting a wisdom tooth removed.

Recovering from surgical procedures in the mouth, although a challenge, is not impossible if you follow the instructions of your oral surgeon and adhere to them diligently. This article provides some tips for your recovery and the steps you can take to speed the process.

What Steps Are Essential to Recover from Oral Surgery Speedily?

Protect The Surgical Site
The surgical site will likely remain sensitive after the procedure you underwent. Therefore, it helps by limiting eating, speaking, and drinking during the initial few hours following the surgery. You must also avoid spitting to ensure you don’t disturb the surgical wound.

Get Plenty of Rest
After any oral surgery, whether to remove an impacted tooth or flap surgery to restore the health of your gums, plan on taking it easy following the procedure. You can recommence your daily activities within 24 hours. However, you must avoid strenuous activities like exercising or operating machinery until at least a week.

Plan for a Diet of Soft Foods
Oral surgical procedures will not allow you to have your favorite crunchy and complex foods immediately after the operation. Instead, you must plan on having soft foods of the bland variety and avoid spicy and acidic foods. You can gradually incorporate your regular foods into your diet as you recover but avoid scorching foods or icy drinks that can irritate the wound.

Stay Away from Alcohol and Tobacco
It would help if you refrained from having alcohol, smoking, or using tobacco in any form for at least a week following the procedures. Chemicals from tobacco and alcohol can cause both delay healing and increase your risks of complications to send you searching for an emergency oral surgeon for treatment. Instead, if you avoid alcohol and tobacco, you help your recovery process to proceed smoothly.

Use Pain Medications As Directed by the Oral Surgeon

Surgical procedures, whether minor or significant, will cause discomfort after the anesthesia begins wearing off. Oral surgeons are aware of this problem and recommend or prescribe painkillers to ensure you can manage the pain. Use the medications as recommended without exceeding or limiting the dosage if you want to recover quickly and comfortably.

Home Remedies

Swelling from surgical procedures is standard but does not require external medicine to overcome the problem. You can use ice packs as a home remedy passing it against your cheeks for 20-minute intervals and repeating it as often as you like.

Remaining Hydrated

Surgical procedures can dehydrate you making it essential for you to drink plenty of liquids. Drinking liquids does not mean you can have alcohol, beer, carbonated, sports, energy, or caffeinated drinks. You must also avoid using a straw for sucking the liquids for fear of disturbing the surgical site. Drinking water is an excellent option because it keeps you hydrated without imposing any restrictions on you.

Maintain Excellent Dental Hygiene

You can brush your teeth carefully using a soft result toothbrush being gentle around the surgical site. You might receive advice not to rinse your mouth for the initial 24 hours following the procedure. After that, you can use warm salt water every few hours and after meals for a week during your recovery.

Recovering from oral surgical procedures requires time and differs between everyone. Therefore, no single recovery tip is appropriate for all. However, if you follow the tips mentioned in this article besides your oral surgeon’s post-operative instructions, you can enhance your chances of recovering comprehensively and faster. If you have any questions regarding the tips mentioned in this article, don’t hesitate to contact your oral surgeon for advice. If you encounter any complications during your recovery, do not try home remedies or any other unless you discuss the same with your oral surgeon.

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