Post-Treatment Information

Small amounts of bleeding and stained saliva is normal. If the bleeding is continuous and bright red, then roll up the gauze provided, dampen with cold water and bite down on it over the site for 20 minutes – the pressure helps stop the bleeding, Please try this several times. After this, if you continue to spit out clots or bright red blood then please give us a call.

An ice pack applied to the side of your face helps reduce this. The swelling is often at its worst on day 2-3 after surgery and may cause discomfort with mouth movements. Apply the ice pack to your cheek for 10 minutes then rest for 10 minutes to help with the discomfort. Alternatively, use a headband to keep the icepacks in place. The ice packs should be kept in a freezer if not in use.

Please take your pain relief medication as prescribed.

You may have been prescribed a course of antibiotics to take following the surgery. Please stop taking the medication if you feel you are having a bad reaction to it and call us.

Please stick to a softer diet for the next 5 days. Avoid hot fluids for the rest of the day. Avoid fruits with seeds for smoothies (e.g. strawberries).

Leave your mouth alone for the rest of the day.

1. On the following morning, start gently brushing your teeth, avoiding the extraction sites and use the Savacol mouth rinse morning and night until the bottle is finished.
2. After every meal, soak your mouth using 14 teaspoon salt in a cup of warm water for 30 seconds. This will help with cleansing the mouth and removing food debris. If you experience food trapping at the extraction sites they will dislodge overtime. Do not rinse the mouth too vigorously with the mouth rinses.

Leave your mouth alone for the rest of the day.

1. On the following morning, start gently brushing your teeth, avoiding the extraction sites and use a mouth rinse morning and night.
2. After every meal, use a salt rinse (74 teaspoon salt in a cup of warm water) for 30 seconds. This will help with cleansing the mouth and removing food debris. Do not rinse the mouth too vigorously with the mouth rinses.

If you have been provided with a temporary denture take them out as much as possible to allow optimal healing of your implant. Remove them when sleeping.

After 24 hours you may gently remove the denture, clean and replace back in your mouth. At the same time, start gentle warm salt water mouth soaks (1/4 tsp table salt in a tumbler of warm water). You may notice a little bad breath for a few days post-operatively-the mouth soaks will help with this (but not too vigorously which may upset the wound). Please also use the Savacol mouth rinse you have been prescribed.

Repeat these steps daily for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, please remove the denture at nighttime. As your gums heal and remodel you may experience sore spots. Please see the clinician who fabricated the denture to rectify this.

Dry socket is a potential complication after an extraction. It is not an infection, and is caused by loss of blood clot from the socket. Your symptoms will usually start around 3 days after the procedure. You will experience pain that radiates down the jaw, foul taste or bad breath. Please inform us (or text the surgeon over the weekend) if you think you have a dry socket so that we can manage your symptoms.

You may or may not have dissolving sutures which take 2-3 weeks to dissolve. They will become looser over this period of time. They may be removed at your follow up appointment.

It is normal to feel quite tired after surgery and this may last for 2-3 days. It is very important that you do not attempt to drive, operate heavy machinery, drink alcohol or make any important decisions for the next 24 hours.

You will notice a small hole especially if your wisdom teeth were partially or fully through prior to the surgery. This will lead to food trap. We fully understand this is quite disturbing but this will resolve spontaneously over time. It may take up to several weeks to resolve. A vigorous rinsing or attempt to remove the food debris will prolong the hole to close so we advise you to just ignore it as much as possible. You are more than welcome to use a tooth pick or something similar to remove it only if you can do it easily.

If you received a bone grafting procedure, it is normal for some small granules to fall out from the area.

If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to call us.