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Patients who have undergone oral surgery may experience some discomfort following the procedure, but you can take action to reduce the discomfort. Your dentist will give you more detailed instructions at your preliminary appointment, but here are a few basic tips that can help you keep any post-surgical pain in check.
Depending on the nature of the oral surgery, it may be possible to achieve pain management through over-the-counter painkillers, like acetaminophen. For more complex or involved procedures, your dentist may give you a prescription for a stronger medication. You should get this filled in advance of the surgery so that you don’t have to go to the pharmacy on the way home after your procedure.
Post-operative infection can unnecessarily cause discomfort, as well, so patients should follow the directions from their dentist to reduce their risk of this outcome. Take care to keep the surgical site clean (using the recommended techniques and tools for doing so) and finish the course of any preventive antibiotics that are prescribed for you. If you discontinue antibiotics too soon, you may actually increase your risk of infection.
Any discomfort that you do experience should diminish over the course of several days following the oral surgery. If you are experiencing severe pain, contact our office for follow-up, especially if the pain seems to be lasting an unusually long time or has re-emerged several days after the original procedure. This may be a sign of a complication that needs to be addressed.
You should also monitor the surgical site for other signs of complications, like persistent bleeding, bad breath, unusual swelling or a fever. Any of these symptoms should prompt a call to our office for further evaluation and guidance.
When you have a good plan in place, you can come away from oral surgery with minimal discomfort. Follow the instructions provided to you for post-operative care, and don’t hesitate to ask any questions that you may have about those procedures.