Mouthwash Use after Dental Implants

After getting dental implants to replace missing teeth, you receive after-care instructions from the provider to ensure you don’t confront complications after dental implant treatment. Your jawbone heals around the implants in approximately three to six months.

The initial two weeks after getting dental implants in Portland, OR, are incredibly important and require you to follow your dentist’s instructions diligently. Compromising with the advice can create complications and result in the failure of the implanted titanium post.

This article provides an overview of the healing process and the dentist’s after-care instructions to help you recover comfortably after getting dental implants as substitutes for your missing teeth.

Dentists After-Care Instructions

During the initial two to four days, the dentist recommends you have a nutritionally balanced diet after your surgery. You must avoid chewing near the surgical site and chew from the opposite side of your mouth until the tissue around the implant heals and allows you to eat as usual.

You can expect swelling in your mouth for about 48 hours. Keeping your head elevated by using extra pillows when lying down minimizes facial swelling. You can also use cold compresses or ice packs on your face intermittently for 15 minutes on and off during the initial 48 hours. After two days, warm compresses help alleviate the suffering. You can continue this convenient home remedy until the swelling subsides.

The dentist recommends not to rinse your mouth for 24 hours following dental implant surgery. Rinsing can disturb the blood clot at the surgical site. If you receive a prescription for chlorhexidine gluconate, mouthwash saturate gauze pad with it for placement on the surgical site for a minute twice daily for 7 to 10 days.

How Do You Clean Your Mouth after Dental Implants?

If you have an implant protruding from the gums, you must ensure the metal is kept clean. You can use a soft-bristled toothbrush to gently clean the implant and the neighboring tooth surfaces remaining cautious around the sutures.

Pain

Some discomfort accompanies oral surgical procedures as the anesthesia starts wearing off. You can take pain relievers recommended by the dentist before the anesthesia begins to wear. If you are not affected by allergies, you can take over-the-counter pain relievers. The dentist might prescribe narcotic medications for relief if you have undergone an intensive procedure. Unfortunately, narcotic medicines impair your reflexes and judgment. Therefore driving or operating heavy machinery is best avoided.

How Long Should I Use Chlorhexidine Mouthwash after Implant Surgery?

If recommended chlorhexidine mouthwash, you can use the product as suggested earlier, placing the mouthwash for one minute on the surgical site twice daily and not exceeding the usage for over seven to ten days. However, you can use warm salt water rinses because they have disinfectant properties and are beneficial for healing during the first week. However, you must ensure the mouth rinse is not scalding and hold the mouthwash over the surgical site until it cools in your mouth. You can repeat rinsing with salt water as often as you like. However, it would help if you remembered not to swish for fear of disturbing the blood clot.

Antibiotics

Dentists prescribe antibiotics after implant surgery to prevent infections. You must take the medications as prescribed without skipping doses. You can contact the dentist if you experience adverse reactions like nausea, rashes, and itching and discontinue the medication. Rashes and itching indicate allergic reactions to the antibiotics. Unfortunately, if you develop swelling of the tongue and lips or challenges breathing, it represents a severe allergic reaction requiring medical attention immediately.

Smoking And Alcohol

You must eliminate tobacco and alcohol for at least two weeks following implant surgery. Quitting smoking is even better because the chemicals from smoking or chewing tobacco make you prone to gum disease, a leading cause of implant failure.

Alcohol consumption during an initial couple of weeks after implant surgery can interact with the pain relievers or narcotic medications prescribed by the dentist. Therefore you must refrain from having alcohol to prevent adverse reactions and recover quickly from dental implant surgery.

After dental implant surgery, you must concentrate on healing quickly by following the after-care instructions your dentist provides and using salt water rinses instead of looking for over-the-counter mouthwash brands containing over 20 percent alcohol because they are harmful to your oral health. Instead, if you follow your dentist’s instructions, you find it comfortable with or without adverse complications putting at risk your dental implants.

Laurelhurst Dentistry performing dental implant placements provide adequate instructions on caring for your mouth after the surgical process to ensure you recover quickly to receive your artificial teeth as soon as possible. If you need dental implants for missing teeth, kindly schedule an appointment with this practice to receive them.