Easy Ways To Ease The Pain After Getting Dental Implants
Posted on: 15 May 2019
It's no secret that dental implants are a top-notch choice for tooth replacement. The teeth look like real ones, work like real ones, and you care for them like real ones, too! However, since surgery is needed to place the implants inside your jaw bone, there is a recovery period -- and some pain -- associated with the process. Here are some easy ways to manage the pain you experience during recovery.
Rinse with salt water.
Your dentist will instruct you to rinse your mouth with salt water a couple of times per day to prevent infection. What you may not realize, however, is that you can rinse with salt water more often than is recommended. It won't do any harm; it will help keep inflammation, and therefore pain, to a minimum. Make sure you are using sea salt, as the iodine in table salt may make it sting more.
Eat room temperature foods.
You'll need to stick to soft foods that require little to no chewing as you heal. If you eat things like oatmeal, soup, and macaroni and cheese, consider letting them cool to room temperature before consuming them. The heat of warm food may make the pain and inflammation worse.
Hold ice against the outside of your mouth.
You can sip cool liquids and eat ice cream to topically alleviate pain inside your mouth, but don't hold ice against your sore gums. It could damage the delicate tissues that are still healing. You can, however, hold an ice pack wrapped in a thin towel against the outside of your cheek near the surgical site. This will help relieve inflammation in the general jaw area and can really help with any throbbing, aching pain you're experiencing.
Get some exercise.
You don't want to go out and run a marathon the day after your dental implants surgery, but getting some light exercise can help improve circulation and keep inflammation at bay, which will in turn reduce pain. Go for a walk around the block, clean your house, or do some gardening -- don't just sit on the couch and watch TV all day.
With the tips above, you should be able to keep post-surgical mouth pain under control. The worst of it should be over within a week. For more tips and information, reach out to your dental surgeon. They may have a pamphlet or list of recommendations they can give you..
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