Surgical Instructions
Surgical Instructions
Removal of teeth and surgeries under any type of anesthesia requires careful observation of pre and post-operative instructions. Needless pain and complications such as infection and swelling can be minimized if these instructions are followed carefully.
Please follow these instructions to prepare for oral surgery with IV Sedation:
- Do not have anything to eat or drink for 8 hours before the appointment.
- Have an adult accompany you to the office, remain in the waiting area during the procedure, and drive you home.
- Do not smoke for a minimum of 12 hours before surgery.
- Do not drive or operate any heavy machinery for 24 hours following anesthesia.
- Wear loose-fitting clothing and comfortable shoes.
- Contact lenses, accessories, and dentures must be removed before surgery.
- Do not wear any makeup or nail polish on the day of surgery.
- Please notify the office if you have flu-like symptoms such as a sore throat, elevated temperature, upset stomach, or a cold and cough.
- Inform Dr. Sonneveld of any medications you take before your surgical date for additional instructions.
Immediately following dental surgery, a gauze pad may be placed over the surgical area for a half-hour. After this, the gauze pad should be removed and discarded. Once you return home, slight bleeding, oozing, or redness in the saliva is not uncommon. Excessive bleeding may be controlled by rinsing or wiping clots from your mouth, again placing a gauze pad over the area, and biting firmly for thirty minutes. Repeat as necessary. If bleeding continues, bite on a damp black tea bag for thirty minutes. To minimize further bleeding, stay calm, sit upright, and avoid exercise.
If you experience nausea and/or vomiting after surgery, don’t eat or drink anything for at least an hour, including the prescribed medication. Slowly sip on a soda, tea, or ginger ale over a fifteen-minute period. When nausea subsides, begin taking solid foods, prescribed medicines, and resume normal activity as you feel comfortable.
When you start to feel pain, take the required pain medicines as soon as possible. If you’ve been given antibiotics, follow the prescription exactly.
Following oral surgery, mouth rinsing and/or contact with the wound area should be avoided for a few days.
Swelling around the cheeks, eyes, mouth, and sides of the face is expected after surgery or extraction. It is the body’s normal healing response to surgery. Swelling will not be obvious until the next day of surgery and will not reach its maximum until 2-3 days post-operatively. Place ice packs as long as you can tolerate them to the sides of your face to control swelling. Apply moist heat to the sides of the face Thirty-six hours following surgery to further reduce the size of the swelling.
Your food intake will be modified and limited for the first few days. Avoid dehydration by increasing your fluid intake to at least 5-6 glasses of liquid daily. If advised after surgery, you should drink from a glass and not use straws for a few days. A high calorie, high protein intake is important, so you are not compromising on overall nutrition. Our staff can provide suggested diet instructions.
Do not rinse the mouth until a day following surgery. The day after surgery, rinse gently at least 5-6 times a day, with saltwater, especially after each meal. Brushing your teeth after 2-3 days is okay so long as you are gentle at the surgical sites.
Sutures may be placed in the area of surgery to secure any surgical flaps and minimize post-operative bleeding. The sutures will be removed once your surgeon thinks that the area has healed sufficiently, which typically takes a week. The removal does not require local anesthesia or any needles, takes a few minutes, and there is no discomfort associated with the procedure. Sometimes they may get dislodged before the appointment—just remove the suture from your mouth and discard it.
To help with speedy healing, do not disturb the wound after dental implant surgery. Rinsing vigorously, touching the wound, or spitting on the day of surgery may dislodge a suture or clot and trigger excessive bleeding.
After a dental implant, there may be a metal healing abutment protruding through the gingival (gum) tissue. As discussed in the pre-operative consultation, prostheses like partial dentures, flippers, or full dentures should not be used immediately after surgery for at least ten days.
Numbness of the lip, chin, or tongue is usually temporary. However, if your lip or tongue is fully numb, that is, if you bite it and yet do not feel any sensation, call Dr. Sonneveld.
A slightly raised temperature immediately following surgery is expected. Tylenol or ibuprofen can be taken to manage the fever initially. But if the temperature persists or increases, notify the office immediately.
Do not change your position from lying down to standing abruptly. The drop in blood sugar due to prior fasting and medications used during the procedure may make you feel light-headed. Sit for a moment before standing.
Patients may feel hard projections in the mouth with their tongue–they are the bony walls that supported the tooth and smooth out spontaneously. If not, they can be removed by Dr. Sonneveld.
Corners of your mouth may have dried out and cracked due to being stretched during the procedure. Lips can be kept moist with lip balms such as Vaseline.
Sore throats and pain when swallowing can make the normal act of swallowing quite painful but subsides in 2-3 days.
Stiffness of the jaw muscles or trismus may cause difficulty in opening your mouth for a few days following surgery. This is a normal post-operative event and will resolve as the muscles around the jaw have relaxed.
The pain and swelling should reduce following a few days of the surgery. If post-operative pain or swelling worsens or any concerning symptoms occur, call our office for instructions. A dry socket may occur 2-3 days following surgery when the blood clot formed after a tooth removal gets dislodged from the tooth socket before the wound has healed. This exposing of underlying nerves and bones leads to pain at the surgical site and near the ear. Call the office if this occurs.
Give us a call today at 817-927-1818 or fill out the form below to schedule an appointment. You’ll be happy you chose Facial & Cosmetic Surgery Fort Worth for your oral surgery and facial cosmetic surgery needs.