Unbearable pain, a bloody mouth, and just misery. Are these things you’re expecting after having an implant placed? Let’s talk about it.
What Is a Dental Implant?
So if you’re not aware of what a dental implant is, basically I like to describe it as a small titanium screw that goes down in the bone where you’re missing a tooth, and once you’ve had time to heal and the bone grows around that implant and kind of anchors it into your jawbone, at about three months, we can go back in and actually build the tooth on top that det attaches into that implant.
Now, the process of getting an implant, while it’s involved and can be a little intimidating, is actually a straightforward process that is pretty minimal as far as discomfort and recovery goes;
So after the implant is placed, the surgeon will close over the tissue with some sutures and this will allow the implant to heal without having to worry about infection or any kind of problems developing. Typically, it takes about three months for the bone to anchor around the implant and make it part of your jawbone.
Recovery Timeline
What I like to tell patients is that the recovery from having an implant placed is very similar to the recovery of having a tooth extracted. So while there might be some minor discomfort, some swelling and pain within the first 24 to 48 hours, generally speaking, once that initial phase has passed, it’s a very mild post-recovery. In fact, a lot of times, once you’ve got over that initial healing, you really don’t even remember or feel anything in that area because everything is happening under the surface of the tissue, so you really don’t even know what’s going on. So when I tell patients it’s about a three-month recovery, it’s really a passive recovery. It’s not like you’re in a cast. It’s not like you’ve got soreness and you’re limping around. You really don’t notice because it takes the body time about three months to fully integrate that implant into the bone.
What’s Normal After an Implant
So here’s some things that are normal and then you can expect to happen when you have an implant placed. There’s going to be some soreness in the area, especially if the surgeon had to make a small incision to reflect the tissue. There’s also going to be some stitches that you probably feel with your tongue might drive your tongue a little crazy, and a lot of times we can either do resorbable sutures, which means that their body will kind of digest and break them down on their own or in other situations we use sutures that will stay in place and keep the tissue together until it heals, until the surgeon can come and take it out generally about seven to 14 days later.
What’s Not Normal
So here’s what’s not normal and would concern me as a dentist if you were displaying these symptoms: pain in the adjacent teeth, a lot of times an implant that goes right in the bone in the right spot is not going to have any impact on the adjacent teeth. If those teeth next door are sore, tender, start to get hot, cold sensitivity and didn’t have any of those symptoms before, that’s a sign that the implant might be impinging on the adjacent teeth and might be causing damage to that tooth, which, if not corrected, can lead to a root canal or possible damage on those adjacent teeth.
Another thing to be worried about is excessive pain or discomfort. A little bit of discomfort is normal because we are going in there, we’re disrupting the body, we are making incisions in the tissue and we’re putting things in there that weren’t in there before. So some discomfort is to be expected. If you’re in a lot of pain and you can’t function, you can’t focus, and you’re relying on pain meds to kind of get through it, that might be a sign that something’s wrong, and I would definitely recommend going back and making sure that there isn’t something else going on because that’s not in your normal recovery.
Pain Management and Comfort
One of the questions that we get a lot is how painful is this process going to be and should I be really concerned? What I like to tell patients is we do a lot of planning ahead of time. We make sure that if you’re nervous, if you’re worried, we can do sedation beforehand. We can do IV sedation for the procedure, but every implant that we do here in our office, there’s a lot of anesthetic.
Our goal is to never have you feel anything. A lot of times we’ll have patients say the worst part was just getting numb at the beginning. After that, it was all smooth sailing. So if you’re one of those people that has a really low pain tolerance, we will take our time, we’ll walk you through everything. We’ll make sure you understand the steps, and we also let you anticipate how much discomfort you can have.
Generally speaking, once the anesthesia wears off, we like to have some good meds on board, so sometimes it’s just Tylenol, Advil, combination is all we need. And if your pain gets on a scale of one to 10 in that three to four range, that’s okay. That’s pretty normal. What we’re concerned about is if your pain level gets to the six seven range, that’s when you need to call somebody and have a follow-up.
Final Thoughts
So if you’re missing a tooth and are considering a dental implant, or if you have a tooth that’s failing and would like to see what your options are for dental implants, come see us. You’ve got our information, we’d love to come walk you through all the steps and options that you have. One of the things we really pride ourselves on in this office is that we spend a lot of time planning and making sure that when we get to the day of surgery, all our ducks are in a row, everything is set up, and we know exactly what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.
I’m Dr. Brett Langton, owner at Dental Implant and Aesthetic Specialist here in Brookhaven, Georgia, and I’m here to help you. Watch your mouth.
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