Post-operative instructions

Bite firmly on the gauze for 30–45 minutes. If oozing continues, replace it with fresh damp gauze — or a damp black tea bag, where the tannins genuinely help a clot form. Light oozing for one to three days is normal. Sit upright rather than lying flat, and keep your head raised on an extra pillow overnight.

For the first 24 hours: no rinsing, no spitting, no straws, no smoking. Each of those creates suction or pressure that can pull the clot out of the socket, which is what causes dry socket. This is the single most important instruction on this page.

Ice on, ice off — 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off — for the first 24 hours. Swelling usually peaks around day two or three and then subsides. After the first day, switch from ice to gentle warmth.

Take the first dose of pain medication before the anaesthetic fully wears off — it's far easier to stay ahead of discomfort than to catch up with it. Take medication exactly as prescribed.

Cool, soft food once the numbness has gone. Drink plenty of water, from a glass rather than a straw. Nothing hot, nothing crunchy, nothing spicy on day one.

From day two, rinse gently with warm salt water — half a teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water — several times a day, especially after eating. Let it fall out of your mouth rather than spitting forcefully. Use any prescribed rinse exactly as directed.

Brush the rest of your mouth normally from the day after surgery. Do not brush the surgical site until you're told it's cleared — and this matters most after a gum graft, where careful cleaning is the most common way a graft is compromised. No water flosser near the site until cleared, which is usually around six weeks after implant placement.

Soft foods, and chew away from the surgical side. After a gum graft, plan on soft food for roughly two weeks. Keep eating properly — under-eating slows healing more than most people expect.

Take it easy for the first two or three days. No heavy lifting or vigorous exercise, both of which raise blood pressure and can restart bleeding. Most people return to desk work the next day; physical work needs longer.

Both meaningfully impair healing, and smoking is the largest single risk factor for a failed graft or a failed implant. If you're going to cut down at any point in your life, the weeks around surgery are when it counts most.

Some dissolve on their own; others are removed at your follow-up. Don't pull at a loose stitch — call the office and we'll deal with it.

Do not lift your lip to inspect the graft — it's tempting and it stretches the sutures. Do not brush the area. If tissue was taken from your palate, that site is often the more irritating of the two for the first few days; any protective stent you were given stays in as instructed. Expect the graft to look pale or patchy at first. Judge the result at three months, not at two weeks.

Do not blow your nose forcefully, and sneeze with your mouth open, for two weeks. Avoid straws and heavy lifting. A little blood-tinged discharge from the nose is not unusual in the first days.

Soft food only through the integration period — this is what protects the implants while bone grows onto them. Your temporary bridge is acrylic and can chip; call us rather than attempting a repair.

Sore spots in the first weeks are normal and are adjusted in a few minutes. Don't tough them out — an untreated pressure spot becomes an ulcer. Wear them as instructed before an adjustment appointment so we can see where they're rubbing.

Cool and smooth: yoghurt, smoothies (spoon, not straw), applesauce, cottage cheese, blended soups once they've cooled, pudding, ice cream, mashed avocado. Nothing that needs chewing.

Scrambled eggs, oatmeal, mashed potato, refried beans, well-cooked pasta, flaked soft fish, slow-cooked shredded meat, ripe banana, silken tofu, hummus, macaroni cheese.

The thing most people get wrong. Healing needs protein, and a fortnight of ice cream doesn't provide it. Greek yoghurt, protein shakes, eggs, beans, cottage cheese, blended lentil soup and shredded chicken all count and all go down easily.

Nuts, seeds, popcorn, chips, crusty bread, rice and quinoa (the grains lodge in sockets), anything very hot, anything spicy, alcohol, and straws.