3 Things You Need To Do After You Get Dental Bone Grafts
If you are going to get dental implants, you may need to get bone grafts before you can get the implants. That's because without teeth and the pressure of chewing, the bone in your jaw starts to weaken, and your body will reabsorb it. That means that there won't be enough bone in your jaw to secure the implants to, and they won't succeed. So, your dentist will arrange for you to have a bone graft so that you have the best chance for your implant to work. If you are going to get bone grafts, what do you need to do to make sure they heal well?
Avoid Smoking
If you are a smoker, you may want to stop smoking while your grafts are healing. Smoking will inhibit bone growth and may cause the graft to fail altogether.
Keep It Clean
You are going to need to make sure that you keep the incision area clean. It can be hard to keep areas in your mouth as clean as possible, since you can't really bandage your mouth up. However, there are things that you can do to help. While you brush your teeth, you don't want to brush the area because you could dislodge any protective coverings that your dentist put there or that your body has naturally produced. Your doctor may tell you that you can brush the area after a few weeks. Until then, you can rinse your mouth several times a day with a warm salt water mixture. You don't want to use a lot of salt in the water, but the salt water will help to keep infection out and the area clean, and it may even help with the pain of your incision as it's healing.
Use an Ice Pack
After your procedure, your face is going to be swollen and it will hurt, even with any pain medication that your doctor may give you. That swelling and pain can actually impede the healing process. Using an ice pack will help with the swelling and the pain. You can get ice packs from the store, or you can use something like frozen peas or corn. The bags of vegetables will conform to the contours of your face easier. Just make sure that no one in your house uses them to cook with later.
If you need a bone graft before you get your dental implants, you want to make sure you do everything possible to make sure that the grafts take.
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