If you’ve recently received a dental implant and you’re recovering from surgery, you may be wondering if your level of pain or discomfort is normal. Should you be concerned about the pain after implant surgery? Usually, no. However, the team at Pineville Family Dentistry wants to make sure every patient knows what to expect during the implant healing process. Here’s what you should know about discomfort and pain after dental implant placement:
You’ll Feel Pain And Discomfort For At Least A Week
Modern implant placement surgery is minimally invasive, but it’s still considered major oral surgery. The placement process involves creating an opening in your jaw and gums and placing a metal implant into the opening.
For the first few hours after your procedure, you won’t feel much. Your mouth will still be numb, and you may still be feeling the effects of dental sedation if you opted to be sedated during your procedure.
After these effects wear off, however, some pain is normal. You can take over-the-counter painkillers to deal with any discomfort. After about 24 hours, you may notice bruising, swelling and tenderness around the implant site.
The implant area will likely feel very tender and sensitive. You should avoid hot foods and crunchy foods. Dr. Babb will give you a full list of instructions and a recovery timeline to follow.
You’ll continue to notice these symptoms for about 3-7 days after your treatment. After about 5 days, your pain and discomfort should subside quite a bit. After about a week, your mouth will feel mostly normal again.
Serious Discomfort Is Rare After Two Weeks
After about 1-2 weeks, the area around your implant will be completely healed. You should feel no serious pain or discomfort, and there will be no bleeding and little to no swelling or bruising around the area. By this time, you can resume strenuous physical activities like running and resume your normal diet. Serious pain and discomfort are rare after two weeks.
What If I’m Feeling Pain After Two Weeks And It’s Not Getting Better?
If your pain and discomfort have not improved since your initial implant placement treatment, or if they have become worse, this may be a cause for concern. It’s not normal for a healthy implant to cause you serious pain and discomfort after two weeks. By this time, it should be mostly healed and free of pain.
You will need to see Dr. Babb or another experienced implant dentist for a follow-up appointment to find out the root cause of your pain. The most common reason for prolonged pain after dental implants is an infection of the implant site. If the implant site is not properly cleaned and disinfected, it can become inflamed, causing pain and discomfort, and preventing the implant from healing properly.
In most cases, though, an infected implant can still be saved. Dr. Babb can clean the area and disinfect it, and provide you with antibiotic treatment to control and eliminate the infection.
Interested In Dental Implants In Pineville? Come To Pineville Family Dentistry!
The best way to prevent pain after dental implants is to choose an experienced implant dentist for your procedure. At Pineville Family Dentistry, Dr. Troy Babb has years of experience in implant dentistry. You can trust our team to take great care of your mouth and provide you with the treatment you need to restore your gums. Contact us at (318) 704-5757 to get started, or stop by our office at 3310 Military Highway, Pineville, LA 71360 to schedule your consultation.
