Care After Oral Surgery

You can speed up your mouth's recovery after oral surgery by following these steps:

On the day of surgery

• Avoid: hot drinks, hot or hard food, alcohol, vigorous physical effort, playing with the wound, and rinsing your mouth.
• Drink plenty of cold or warm fluid, and eat soft food.
• Avoid smoking as this delays healing.
• Use the prescribed tablets for pain relief. It is recommended that you start this before the local anaesthesia wears off.
• Slight oozing of blood is normal. If significant bleeding occurs, place a gauze or cotton pad over the bleeding site and apply pressure by biting down firmly for 15-30 minutes. This may need to be repeated.
• If bleeding is excessive and uncontrolled by pressure, contact your dentist.
• To minimise swelling, an ice pack (small bag of frozen peas wrapped in a cloth) may be held on the side of the face. Apply 10-15 minutes every hour on the day of surgery.

On the day after surgery

• It is essential to keep all wounds clean
• Brush ypour teeth, including those around the wound. Food remnants and plaque delay healing.
• Rinse your mouth gently 6-8 times a day with very warm, salty water (one quarter teaspoon of salt in a glass of water). Very vigorous rinsing in the first 24 hours should be avoided as this will disturb the blood clot.
• Chlorhexidine mouthwash will help reduce the risk of infection.

It is normal to have some bleeding, swelling, discomfort and tightness of jaw muscles. However, if symptoms become severe, contact your dentist immediately.