Braces as an adult? No way. At least, that was what I thought when my dentist told me that I was going to have to see an orthodontist about my crooked teeth. But my teeth were so misaligned that they were causing me pain when I chewed, so I decided to at least look into it. Turns out braces today are nothing like the ones my friends had when I was a kid. Mine were practically invisible, and I didn't need to wear them that long. I started this blog to encourage other people like me who are nervous about the prospect of wearing braces as an adult. My straight smile is so worth the trips to the orthodontist, and wearing braces was nowhere near as bad as I thought. Read on to find out more about how you can straighten your smile.
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After dental implant surgery, it will take up to two weeks for your incisions to heal fully, and then it will take another few months for the implants to integrate into your jaw bone. In other words, it's a long recovery process — but don't let that intimidate you! After the first four days, patients are able to pretty much go back to normal, other than staying away from the chewiest, crunchiest foods and paying more attention to oral hygiene. But how do you navigate the first four days of recovery after implant surgery? Follow these tips:
Don't touch the surgical site.
You may have a desire to touch the area and see what it feels like, either with your finger or your tongue. But the best policy for these first few days is to leave the implant site alone. You do not want to introduce any bacteria to the area with your finger or disrupt the stitches with your tongue. Brush your teeth, but do not brush near the implant area. Rinse that area gently with salt water or with the antibacterial rinse your dental surgeon provides.
Eat soft foods, but do eat.
You may feel a little uncomfortable eating with a new implant in your mouth, but it is really important that you eat during these first four days. Your body needs nutrition to heal from the surgery. Plus, you'll be taking pain relievers, and those can cause substantial side effects if you're not eating enough with them. There are actually a lot of soft foods you can eat as you recover from implants:
Try eating smaller amounts several times per day, rather than only eating three meals. This can help keep your implant site from getting too sore.
Get some rest.
You may be tempted to go right back to work or to work out since the pain is only in your mouth. If you really have to work and you have a rather non-physical job, you can. However, it is best to spend these first four days resting as much as you can. This gives your body a chance to jump-start the healing process. Plus, when you're laying low, your blood pressure and heart rate remain a bit lower, which will help keep the implant site from bleeding so much. After four days, you can start increasing your activity level again.
Healing from dental implant surgery is a long process, but it gets a lot easier after the first four days. If anything strange or unusual comes up, ask your dentist.
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