After your implant or bone graft
Implants and grafts heal beautifully when the site is left alone. This page covers the first days — and the protect-the-site rules that matter for weeks.
This guide is general. The printed instructions from your visit are personalized to your surgery — if they differ from this page, follow your sheet. Questions? (419) 529-9494.
Bleeding, swelling, and comfort
- Bite gently on gauze for 30–45 minutes if there is oozing; a small amount of pink-tinged saliva is normal the first day.
- Ice the outside of your face over the surgical area — 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off while awake — for the first 24–48 hours, then stop.
- Eat cool or lukewarm soft foods, and don't eat while numb. No straws, no smoking or vaping (72 hours minimum), no alcohol the first 24 hours or with prescription pain medicine.
- No rinsing or spitting the first 24 hours. Starting the next morning, rinse gently with warm salt water after meals and before bed — let it roll out.
- Take it easy today and keep your head elevated; no strenuous activity for 48–72 hours.
Pain control
Start as soon as you can eat something small — before the numbness fully wears off. Taking medication on a schedule works as well as or better than prescription opioids for most people, with far fewer side effects. Stay ahead of the pain; don't skip doses just because you feel okay.
- Recommended: ibuprofen 600 mg (three 200 mg Advil/Motrin) + acetaminophen 1,000 mg (two 500 mg Extra Strength Tylenol) together every 6 hours for the first 72 hours, then as needed for soreness. This is the gold standard for post-operative dental pain. It runs right at the 4 g daily acetaminophen ceiling — no other acetaminophen-containing products while on it.
- Safer-ceiling option (every 8 hours): ibuprofen 800 mg + acetaminophen 1,000 mg together every 8 hours — 3 g of acetaminophen per day, a wider safety margin if you're unsure about your liver or alcohol history.
- Can't take acetaminophen? Ibuprofen 600 mg every 6 hours.
- Can't take NSAIDs? If your physician has told you to avoid ibuprofen — for example because of kidney disease, stomach ulcers, or a blood thinner — use acetaminophen 1,000 mg every 6 hours (maximum 4 g per day).
- Never exceed 4,000 mg of acetaminophen in 24 hours from all sources combined. If you were prescribed a stronger pain medicine, use it as directed for breakthrough pain — many prescription pain pills already contain acetaminophen, so do not take extra Tylenol alongside them.
This guidance is for adults and teens 15 and older. For children under 15, use children's ibuprofen and acetaminophen dosed by your child's weight, exactly as the package directs — never adult-strength tablets. And always follow the printed instructions from your visit if they differ.
Protect the site for 4–8 weeks
Your implant or graft spends its first weeks fusing quietly with your bone. It can't be rushed — it can only be disturbed. Until we tell you the site has healed:
- Do not brush directly on the surgical site. Brush and floss your other teeth normally.
- No electric toothbrush or Waterpik anywhere near the site during this period.
- Eat soft foods for the first two weeks. Do not chew on the site. Keep food to the other side of your mouth.
- Don't pull your lip or cheek out to look — the tugging can loosen sutures and disturb the graft. (Everyone wants to look. Don't.)
- Don't press on the site with your tongue or fingers.
- If a suture comes loose or the site is exposed, call the office — don't trim or remove anything yourself.
If you had a bone graft
You may notice small gritty granules from the graft for the first few days — a few washing out is normal and does not mean the graft failed.
If your implant was uncovered (second stage)
A metal healing cap now shows through the gum. That's exactly how it should look. Don't twist, press on, or pick at it — and call the office if it ever feels loose.
Sinus precautions — 14 days
If your graft or implant involved the sinus (we'll have told you), the new graft sits just below a membrane that pressure changes can disturb. For 14 days:
- Do not blow your nose. If you must clear it, wipe gently.
- Sneeze with your mouth open — don't hold a sneeze in.
- No straws, no smoking or vaping.
- No forceful spitting or swishing the first several days; let liquids roll out gently.
- Avoid bending over, heavy lifting, and strenuous exertion.
- If you use a CPAP machine, do not use it until our office tells you it's safe — call us the same day so we can plan this with you.
- A little blood-tinged drainage from the nose can be normal for a few days. Call us for brisk nosebleeds, air or liquid passing between your mouth and nose, or facial pressure that steadily worsens.
Call us right away for
- A bad taste developing at the implant area, the gum over it opening, or anything that feels loose
- Bleeding that will not slow with firm gauze pressure
- Pain or swelling that is getting worse after day 3 instead of better
- Fever over 101°F, or chills
- A rash or reaction after a prescribed medicine — stop the medicine and call
- Numbness of the lip, chin, or tongue that persists the day following surgery