How Not to Be Anxious Completing Oral Hygiene after Oral Surgery. You’ve Got This!

One of the most frequent questions we receive at Geisler OMS is how to keep the mouth clean after extraction of wisdom teeth, placement of dental implants or bone grafting. Many of our patients worry that they might disrupt healing or cause a dry socket by performing oral hygiene. This can cause a great deal of worry for some patients. Here are a few tips on how to optimize your oral hygiene after surgery so that you don’t worry as much!

Everyone’s mouth has bacteria present within it. Most of the bacteria is “good” and helps with keeping your gums and teeth healthy. However, most of us have some “bad” bacteria that can increase inflammation and cause infection. An imbalance of bad bacteria after surgery can lead to dry socket or infection of bone grafts. It can also cause dental implants to not heal. Bad bacteria can build up if oral hygiene is not performed properly after surgery.
Oral hygiene will help to keep your good oral bacteria in balance so that you are less likely to develop dry socket or infection. Oral hygiene is the best thing you can do to not be worried about healing after oral surgery.

Here are a few tips to help you not be anxious when performing oral hygiene:

1. During the first twenty four hours after surgery, we want stable blood clots to form in the extraction sites. If you have had bone grafts placed, we want the sutures to stay in place. The same thing goes for dental implant placement. So during the first twenty four hours, we don’t want you to use a toothbrush or syringe or rinsing. We just want you to let things settle. During surgery, you will have been given either antibiotics or a medicated rinse will have been used to disinfect all of your surgical sites.
2. After the first day, it is ok to use a gentle toothbrush with toothpaste to clean your teeth. At Geisler OMS, we give you a specialized toothbrush designed for oral hygiene after surgery. It is very soft and will not cause pain after surgery. We recommend brushing your teeth twice a day with whatever toothpaste you prefer to use. A great toothpaste to consider using is Revitin which has prebiotics in it which can help with establishing “good bacteria” in your mouth while healing.
3. Flossing is also ok. You want to be gentle. We recommend flossing once a day. Don’t be afraid to floss!
4. Mouth rinses are great to use and will help with healing. We prescribe a medicated mouth rinse that kills surface bacteria in order to decrease your risk of infection. Salt water is very healing so it is ok to use this as well. We recommend rinsing your mouth at least twice a day.
5. A syringe is very helpful after day three of healing to help with removing food particles that may become trapped in sockets or sutures. The best way to beat anxiety is to ask lots of questions! At Geisler OMS, we welcome questions and want to hear from you. Don’t let anxiety complicate your recovery from oral surgery. You’ve got this!