Teeth In A Day Aftercare Instructions

If you are travelling from far outside Dublin, Limerick or Galway, it may advisable to bring your partner or family member for your teeth in a day treatment.

You should also arrange a few days off work afterwards, or work from home as you will experience some swelling and discomfort afterwards.

Prepare an ice pack in the freezer for use when you return home, this helps to reduce postoperative
swelling.

Have a good breakfast on the day of the procedure, there is no need to fast. It is a long day and there is little opportunity to eat properly during the day.

Take all of your medications as prescribed on the morning of your procedure.

One of the medications is a sedative, it is therefore unsafe for you to drive yourself to the appointment, and you should arrange for someone else to bring you to the clinic.

The Day Of The Procedure

The procedure starts at 8am and there will be a break for a few hours in the middle of the day while your bridge is being made, you may wish to bring a book or some other entertainment for this period.

By 5-6pm approximately the teeth will be ready and inserted onto your implants, and you will be able to go home.

Before you leave following the procedure you will be given medications that are to be taken in the days following your procedure to aid your recovery.

You will be asked to re attend the clinic 7-10 days after your procedure for review.

• Take all medications as prescribed. They should be started on the day of surgery.
• Apply an ice pack wrapped in a towel to the face over the area of surgery for 15 minutes at a time with 10 minute breaks in between whenever possible during the first three days following surgery.
• This limits the swelling you will experience.
• Do not smoke.
• Avoid spitting, or making sucking movements during the first 24 hours post surgery. This helps stabilise blood clots and prevent bleeding.
• Keep the tongue away from the operated area.
• Rest as much as possible.
• Sleep with an additional pillow to elevate the head and reduce swelling.
• You should also use a toothbrush to gently clean the fixed in teeth.
• During the first 3 days eat soft and cold foods.
• Avoid food with particles such as nuts or seeds for the first 2 weeks as they can get into the wound.
• For the first 2-3 months you should adopt a soft diet, avoiding hard and sticky foods such as crusty bread, nuts, meat. Soft foods would include pasta, fish, vegetables.
• Swelling and bruising are to be expected for 7-10 days post surgery, please take all medications prescribed to help with this.

• In the longer term you should maintain excellent oral hygiene, and keep the undersurface of your bridge clean by using a waterflosser – this is available in Boots or on Amazon and costs €60 - €70.
• Excellent cleaning is the key to long term success. If your bridge is not kept clean it will be lost in the same manner your teeth were lost. You can start to use a Waterflosser from 3-4 weeks after your surgery, but not before that as your gums will still be healing.
• You will need to attend a hygienist every 3-6 months dependant on your own ability and motivation to clean around the bridge. They will help you maintain optimum oral hygiene, and give you advice if improvement is needed.
• Following your treatment you will be required to attend at 6 months for a full dental check up and x-rays of your implants.
• Following that you will be required to attend every 6-12 months for review and maintenance.

You have made a big investment in your dental health and it should be looked after.

It is very important to understand that for the first 6 weeks there is be to no chewing to allow the implants to heal.

We advise you to follow a liquidised diet for the first 6 weeks. The maximum texture if foods you can have is scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes.

You may also have soft fish with no bones that will melt in you mouth.

6 Week Review

At your 6 week review we will introduce a soft diet. A soft diet consists of soft pasta, bread with soft crusts etc. still avoiding hard, crunchy and sticky foods like nuts, baguette and toffees.

3 Month Review

After 3 months when the implants have fully healed and your final bridge has been completed, you can go back to your normal diet you had previously eating steak etc. However, we would like you to keep in mind that, like your natural teeth your bridge can break on hard food.

Bruxism

If by any chance your temporary bridge breaks from not complying with the dietary advised there may be a charge of €200 to cover the lab bills.

As your temporary bridge is something new in your mouth you may develop bruxism which is commonly known as teeth grinding.

Bruxism is when you clench or grind your teeth while awake or asleep. It is activated by your masseter muscle. We may ask you to receive muscle relaxing injections if your bridge continues to break from bruxism.

We provide this service here with our facial aesthetic surgeon.