Brushing: You may brush the CHEWING surfaces of your teeth beginning the day AFTER surgery. PLEASE do NOT brush your gum tissue in the areas of surgery at all for the first week. DO NOT USE A DENTAL IRRIGATOR, WATER FLOSSER OR WATER-PICK for 3 full weeks following surgery.
Use a warm salt water rinse twice a day for one month. Use a teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water. Swish gently for 30 seconds and spit. Although you cannot brush the grafted teeth, you may dip a Q-Tip in warm salt water, and swab the teeth.
You may brush all other teeth as normal. The area where the graft was taken may bleed slightly once the anesthetic wears off. If this occurs, take a damp piece of gauze, and put pressure with your thumb for 15 minutes.
Sutures (stitches) may have been placed to hold the gums in the proper position for the ideal healing. Some sutures will dissolve on their own. Others will usually be removed 1-2 weeks after surgery depending on your procedure. Some may be left longer, depending on procedure.
What are gum graft failure symptoms? If your gum graft failed, you'll probably notice a large patch of white tissue that has come off of your tooth. Its lack of color means that the gum graft lost blood supply and is dying.
You will know that the graft is healing when the swelling subsides and the soft tissues are shrinking. Your gum tissue will begin binding to the root surface and bone. Then, new blood vessels will begin to form to enable blood flow to the graft. This stage takes four to six weeks from surgery.
AVOID PEROXIDE, ALCOHOL, CARBONATED BEVERAGES, AND DRINKING THROUGH A STRAW. After 24 Hours. You may have soft foods, such as cooked vegetables, fish, pasta, and meatloaf, which are easily chewed. You should use utensils and avoid chewing at the surgical site for 2 weeks.
Avoid any hard, spicy, crusty, coffee or acidic foods. Chewing should be done on the side opposite the surgical site.
We recommend you wait to eat after a gum graft until the anesthesia has worn off. After your mouth stops feeling numb, you can think about eating. For the first day after you have the surgery done, you need to stick to cold, soft foods. These foods might include ice cream, jello, cold soups, and pudding.
The gum graft is held in place with very delicate sutures and takes 5-7 days to attach firmly. Repeated pulling back of the cheek, lip or tongue to look at the graft, can cause the graft to move during the first 5-7 days after surgery, which can cause the graft to fail.
If you simply graft over the exposed root of a mis-positioned tooth, you will have a 100% failure rate. You haven't changed the conditions that led to recession in the first place. So, in these cases, your Dentist should first improve tooth position with conventional braces or Invisalign.
What's happening? A normal part of wound healing is swelling, so when the tissue around your teeth swells, it will move the teeth slightly out of position. This usually starts two to four days after the surgery and lasts for about three to four days.
For 3 days after your surgery, DO NOT spit, smoke, rinse hard, drink through a straw, create a “sucking” action in your mouth, use a commercial mouthwash, drink carbonated soda, or use an oral irrigating device.
Most swelling can occur in the morning and up to 3 days after surgery. Avoid sleeping / laying on the side that surgery was performed.
The graft is fragile and therefore you should avoid chewing on the treated teeth during the first 2 weeks. Also avoid foods that require chewing a lot or that are too hard or crunchy like potato chips, nuts, gums, steaks, crusts of bread, raw vegetables.
Soft bread and grains are excellent after surgery, including white bread, wheat bread, flatbread, and flour tortilla. Grains like oatmeal, cream of wheat, rice, pasta noodles, and saltines are also suitable foods.
For soft tissue “gum” grafts, the site(s) may appear white during the healing process (up to 2 weeks), this is normal and not a sign of infection. The tissue will change to a pink color as it heals.
Warm salt water rinses (teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water) can be used 4-5 times a day best after meals. This usually speeds up the healing and provides a comfortable feeling to your tissues.
Your oral surgeon will use plenty of anesthetic and possibly sedation to keep you as comfortable as possible. These can take some time to wear off in some cases, which can cause you to feel tired for the rest of the day.
This white material is usually granulation tissue, a fragile tissue composed of blood vessels, collagen, and white blood cells. Granulation tissue is a normal part of your body's healing process and is not cause for concern.
In addition, patients will frequently complain of a bad smell and indicate their graft is “dead.” Because plasmatic circulation is important to graft survival, pooling of blood — sufficient to form a clot at the interface between host and graft tissues — will be detrimental to success.
Gum Grafting Takes a few Weeks to Heal and Pay Off
It takes a few weeks to heal and swelling to subside, and during that time the graft will adapt to the area. After that, it will take another few weeks to see the full benefits — the restored appearance of the gums.
You will know that healing has begun when the soft tissues are shrinking and there is less swelling. The gum tissues gradually starts to bind to the root surface and nearby bone surface as well. New vessels will also start to form and the tissues will receive enough blood supply.