Recovery should be your number one concern after oral surgery. Always follow post operative instruction provided by your surgeon or dentist, to prevent any risk of infection or trauma to the surgical site. Follow these general guidelines after oral surgery for rapid recovery and optimum healing.
Bleeding after a tooth extraction is normal and slight bleeding may be noticed for up to 24 hours after surgery. Use the gauze that was provided to you, and bite down with firm pressure for one hour. You should remove the gauze gently. It may be necessary to take a sip of water to moisten the gauze if it feels stuck to the tissue. Doing this will prevent the bleeding from reoccurring. If you continue to have bleeding in the surgical area, contact your dentist or surgeon. They may instruct you to bite on a moist black tea bag. The tannic acid in the tea has been shown to reduce bleeding and assist with clotting.
Pain after oral surgery varies depending on the extent of the procedure. Your dentist or surgeon will prescribe any necessary pain management medication. Follow the instructions for your medication carefully and always consult with your dentist or surgeon before taking any over-the-counter medications with your prescriptions. If you have been prescribed an antibiotic, always take all of the medication prescribed to you to prevent infection.
The patient of a periodontist in private practice in New Orleans developed osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), a condition that can cause severe, often irreversible and debilitating damage to the jaw, following periodontal surgical therapy. Two years prior to surgery, the patient had started receiving IV bisphosphonate therapy, or bone-sparing drugs commonly used in the treatment of osteoporosis and metastatic bone cancer to help decrease associated pain and fractures, following treatment for breast carcinoma. When the patient presented to the periodontist, no reports of ONJ had been reported in the literature. This case report is published in the April issue of the Journal of Periodontology (JOP).
"It is counter-intuitive to believe that bone-sparing drugs such as IV bisphosphonates can have the opposite affect and actually necrotize the jaw bone," said Kristi M. Soileau, DDS, case report author and member of the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP). "While we're not sure exactly why this happens, one possibility is that the drug compromises the vascular supply, which contributes to non-healing or the development of a diseased wound once the bone is exposed such as with extractions or with oral surgery."
"It is important that our colleagues in dentistry and medicine are aware of this potential complication in this large and growing population of patients for whom IV bisphosphonates are being prescribed," explained Kenneth A. Krebs, DMD and AAP president. "A complete dental examination, including a periodontal evaluation, should be performed before a patient begins IV bisphosphonate therapy to identify and address any oral conditions, as recommended with preradiation patients," added Soileau.
