Monday 21 September 2020

Do dental implant treatments hurt?

Dental implants are surgical procedures where the roots of teeth are replaced with metal, usually Titanium, screw-like posts, and then the damaged or missing teeth are replaced with artificial ones, placed and secured on top of these posts.


But, are they painful?

For most patients, it is no more than what occurs during tooth extraction, often less. Whatever pain there is, will generally be treated with a local anaesthetic. 

Often, it is the steps that may have to be taken before that cause the most discomfort. There may be times when the bone volume may have to be increased with bone grafting; a sinus lift may have to be done to move the sinus membrane upward to make room for the bone, or teeth may have to be removed. Or, none of this may be necessary, and it may be quite straightforward.

Grafting is done under local anaesthesia and afterwards, ordinary pain and anti-inflammatory medication is all that would be necessary. Sinus lifting, however, takes longer and is done under sedation. There may be a dull ache in the upper jaw bone, the face and in the nose, and pain medication, antibiotics, anti-congestion and anti-inflammatory medication may be prescribed.

The actual implant surgery is done under local anaesthetic and would cause very little or no discomfort at all. There may be mild pain 2-4 hours later and the gums may ache too. The patient may have to wear a healing cap to promote soft and hard tissue healing around the implant, and in some, it may cause irritation.

An implant is an invasive procedure and pain and soreness is the body’s natural response and it usually does not last more than 3 days. And, all being well, there should be no pain after 2 weeks.


Aftercare is important and there are some things a patient can do in general like: go to a trained, experienced dentist; not exercising; if already on some medication, inform the dentist of it; take prescribed medication properly; keep your mouth clean by brushing and using non-alcoholic mouthwash; eat soft food rich in nutrients to help speed up healing; absolutely avoid tobacco and alcohol and last but not the least, get lots of sleep, at least 8 hours every night.


Blog reviewed By: Dr. Sudhakara Reddy
Mail us: drsudhakarareddy@gmail.com

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