When people think of dental treatments, they tend to think of cleaning and fillings. Unfortunately, you can have bigger problems than that. Infected or broken teeth, missing ones, impacted wisdom teeth and more might need a bigger treatment: oral surgery.
By calling Smiles of Punta Gorda today at 941-585-0424, you can schedule a consultation to see what oral surgery options are best for you. Once you have your procedure scheduled, here are some tips for preparing at home so things go more smoothly.
Make These Preparations
- Read all the instructions a few days before your visit: If needed, our team will give you some instructions about your procedure. Make sure you read these well beforehand so you can call us at 941-585-0424 and ask for any clarifications. The last thing you need is to be confused the night before.
- Buy some bland and soft foods: You’ll need to eat to keep up your strengths, but foods that are spicy or tough to chew can hurt you after oral surgery. That’s why you should buy some foods that are easy to eat like mashed potatoes, Jell-O, and smoothies.
- Put some ice packs in the freezer: It’s normal to have some swelling after an oral surgery procedure. While pain relievers are a great idea, you’ll want to have some ice packs ready to control that swelling. Just make sure they’re in the freezer.
- Get some shows, books, or games ready: While you will not need weeks to recover, you will still have to rest afterwards. That can be boring, so prepare by getting some fun things to occupy your time. Yes, you can binge on that new show!
- Lay out some comfortable clothes: Because you might be in the dentist’s chair for a while during this treatment, make sure you wear some clothes that are comfortable. There’s no need to dress up for this appointment.
- Skip makeup and jewelry: Because Dr. Martin will be working on your smile, makeup will just get smeared. You should also avoid wearing earrings or necklaces, as you do not want either to accidentally catch on the dentist as he does the procedure.
Save Your Smile
Here are some of the ways oral surgery can help save your smile.
- Removing a tooth that cannot be saved: While there are ways to repair a tooth that’s broken or severely infected, sometimes things are too bad and the tooth must be removed to save you pain and infection.
- Removing impacted wisdom teeth: Some wisdom teeth try to come in underneath your other molars. In these cases, the best thing is to remove that extra molar before it creates problems for your whole smile.
- Getting a dental implant: There are a few ways to replace a lost tooth, but a dental implant is as close to regrowing a natural tooth as you can get. The implant is surgically placed in your jawbone so the replacement is strong and stable.
- Bone grafts and ridge augmentation for dental implants: To get an implant, you must have healthy bone tissue. If that is a problem, Dr. Martin can add bone tissue to the area where the implant would go.
- Gum grafts to correct for gum recession: If you have gum disease, your gums tend to pull back from your teeth. Adding new gum tissues can correct for this so your teeth do not get loose.
Call Dr. Martin today at 941-585-0424 or use our online form to discuss your oral surgery options.