Today is Day Two (48 hours) following dental implant surgery. Here is what I’ve learned that I want to be sure to pass along to those of you who may have it in the future.

You can save up to 40% by having a University School of Dentistry do the dental implant (and many other dental procedures). All procedures are either overseen/supervised or done by professional dentists, the procedures are state of the art at top-rated universities, and anyone doing an implant is in their final months of school, and being evaluated, so they’re going to have had adequate previous experience and the ability to do a professional job.

Make sure the dentist or his assistant calls in your prescription WELL BEFORE you leave their office. Get confirmation that they did this. I didn’t get confirmation and I should have. I asked ahead of the procedure for the prescription to be called in before I left, and they said they would, but it didn’t happen.

I had an hour drive home. I drove directly to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions but they had no record of having received them. It took me 45 minutes to track down a number or email at UW School of Dentistry with a live message taker who could take my message and remind the dentist to send the prescription orders out, so I wasn’t able to pick them up until four hours after surgery and by then I was feeling pretty darned unhappy (4 on a scale of 1 to 10, I think) even with a 500 mg Tylenol on board, which I took when I discovered that I wouldn’t be getting the prescriptions right away.  (I have not had to use the opioid tablets they prescribed to me. I will be returning them. Tylenol is all I’ve needed, and I only needed three of those, one each day.)

Make sure the dentist or his assistant gives you written instructions about post-op care.  I wasn’t given any written instructions. I was told verbally (when I inquired) that I could eat any soft foods and drinks that didn’t touch the implant area when I drank or chewed. Turns out that isn’t all I needed to know. I went online and got what I needed to know and what to watch for and to expect. Knowing ahead of time what to expect and what to do would have made for less “mind drama” as the swelling and bruising continued to affect and “bloat” my face and upper lip for almost 36 hours post-op.

Expect swelling and bruising to continue for up to 48 hours. The swelling and bruising are just beginning to reverse now, two days post-op.

Sleep in a recliner with your head higher than your body. I didn’t do that last night (wasn’t aware I was supposed to, but I did sleep in a recliner the first night)  and so I awoke halfway through the night to find one half of my face bruised and swollen almost as high up as my eye. Painless, but a surprise, and so semi-upsetting. Putting a cold compress on the swollen areas for 20 minutes (off and on) reduced the redness and swelling nicely.

Laughing gas followed by oxygen during oral implant surgery may clear up “foggy brain” for days afterward. My brain has been back on line in ways it hasn’t been for weeks. I know some of the brain fog was dehydration and UTI-based, but the combination of nitrous oxide followed by oxygen cleared it right up. The effect has lasted three days and counting. LOVING THAT!  (I think I had long haul post-COVID brain fog, too.)

Because I’m on Warfarin, I probably experienced more post-op bleeding than most people will. I held off on my Warfarin the night of surgery, which my dentist recommended, and that was a good thing. I’m back on the routine now and all is well in the bleeding department.

Comfort level. Except for the three hours after the numbing went away, while I was waiting for the overly tardy prescriptions, I really didn’t experience serious discomfort. The five or six places where the dentist injected the numbing agents were (and still are) the areas that became and remain most tender, but they really haven’t caused me any grief. All in all,  I consider the surgery nothing much to worry about ahead of time.  But that’s because I’m one of those people who refuses to pre-worry, because I have never had a procedure — and I’ve had plenty them — that ever measured up to the pre-worry drama I imagined beforehand, so I realized it was a gigantic waste of time to unsettle myself so beforehand.  If you can manage to do that (to manage your mind’s trajectory and musings), I highly recommend it!