Preparing for Your Oral Surgery
Oral surgery in downtown Seattle becomes more manageable if you prepare ahead of time. You may be at ease about your surgical procedure if you have information on what to expect. However, the preparation process should begin long before you arrive at the dentist or oral surgeon’s office for your appointment.
How to Prepare for Oral Surgery
Collect Essential Information before the Procedure
Before your procedure for the surgical process, please schedule an appointment with the downtown Seattle dentist or oral surgeon to ensure why they recommend the procedure. Collect information about the risks and benefits of the process you are undergoing. Have a list of questions to ask if you have apprehensions in your mind.
Arrange Transportation
If you will receive sedation, including nitrous oxide, make arrangements for a trusted family member to transport you home and stay with you at least three to four hours until after your appointment. Anesthesia impairs your judgment, making it unsafe for you to operate vehicles. Therefore you must ask a friend or family member for a ride. You can use a cab or public transportation if you cannot arrange a ride with a family member or friend.
Keep Your Stomach Empty
Do not have foods or beverages, including water, after midnight the day before your surgical procedure. Fasting reduces your risks of aspiration, a severe complication although rare, but fills your lungs with the contents of your stomach. If prescribed medications during fasting, you can have them with a small sip of water.
Expose Your Arms
If you will receive sedation for your surgery, wear short sleeves to help the surgical assistants to monitor your vital signs, give you your IV or wrap cuffs of the sphygmomanometer to monitor blood pressure during surgery.
Have An Empty Container
If you wear dentures, partial plates, or removable bridgework, have an empty container to remove the dental prosthetics when undergoing surgery. The preparation ensures you don’t lose your existing prosthetics when undergoing oral surgery as recommended by your dentist.
Arrive Early for Your Appointment
On the day of the surgical procedure, ensure that you arrive at least 20 minutes early to have the time complete any impending paperwork. In addition, arriving early gives you the time to relax before your surgery.
The assistants will take your vital signs before starting your surgical process. If you have any impending questions in your mind, the time to clear your apprehensions is now.
Oral Surgical Procedures
Oral surgical procedures are relatively standard among adults who often visit dentists for Seattle teeth removal with impacted wisdom teeth or teeth with severe injuries and broken below the gum line. Surgical extractions require the dentist to give you complete anesthesia to ensure you are relaxed and feel your procedure ended in a few minutes. However, the dentist requires at least 40 minutes to complete your surgery.
After your affected tooth is entirely numb from the anesthesia, the dentist or oral surgeon must make incisions to expose the tooth hidden below the gum line. Bones covering and impacted wisdom teeth need removal; in some cases, the tooth itself requires division into sections for easy extraction. The professionals suture the incision if needed and place gauze over the extraction site, asking you to bite on it to prevent excessive bleeding and help form a blood clot. You receive prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers that undoubtedly affect you after the anesthesia starts wearing off. The antibiotics prevent infections that might arise from the surgery as you recover.
The preparation time before the surgery would have given you sufficient time to arrange for soft foods and prepare your resting place with books or games to keep you occupied when resting. You must ensure that you don’t start exercising or indulging in any activity that requires you to lift heavy objects or bend forward because it can dislodge the blood clot to cause a dry socket, a painful condition requiring additional treatments from your dentist.
The dentist recommends not to brush during the initial 24 hours after the surgery, but after that, you can brush your teeth and floss remaining cautious near the extraction site. Do not consider using mouthwash to rinse your mouth but prefer saltwater rinses that are appropriate after oral surgery. Refrain from eating crunchy and more challenging foods, choosing the soft foods you arranged before your surgery.
You will experience discomfort from the process for a day or two. However, if the pain persists beyond 72 hours, do not neglect it but contact your dental professional for advice because it might indicate infections.
You can resume regular activities after two or three days of oral surgery to remove an impacted or broken tooth or any other procedure such as receding gums or uneven teeth.
Seattle Sound Dental performs oral surgery on many patients delivering excellent results. Kindly contact this practice today if you need oral surgery to correct dental issues in your mouth.