Sensitivity around a dental implant

Getting a dental implant requires an invasive surgery to be performed. After an invasive surgery, it is quite normal for certain parts of the body to be sore, hurt, to bleed and to be sensitive. This should subside after a while though, and your body should be returning to normal. If it does not, that means that there is a problem. Here are some guidelines to help you get through a difficult and confusing time.

Time

Usually, you will know something is wrong from how long a sensation or symptom is around for. If pain is accompanying swelling, this can be normal, but once the swelling goes down, the pain should also recede. If swelling and or pain does not start to recede after 72 hours, you are dealing with a problem, and should seek help. Swelling around an implantation site can be quite intense, and there is also a possibility of bruising around the site, too. If the swelling does not start to go down in three days, that means that some kind of bacteria is being fought. This does not necessarily mean that there is a problem, but it does mean that a dentist needs to see the site to confirm that there isn’t one. Book an appointment and explain the symptoms, follow your doctor’s orders.

 As for pain, after 72 hours there should be less pain, and it should have evolved into a sort of dull constant soreness rather than a sharp pain. If the pain is just as sharp after the anaesthetic wore off, and you are 3 days in, you have some kind of problem, and need to go to a dentist immediately, so that they can help you with whatever problem you may have. Here are some of the issues that may be going on:

Sharp pain on contact: The dental implant is too close to the dental nerve, and when something is pushing down on it, it is touching the nerve or close enough to the nerve that pain is felt. You need to be reimplanted.

Sharp pain in general: You either have an infection that is causing the pain by swelling, or your dental implant is too close to your nerve.

Tight, taut feeling: Your dental implant is not in deep enough, and is poking certain parts of your gums, the parts that are above the dental implant. You should tell your dentist, as this will be a problem later on.

Scratchy, itchy feeling: This is the classic sign of a bacterial infection. If this is accompanied by swelling or discoloration other than the initial bruising, you should go and have it checked out immediately, as this is one of the more dangerous problems you can have.

Bleeding

There should be no residual bleeding after 24 hours, none whatsoever. You either have coagulation problems, or the dental implant has hit something it should not have, and you need to go and have it checked out as soon as possible.

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