After most treatments you can expect some soreness from your Temporal Mandibular Joints.
Since you maintained your mouth open for a time longer than the muscles are usually used to
your jaw muscles can feel sore also. You may also experience some soreness from the injection site(s).
Even though we try to use the smallest needle possible, the needle still has to cut through tissue
in order to get to where it needs to go. This cutting action can cause some soreness. If the needle
bumps the nerve or, in rare cases, cuts the nerve we are trying to anesthetize, than you can
experience some soreness, or altered sensation from the nerve, maybe even permanent anesthesia
of the nerve if it gets damaged(again, which is very rare.) If you still feel numb after 24 hours
please return to the office for an evaluation. If you become swollen after you lose the anesthesia
than you more than likely bit yourself while you were numb and the swelling is a response to the self
inflicted trauma to your cheek. Please visit the office so we can verify nothing else is occuring.

As long as you are not allergic to ibuprofen and you are not taking other medications, you can take
some over the counter Ibuprofen(Motrin) every six hours for a day or two to help with the
inflammation or soreness.

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What to expect after dentures...

Getting dentures is like getting a new pair of shoes. They may feel great when you first wear them
but then begin to feel some sore spots underneath them. These sore spots will usually not go away.
You need to return to the office so that we can relieve the denture where it is causing you your
sore spot. If these are your first pair of dentures than you can expect to talk different for a while
until your oral tissues and musculature get used to the new prosthesis inside your mouth. You may not
talk exactly the same as before but you should come close. You will also experience extra salivation
for a few weeks with your new dentures. Your mouth thinks they are food and not teeth. Your saliva
flow will go back to normal in time. Please make sure you sleep without your dentures. This will
help rest your gingiva and the tongue stimulation on the gingiva will help cycle new cells.
Sleeping without your dentures will also help cut down on "Denture Sore Mouth" a common yeast
infection of the mouth. Always brush and wash your dentures on a daily basis and please remember
to always maintain your dentures wet. This cuts down on wet/dry cycling and brittleness due to this
wet/dry cycling.

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What to expect after extractions...

You can expect soreness from the extraction site(s). Pink saliva(saliva mixed with a bit of blood)
is common for about 24 hours. If you have bright red blood pooling inside your mouth than get
some gauze and apply biting pressure for about 2 hours and then gently remove the gauze. Sometimes
natural tea bags applied with biting pressure help to stop the bleeding because of a chemical
found in the tea. If you continue to bleed after trying the previously listed than call your dentist.
If he is not available or reachable go to the nearest dental clinic or emergency room for help.
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After a few days you may see some sharp tooth like spicules coming out of the extraction site(s).
These are probably pieces of dead bone that fractured off and are just being cleared by the body.
You can try to gently work them out with a pair of tweezers if they don't hurt you. Or, you can leave
them alone. They usually fall out by themselves. You can come by the office and have us remove it/them
if you are afraid to touch them.
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If you start experiencing pain a few days after an extraction you may be getting what is called a
"Dry Socket". It is a pseudo infection that occurs around 10 percent of the time. If it is a mild
discomfort and the pain medication you were prescribed takes care of it than you don't have to come
to the office. If it is a severe pain even with the pain medication than come by the office so we
can evaluate the area to make sure it is nothing else and we can place special medication inside
the extraction site and/or give you antibiotics. A dry socket may take several days to heal.

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What to expect after crown work or bridgework...

You will probably be sore from the tooth and the gum tissues surrounding the tooth/teeth worked on.
You also probably have a temporary crown(s). You need to be very careful with the temporary crown(s)
you have in your mouth. You may gently brush them with a toothbrush when you brush your teeth,
but we prefer if you didn't floss the area around the temporary crown(s) because you may actually
pop it/them off by accident. We also preferred if you didn't chew anything hard like corn nuts or
hard candies because you may break your temporaries. They are made of plastic(acrylic) and are not
designed to last very long. We would also like for you to not eat anything chewy, sticky or tacky
because you can pull out your temporary. If your temporary crown does happen to fall off, please
save it in a bag and bring it back to the office so as we can recement it for you. If it breaks we
can make a new temporary crown for you.

As long as you are not allergic to ibuprofen and you are not taking other medications, you can take
some over the counter Ibuprofen(Motrin) every six hours for a day or two to help with the
inflammation or soreness.

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What to expect after fillings...

With the modern filling materials we are using there is less tendency to experience hot and cold
sensitivity. We are actually bonding to tooth structure now and this helps seal up the teeth
and prevents the movement of fluid within the tooth so sensitivity is decreased. But, there may still be
some sensitivity. Sometimes also, when a filling is not adjusted properly because you are numb and you
can't tell us if it feels high, the filling can hit before the other teeth. This can happen occassionally
and it is very easy to fix. This hitting high on the filling can sometimes cause a toothache and/or
sensitivity to hot and cold. Just call the office so we can bring you in to adjust the filling.
99 percent of the time we do not have to anesthetize to adjust the filling.

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What to expect after root canals...

After a long procedure like a root canal you can expect some soreness from our TMJ and jaw muscles.
The tooth which just received a root canal may be tender for a few days, but hopefully not as bad
as you were probably feeling before the root canal. If for some reason a week has gone by and you are
still feeling discomfort, call the office and we will evaluate the area to see if something else
is not occurring. Please continue taking your antibiotic medications as prescribed even if you are
no longer hurting. You may stop taking the pain medication if you are no longer in pain.

As long as you are not allergic to ibuprofen and you are not taking other medications, you can take
some over the counter Ibuprofen(Motrin) every six hours for a day or two to help with the
inflammation or soreness.