Implant Surgery Day

What's Already Been Done

By surgery day the planning is finished. You'll have had your consultation and a CT scan on our own scanner, agreed a written plan, and signed the consent form. Dr Sharma has chosen the implant's size and position on the 3D scan, and a surgical guide has been printed to match it. On the day, everything has been worked out in advance; nothing new is being decided while you're lying back.

In the Days Before

• Keep taking your normal medication unless we've specifically said otherwise. Blood thinners, diabetes medicines and bone medicines should already have been discussed.
• If you're having sedation, arrange an adult to bring you, wait, take you home and stay with you until the next morning.
• Buy in soft food: soup, scrambled eggs, yoghurt, porridge, mashed potato, pasta.
• Get ordinary painkillers in, the kind you know suit you.
• Skip alcohol the night before.
• If you smoke, stopping now, even for a few weeks, helps the implant heal.

On the Morning

Have a normal light breakfast unless we've told you otherwise, including before sedation. Brush thoroughly and clean between your teeth. Wear something comfortable with sleeves that push up easily, and take nail varnish off one finger so the oxygen clip can read. If you've had a cold, a cold sore, or any change in your health or tablets since your consultation, tell us when you arrive. Leave yourself plenty of time to get here, and don't bring small children with you.

In the Chair

We go back over your medical history, check your blood pressure and answer anything still on your mind. Then the area is numbed. Most people say the injection is the only part they really feel.

If you've opted for IV sedation, a fine tube is placed in a vein on your hand or arm before anything else, and the sedative is given gradually until you feel calm and heavy. You stay able to respond and follow instructions, but time passes quickly and most people remember very little. Your pulse, oxygen and breathing are monitored throughout. Sedation is £500 for the session and £250 for each extra half hour; our IV sedation guide explains more.

The Procedure, Step by Step

1. The guide is fitted. It clips over your teeth or sits on the gum and is checked for a snug fit.
2. A small opening is made in the gum, often just a little circle through the guide.
3. The bone is prepared with a sequence of fine drills, steered by the guide and cooled with water. You'll feel pressure and some vibration, not pain.
4. The implant is placed. A MegaGen AnyRidge implant is turned gently into position at the planned depth and angle.
5. Any graft goes in, if your plan includes one, at the same time.
6. The gum is closed with dissolvable stitches around a small healing cap, or with a temporary tooth over it if the space is visible when you smile.

That's about an hour for a single implant. Full-arch treatment takes several hours per jaw, and where the bone allows, fixed temporary teeth are fitted the same day. ¹

The Rest of the Day

• Bite on the gauze pad for half an hour. Use a fresh one if it's still oozing.
• Hold a wrapped cold pack to your cheek on and off for the first few hours.
• Take your first painkillers before the numbness wears off.
• No rinsing, spitting hard, straws or hot drinks today; they can loosen the blood clot.
• Rest, with your head raised on an extra pillow tonight.
• After sedation: no driving, alcohol, machinery, signing documents or big decisions for 24 hours.

Days One to Three

Swelling and sometimes bruising build up over the first day or two and peak around day two or three, then fade. It often looks worse than it feels. Keep to soft, lukewarm food, chewing on the other side.

From the day after surgery, rinse gently with warm salty water after meals (about a teaspoon of salt in a mug). Brush the rest of your mouth as usual and very carefully around the stitches. Avoid heavy exercise for a couple of days, because a raised heart rate can start the bleeding again. And please don't smoke: it's the biggest single risk to a new implant.

The First Two Weeks

Most people are back at work within a day or two after a single implant, and comfortable by the end of the first week, with only mild tenderness at the site. The stitches dissolve by themselves over a week or two. Keep chewing away from the implant and keep the area clean.

Underneath, the bone is starting to grow onto the implant surface. This bonding, called osseointegration, takes roughly two to three months. After full-arch surgery you'll follow a soft-food plan for the first weeks so the new implants aren't overloaded while they heal.

When to Phone Us

Call 01698 767220 if:

• Bleeding doesn't stop after 30 minutes of firm pressure on a gauze pad
• Swelling is getting worse after day three, rather than better
• You have a temperature or feel generally unwell
• Pain isn't controlled by ordinary painkillers
• A temporary tooth or healing cap comes loose

Our hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm, and until 7.30pm on Thursdays. Closed at weekends. Outside those times, phone NHS 24 on 111. If you have swelling that affects your breathing or swallowing, call 999.

What Happens Next

You'll have a short review during healing. Once the implant has bonded, we take a digital scan with the iTero Lumina, so there are no impression trays, and your crown is made and fitted at a separate visit. Every implant placed here comes with a 5-year guarantee for non-smokers who attend hygiene visits every 3 months. Our guide on how long implants last covers the care that keeps it.

Questions

This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.