Drink plenty of fluids. Avoid hot liquids or very warm foods. You should try to progress to soft foods after being able to tolerate liquids. All meals for the first day should be in small portions to allow the stomach time to normalize after general anesthesia. Return to a normal diet as soon as possible unless otherwise directed.

You should begin taking pain medication as soon as you feel the local anesthetic wearing off. Mild to moderate pain can often be controlled by taking Aleve, Advil, or Tylenol shortly after leaving the office. Most procedures will require the use of a narcotic for post operative pain control. Vicodin, Lortab, or Percocet are frequently used. If one of these narcotics have been prescribed, it is wise to start taking these within an hour of leaving the office. Each of these narcotics can be taken in addition to Aleve and Advil (which may be used to supplement the narcotics). Additional use of Tylenol with Vicodin, Lortab, or Percocet is not recommended due to the presence of Tylenol in each of these formulations. For severe pain, the prescribed medication should be taken as directed by Dr. Karapetian. Do not take any of the above medication if you are allergic, or have been instructed by your doctor not to take it.

Be sure to take the prescribed antibiotics as directed to help prevent infection.

Good oral hygiene is essential to good healing. Peridex Oral Rinse may be prescribed for you following the procedure, depending on the situation. Peridex should be used twice daily, after breakfast and before bed. Be sure to rinse for at least 60 seconds then spit it out. Warm salt water rinses (teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water) should be used at least 4-5 times a day, as well, especially after meals. Brushing your teeth and the healing abutments is no problem. Be gentle initially with brushing the surgical areas. If bone grafting has occurred, brushing the area for the first week will require great care. Cleansing the area with a Q tip is probably the best course of action until advised differently.

Keep physical activities to a minimum immediately following surgery. If you are considering exercise, throbbing or bleeding may occur. If this occurs, you should discontinue exercising and apply gauze to the area for 20-30 minutes. Keep in mind that you are probably not taking on normal nourishment or fluids. This may weaken you and further limit your ability to exercise, so be careful when first engaging in any form of exercise.

Partial dentures, flippers, or full dentures should not be used immediately after surgery and for at least 10 days. This was discussed in the pre-operative consultation. There may be exceptions to this rule; this should be taken up with Dr. Karapetian at the pre-operative consult period.