Surgical Instructions

765 High Street
Bath Maine 04530

207.443.3220

After Bone Grafting

In addition to the general postoperative instructions listed after tooth extraction, we would like to emphasize a few points.

Your bone graft many be one solid piece of bone or many smaller particles of bone.

You may find some small granules in your mouth for the first several days. Do not be alarmed by this. It is normal to have some of them come out of the graft site and into your mouth. There are some things you could do to minimize the amount of particles that become dislodged:

  • Do not vigorously rinse or spit for 3-5 days.
  • Do not apply pressure with your tongue or fingers to the grafted area, as the material is movable during the initial healing.
  • Do not lift or pull on the lip to look at the sutures. This can actually cause damage to the wound site and tear the sutures.

For the first day, we would suggest letting the blood clot stabilize and not even rinse your mouth. Following the first day, gentle rinsing would be advised but not too vigorously as you can again disturb some of the bone graft granules.

If you have receive a block graft, and part of the graft becomes exposed, let Dr. Sarka know as soon as possible. He will give you specific instruction to ensure the success of your bone graft.

If you had a sinus grafting procedure performed the general postoperative instructions still apply, but we would like to emphasize a few important points about your particular procedure and remind you of some instructions:

  1. Do not blow your nose.
  2. If you must sneeze, do so with your mouth open to avoid any unnecessary pressure on the sinus area.
  3. Do not smoke or use smokeless tobacco. Smoking greatly inhibits the healing, especially in the sinus graft.
  4. Do not take liquids in through a straw.
  5. Do not lift or pull up on your lip to look at the stitches, as this may actually create damage and tear the stitches.
  6. Take your antibiotics as directed and until finished.
  7. You may have some bleeding from the nose. This is not uncommon and should pass quickly.