gum graft after surgery

I had this done 18 days ago, and it is still under recovery...the surgery itself went quite smooth, there was very light pain after the surgery and I did not feel any pain during the surgery due to the anesthetic medicine. The only noticeable thing after 3 days is my whole left face got swelling which is expected, it reached to the peek at the 3rd and 4th day and then getting better over days. So everything feels like perfect in the first week.

But right after a week it became horrible, I note the roof of my mouth feel more and more uncomfortable, for there is an area inside my mouth get swelling and my tongue always touch it by natural which makes it really uncomfortable, and at the same time I get a terrible sore throat, which means I could not talk, could not eat either, and every saliva swallow is very painful, I met with my dentist and confirmed the inside swelling area is the wound there the soft tissue was taken out, he said it is OK and will heal by itself, the only thing I need to do is to use a gauze to give it some pressure. He mentioned the sore throat and he said it is nothing related with the surgery.

Long story in short, the inside blood clot grow over time and bleeding all the times, despite how much gauze and pressure I gave to it, it became totally black due to the mount of blood filled. So I did everything the doctor told me, including took all the amoxicillin and ibuprofen pills, but still get this very slow recovery process...I'm struggling with it and thinking about if I should still continue this surgery for the two other areas. BTW, I did 3 teeth in this surgery in upper left.

I had gum graft surgery this morning for the 4 bottom front teeth. I opted not to have sedation, just the needles that freeze your mouth. They put some numbing cream on my mouth before giving the needles. Tissue was taken from my upper palate on the side, and sewn onto the front 4 bottom teeth. I had read a lot of stories that others have experienced extreme pain and I was very worried. However, that has not been my experience so far. I would not want to downplay that it is indeed a surgery but if one goes in understanding that so far I have had little discomfort. The worst part of the procedure was only the freezing needles and they were not too bad. There were 4 needles on the bottom, which were fine. And 2 needles to the roof of my mouth. The 2 pokes to my palate were the most painful and one made me squirm and after i noticed my eye had watered, but nothing much different than other freezing needles I have had at the dentist.

The procedure lasted 2 hours and I listened to podcasts to pass the time. I was never in pain or discomfort other than the typical mild neck soreness from laying on my back for 2 hours while a dentist is applying mild force to my teeth.

The periodontist prescribed an antiseptic mouth rinse 3x/day, antibiotics 3x/day, and my choice of ibuprofen or tylenol. Because I am allergic to codeine and cannot take Tylenol3, he also prescribed steroids to help with inflammation and pain. So far I have not taken the steroids and I am not sure I will. I'm more scared of having a reaction to steroids than i am of swelling and mild pain. It's just a paranoia I have after bad experiences a long time ago (a basic antihistamine made my heart race and i had to go to the hospital where they decided it was nothing to worry about - but it felt awful)

The freezing didn't wear off enough for me to eat without dribbling all over my shirt until about 5 hours. After 8 hours I can say it's fully gone. I have to eat soft foods. Luckily, I was able to take the day off work and the next few days. If I don't talk or laugh or smile, it's very comfortable. If I do start to move my mouth a lot for example by smiling, I can feel a pull on the graft stitches and it feels unpleasant. I recommend cancelling all social plans and laying low, for maximum comfort.

There is a putty like patch on the roof of my mouth that protects the stitches. It is supposed to fall off anytime from 1 day to 5 days. I am hoping it stays many days because it sounds like others have experienced pain once the donor patch is exposed.

I'm posting this because I was so anxious and worried about the pain and I want others to know it's not that bad at all. Zero pain so far as long as I keep taking ibuprofen. I take 600 mg every 4 hours. I will try to post an update as the days pass. I really hope it doesn't start to hurt!! It's been 13 hours since my surgery was over and I'm fine so far.

update: day 2. I did not take any painkillers yet today because i have no pain. as long as i don't talk or laugh etc, there is no pain. I was able to eat a kind of salad of avacado and teeny tiny diced soft tomato with feta cheese. it was fine.

i did not take the steroids for inflammation and pain. my lower face is a bit swollen today so I look more big-jawed than normal. combine that with my unwillingness to smile and i look a bit unfriendly. luckily I can stay home today.

the putty covering the roof of my mouth is still on. I am hoping it stays on a while because the commenter above me has experienced a lot of pain.

if you are afraid of this procedure, I hope you feel reassured. there was no pain so far, but it is indeed surgery and so you will need to be very gentle with your mouth. for example i have to use an antiseptic mouthrinse 3x a day and i can't swish or spit vigourously as normal or it might bleed or be uncomfortable. so i have to go slow and let it roll around and then bend over and let it dribble out o my mouth.

I will try to update again, especially if there is pain or any other issues..

update: day 3. not much pain in the day but i was super tired and needed a nap. also i had so much feeling of unease for lack of a better word, that i took ibuproen in the morning. the day went fine and i'm able to eat all kinds of soft foods like bread, baked potato, etc.

Later in the evening i had dinner, and antibiotics - then i had lots of throbbing pressure in my upper face behind my eyebrows so i took more ibuprofen. I also had the feeling of unease again and felt super tired for a while. I can't tell if the feeling is due to blood sugar, digestion, the antibiotics or something else. It feels like I have weak legs or something. but that could just be my experience and noone else's.

if you have this procedure, i reallly recommend that you take several days off work and try not to talk. you might be surprisingly exhausted like me! and it definitly pulls on the graft stitches when i smile or laugh.

update: day 4. much better today than the last 3 days. except that now i have 1.5 black eyes and a large bruising under my jaw. there is no pain but i do take 200mg of ibuprofen abut 3x today to avoid the pressure feeling behind my eyes. I guess that is a kind of pain.

i can eat larger mouthfuls of food at a time. luckily i have a job that can be performed from home when necessary.

if you have this procedure, i recommend taking lots of time off if you can to make healing more comfortable. i think if i had to talk all day i wouldn't feel as good as i do.

I totally agree with you on that!!!! Seeing my teeth fall out would be absolutely devastating!!!!!!! The pain you go through with gum graft is well worth it no matter how bad it gets or unbearable still worth it!! Just keep taking painkillers it takes the edge off the worst part..

Thank you for your honest recount of the surgery. I had it yesterday and tried to do some light housekeeping about an hour or so after the surgery (while I was still numb), my mouth started to fill with blood at the wound site so I got a little freaked out. Decided to be still for the rest of the evening..laundry can wait! Wish they had suggested Vicodin for first day as that would have been more effective than the Motrin they send you home with. This is definitely a doable surgery but if possible, plan for a Friday so you have the weekend to recoop. I am back to work on day 2 and it is touch and go with pain.

I had the gum graft on my bottom front two teeth done three days ago. It only took about 30 minutes and isnt that bad!! I didnt feel much but there was alot of blood!! They covered my eyes with a damp cloth (i had them closed anyway) i had putty on the side of the roof of my mouth and on the graft site. Top putty fell off but bottom is still on. I go back to get my stiches removed on Wednesday (a week from procedure) glad i had it done. I did remove the putty to get a peek and it looks amazing! But i was able to put putty back on to protect stiches when im eating. All in all not too bad. Have only taken two hydrocodone and a couple motrin!

The stent caused your teeth to MOVE ? Wow, I didn't have that experience and have NEVER heard of it happening. Hope you're ok.

I just had my gum graft last Tuesday. I can eat normally now pretty much but I had 2 sodas and I'm a little worried because they said not to but I did it anyway

Did anyone answer You? I feel like I could have written your post. I'm completely freaked out that it's failing.

I Fully agree!!!

Has it failed!? I think mine is failing

I had mine done also. I am like you the worse pain ever. My donor site was along the trigeminal nerve along the roof of the mouth so there was a lot of revered pain. I felt like all my teeth on the donor site upper and lower hurt. I am I. The medical field and I definitely was not prepared. The site where they put out the gumgradt is fine no pain there it's the donor area. I have a hole in my mouth pain was so horrible and I did the peridex, warm salted water Clindamycin and hydrocodone and Motrin. Had to go back twice within a week. I had to go on string dose of prednisone to get some relief thank God I take care of patients every day and realized that I needed to relieve some inflammation. Now this donor site is going to take weeks to heal. Not sure if I would do this again. So everyone pain is different but I felt what you felt and I am still feeling it. I am only 7 days out. Came across this because was looking for ways to ease this pain..

It has been 8 days since my graft and I am having the same issue. I cannot stand it!