It is recommended that you do not look at the site until after the first post-op appointment. Muscles in your lip and face may manipulate the location of the newly placed graft. Avoid any contact of the graft with your fingers or toothbrush. The whole healing process averages 4-6 weeks.
For soft tissue “gum” grafts, the site(s) may appear white during the healing process (up to 2 weeks), this is normal and not a sign of infection. The tissue will change to a pink color as it heals.
The grafts may be a whitish or grayish appearance for 4 to 6 days after surgery, but this is normal until full blood circulation is restored.
The gum graft is held in place with very delicate sutures and takes 5-7 days to attach firmly. Repeated pulling back of the cheek, lip or tongue to look at the graft, can cause the graft to move during the first 5-7 days after surgery, which can cause the graft to fail.
The color will shift to red and pink as the swelling subsides. Some patients may take a long time to complete the gum graft healing stages. Other patients' gum tissues take 4-8 weeks to heal completely.
What are gum graft failure symptoms? If your gum graft failed, you'll probably notice a large patch of white tissue that has come off of your tooth. Its lack of color means that the gum graft lost blood supply and is dying.
Most patients will be fully healed from a gum graft procedure within two weeks but could take up to a month. A follow-up appointment with the doctor a week after the procedure will be needed to ensure the graft was successful and patient is properly healing. After two weeks, regular flossing and brushing can resume.
You may also notice that the area is shiny at first, but after 2-3 days it becomes grainy as granulation tissue develops to protect the site until the new gum tissue can form. The granulation tissue plays a key role in repairing the area and protecting it from damage.
This white material is usually granulation tissue, a fragile tissue composed of blood vessels, collagen, and white blood cells. Granulation tissue is a normal part of your body's healing process and is not cause for concern.
Pain. The area of the gum graft will be tender for a day or two, and sensitive to hot or cold drinks and hard foods for a several weeks afterward.
Oral care. Do not brush, floss, spit, or suck through a straw for 24 hours following surgery. Begin rinsing gently with the prescription mouthwash (Peridex) 24 hours after your surgery.
Yes, gum grafts fail sometimes. Understanding what causes failure is critical to understanding how to achieve success. Many of the factors that lead to failure are the same things that lead to gum recession in the first place.
A week after the surgery the graft became completely free from the underlying tissues and fell out. These failures rarely cause pain however do cause psychological distress to the patient. It was important to reassure the patient at this stage that such failures can occur.
By day 3, your gum swelling should subside and your open wound from extraction will begin to close. In 7 days, your gums should be very close to being completely healed with minimal sensitivity or pain. These are all signs that your gums are healing nicely and in the expected time frame.
For example, the graft can move by simply stretching your mouth open while trying to look at it. The days following gum graft surgery, the soft tissue will shrink and the swelling will reduce.
Don't brush the grafting area or otherwise disturb it during the first week of healing. During the second week after surgery, use an extra-soft toothbrush that your dentist provides, a special brush for post-operative cleaning for use ONLY around the area where the graft was placed.
In the next 24-48 hours following surgery the gum tissue will begin to heal, which involves the formation of granulation tissue. This tissue is typically white or cloudy over the incision, which sometimes causes concern for patients, but it is normal for healing gum tissue. Regeneration of tissue.
Dressing: We may apply a periodontal surgical dressing to protect the surgical site and keep you comfortable. The dressing will harden in a few hours. In most cases the dressing is left in the mouth for a period of 7-14 days and may be changed once or more by the doctor during this time.
With a gum graft, you can expect it to remain in place for a lifetime, but you will need to take care of your oral health on a daily basis. This means brushing with a soft-bristled toothbrush and being mindful of how much pressure you're using while brushing.
Exercise such as jogging, swimming, and tennis should be discontinued for 48 hours after surgery. This is to reduce the risk of postoperative bleeding that might interfere with proper healing of the graft tissue.
You can always reattempt to have your gum graft redone. You need to wait at least 3 months after your failed gum graft to make sure the tissues have properly healed and matured after your initial surgery. An attempt to redo a gum graft too soon won't allow you to have the most optimal response.
Hard foods – chewing may dislodge the gum graft. Chewy foods – even vegetables. Although they are healthy, they may require more chewing than is recommended as you heal from your surgery. Hot foods –they will burn your gums, increasing sensitivity and pain.
During healing, sometimes due to severe swelling and/or loosening of the sutures, the graft may move and surgery will not be successful. In such cases, it is necessary to wait until the maturation of the surrounding tissues is complete and try again. This does not happen very often.
The gum tissue will undergo changes for the next 1-2 weeks. The graft color may change from pink to white. This is NORMAL. Then the color will change to red and then back to pink as the swelling decreases.