Gum Graft Surgery Recovery Tips

Receding Gums

Everyone knows you need to take care of your teeth to have a beautiful, long lasting smile. But you also need to protect your gums if you want to keep your teeth over the long run. At Downtown Dentistry in Toronto, we’ll check the health of your gums at every cleaning and checkup. If bacteria have infected your gums, they may eat away at the gum tissue. In severe cases, the infection will cause the gum line to recede.

In minor cases, the recession of the gum line is merely a cosmetic issue, but often this will lead to exposure of the root of a tooth. When the root of a tooth is exposed, this makes the tooth very sensitive, which makes eating certain foods very painful. If your gums have receded, this is likely part of a process that will worsen over time without intervention. In the worst cases, this not only severely damages the surrounding teeth and gums, but can lead to erosion of the bone tissue that makes up the skull.

 Gum Graft Surgery

If you have receding gums, your dentist will most likely recommend a gum graft. A gum graft is a surgical procedure where tissue, a graft, is taken, and applied, or grafted, to the gums. Sometimes, tissue for the graft is donated by another patient, but in most cases, tissue will be extracted from the roof of the patient’s own mouth for the surgery.

 Recovering from Gum Graft Surgery

Recovering from gum graft surgery can be very painful. To make sure you get through the gum graft healing stages  as quickly as possible, here are some tips:

• Watch what you eat. Eat soft foods. Avoid foods that are too hot, too cold, or spicy.
• Wait for a while before you brush. Often your dentist will reccomend you wait two weeks before brushing or flossing the area. Sometimes they will prescribe a special antibacterial mouthwash to keep your mouth clean in the meantime.
• Take your meds. Sometimes the doctor may prescribe a special pain reliever to deal with the pain. Without one, you may take an over the counter drug, like tylenol or aspirin.
• Follow the doctor’s instructions. They may vary from what’s listed here because of your specific circumstances. If you’re put under for the surgery, make sure to get a written copy of his instruction. You may still be recovering from the anesthesia and not remember what they say.

Be mindful. Your gums may be perfectly healthy and ready to be brushed while the roof of your mouth is still recovering.

If you’re worried you might need a gum graft, visit or contact us right away.