Gum Graft experience
Eleven days ago, last Monday, I had gum grafting done on four teeth. One side of my mouth and the entire roof of my mouth was made completely numb thanks to local anesthetic. The periodontist scrapped cells from the roof of my mouth and sewed them into my gums to grow back in place of where the gums had receded to the point that my roots were partially exposed. I always get weirded out as the anesthetic hits my system but otherwise was fine. Drove myself home after the hour long procedure.
At home I drank yogurt, ate pudding and otherwise put food on my stomach and took a half of a hydrocodine with acetaminophen. It took many hours for the numbing to go away and when it did, it hurt a bit. So I went ahead and ate some more yogurt and pudding and took a whole one of the pain pills. I slept off and on, ate more mushy foods and moved onto 4 ibuprofen every 4 hours. I have to admit, for about 6 hours I was glad for those pain pills. It even hurt to eat jello. But by the evening, before I even went to sleep, that pain was gone.
For about two days I did the mushy food diet but by the third day I moved onto just cutting everything up into small pieces and placing them into the back of my mouth to chew. I was super careful and still taking ibuprofen in high dosages about every 6 hours. But by the weekend even that tapered off to a couple here and there and by the one week mark, I wasn’t feeling any discomfort at all.
I did have some swelling on about the third day and used an ice pack to keep it down. I was pretty run down energetically that day as well, almost like I was getting sick. I expect that was normal as my body was healing. I took a nap that day and that also brought the swelling down to none at all. A small bruise formed on my lower jaw around Thursday which seemed weird to me since I had no bruising when in past dental work. I guess it was just my turn.
One of the things they say is to not pull back your lip and look at the work done because it can mess with the stitches. I was able to make it about 48 hours before I just had to look. As described to me, the gums were red, white, grey and black. It was straight up ugly. But today, 11 days later, they are pink and look beautiful. Everything feels so normal, I have to keep reminding myself not to bite into food with my front teeth, not to brush that side of my mouth until my follow up appointment next week.
So in the past year I’ve had six cavities filled, four teeth pulled, braces put on and now 4 gum grafts. And I will need 4 more gum grafts next year on the other side of my mouth as well. Talk about an investment. But I love to eat and love my body so I want to do what needs to be done to keep my teeth and my body well. I want to be able to eat anything and everything into my old age!
Update:
For those in the Austin, TX area, I highly recommend my periodontist, Dr. Melanie Robinson. She is extremely good at what she does, so good that a few months after my procedure I had a dental appointment and they couldn’t tell that the gums had been grafted, oohing and aaahing about them being some of the best they’ve ever seen. But she’s also extremely considerate and compassionate. She personally calls to check on you and gives out her personal cell phone in case you need help outside of business hours. She’s a fine balance between doctor and healer and I’m grateful to my orthodontist for recommending her.
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Comments
I had four gum grafts done Friday (April 24). My recovery seems to be taking a similar path to yours. I’ve been waited on hand and foot by my husband, which I think is helping the recovery as well. I’ll be interested to see how life is on Tuesday, my first day back at work. I think the having to talk thing may be a bit rough. (The grafts were done in the front lower teeth.)
Your comments are letting me breathe a little bit easier. I was told a year ago to keep gum grafting in the back of my mind. I would need it just about my entire lower teeth and about 1/4 of my upper teeth. He says that I brush too hard and that is why I need the grafts. I just went back again this week and was told the same thing. I asked what it involved. If he scraped the roof of my mouth, then he said it was extremely painful and recovery was 2-3 months!!! I am a divorced mom and I teach full time. I can’t afford that kind of recovery time or level of pain. Needless to say, he has me nervous about that. If he doesn’t use the the roof of my mouth, then he uses cadeaver skin. The disadvantage of that, he says, is it doesn’t adhere as well as your own skin.
Did you hear any of this at anytime?
Did insurance cover any of this?
I had a gum graft on 5 of my lower front teeth on May 28th. I did run into complications from my surgery. They were supposed to take the gum tissue from the back of my mouth by my wisdom teeth but there wasn’t enough tissue. They took it from the top side of my mouth. The graft itself is healing pretty well but the area they took the gum tissue from “cratered” in and exposed some bone(those are their words). It caused alot of pain and no amount of pain medication seemed to help take away the ache. I stayed on massive pain medication for 2 1/2 weeks and then didn’t need it anymore. I do have a pretty good tolerance for pain but not where this was concerned. Would I recommend the surgery……if you receive a second opinion that you need it, then it doesn’t really matter what the recovery will be, you just have to put up with it. I still have about 4 teeth that will need a graft in the future and as much as I don’t want to go through this again, I will because I want to keep my gums healthy. My insurance would not cover any of it and I actually paid a little more to go to a Dr that I felt comfortable with. They put me out completely so I didn’t have to be awake through this procedure.
Thank you so much for posting this. I just had a tissue graft last Friday and managed to wait until today Monday)to peek and was so bummed when I saw that it was white and grey. I figured that it didn’t take. I guess the experience can vary incredibly from person to person but I just want to say that is hasn’t been a big deal for me at all. The worse part, in terms of pain, was the novicane. I took the Ibu, just in case, the first day but have had no pain since- just a little swelling. All of the adjustments you have to make in terms of food, oral care, activities,etc… have been a little inconvenient. I do hope that I get a good report on Friday. Thanks again for sharing. By the way, I have to do the other side next year and won’t fret at all!
I’m glad I read this because I had a gum graft on Friday and I looked at it today (not by pulling my lip, just by extending it out which I was told is ok to do) and noticed that parts of it were white. I was very worried because nobody told me it might look like that! I’ve had very little pain with mine after the first 24 hours but I can’t really tell if it’s healing well or not. The worst part is that the stitches are stabbing into my lip and cutting it, plus they go between my teeth and it’s very irritating. They used synthetic gum tissue for my graft and said that it heals just the same as tissue from your own mouth or donor tissue. I hope that’s true! Right now I’m living in fear that my stitches are going to fall out and I’ll have to be restitched.
I just had the procedure on Friday, December 11, 2009. 5 days later, I still have some swelling and pain, but it is manageable. I too, waited until about the 3rd day to look at the lower gums to see what they looked like and was told by others in the office that had gum grafts done that it looked normal. I too have had braces, but it was later in life, and am an agreesive brusher. I will have 2 more gum grafts next year as well. If you are having this procedure done I highly reccommend paying the extra fees to have the doctor put you to sleep. I took two halcions, 2 benadryls, something for sickness and the gas and all I remember is falling asleep and waking up. The bleeding on the palate on the first night was a little disturbing, but subsided after the 2nd day. Overall, I have had worse pain with wisdom teeth removal and this was manageable.
How do your teeth look after the surgery? I’m going for my first gum graft tomorrow morning, and I’m scared to death. I’ve read some horror stories on the Internet (not smart, I know), and now I’m considering not going through with it. Am I going to have an ugly smile after I heal?
Just had a gum graft last week. If it wasn’t for my doctor saying open/ close/ open I might have fallen asleep during the procedure. I too, was nervous about the procedure- mostly for the blood draw needed for platelets before they started ( they add a small amount of your blood to the gum graft before they stitch it up to help in the healing) Maybe because my procedure was at the end of a long day and I was tired- the whole thing took less than an hour including the blood draw, I barely felt a thing. Post procedure they placed what felt like “silly putty” in my mouth to cover the areas. The upper “silly putty packing” fell off the next day (they said this was common due to gravity) and I had them repack it. Next 3-4 days did have minor swelling, bruise size of 2 quarters on jaw area, and mild pain —took Advil 2 x a day for about a week till post-op appoint. I could eat anything on other side of mouth, just had to be careful within an hour of the surgery. Need to have other side done, need to wait a month for recovery before I can get it done. Then onto braces, jaw surgery and 2 more gum grafts, and possibly a cosmetic procedure.
Hope this post helps, try and focus on the final outcome
Protecting your teeth, gums, bite, etc and a beautiful confident smile! :)
just had gum graft surgery 10 days ago on 3 upper teeth. Worse thing in the world – pain unbelievable – tell me this will get better? White stuff all over the teeth, horrible smell in my mouth, palate burns. Using oral rinse and on amoxil due to slight infection. Not what I had thought it would be like. Swelling in my face finally went down after 5 days – looked like a freak!! So afraid this white stuff is more of an infection or it means the tissue is dead and didn’t take?
Had 4 grafts done three days ago.. The gums are swollen right now and I am using the ice pack for this…People at work are having fun teasing… My procedure went well and the most pain I had was the needles which ain’t bad.. The meds are helping and I found the Iboprofen helped the most… My doctor told me the white on the grafts is a normal part of the healing process… Had the putty used to protect the pallet of the mouth which I am always worried about it falling out… So far so good… Next up is the pallet extender and then braces…
I had gum graft surgery last Friday and it went well. I am now on day four and face looks like the chickmon. I am not having much pain as I am taking Ibuprofen and Hydrocodene. I cannot hardly eat anything so I am on a liquid and soft food diet. I cannot wait to be feeling and looking like myself again.
glad to read these comments- as i just completed gum grafting on my entire upper teeth 3 days ago and i’m so swollen my kids don’t want me to take them to school! i’ve had 2 grafts done on my lower teeth previously and had no swelling at all so i was quite surprised to wake up with a pumpkin face! i guess i’ll just have to wait it out…
A week ago today, had SIX (yes 6) upper grafts done. Maybe I’m a wimp, but I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy!!!! I will admit that the surgery itself is not painful. Perio offered me plenty of novicaine and nitrus to make it pleasant. Ipod in the ears with some bob marley tunes and all was good.
That being said…its when you get home that this experience becomes NOT so much fun. The sutures on the roof of my mouth are driving me INSANE! I hate being able to feel them with my tongue….it’s become a painful obsession. The pain has NOT let up for the past 7 days! I’m taking Motrin every 4-5 hours round the clock and an occssional vicodin.
No one warns you about the bleeding the 1st day either. I had what I felt was an excessive amount of bleeding following the surgery. Called the doc and she said it was normal to just apply pressure and lay down. I’m not sure she understood that my bathroom sink looked like a warzone.
Everything is just extremely gross and disgusting….from the taste in your mouth, to not being able to brush, to the sutures all over your mouth, and the giant gaping holes.
And, I’m totally paranoid that it’s infected or I’ve pulled a stitch and I’ll have to go through this again.
Best of luck to anyone who goes through this. Expect pain and lots of grossness. Don’t let anyone sugar coat it. This is NOT fun!!!!!
Almost forgot… Yes, swelling too! Day 7 and I can just now feel the swelling starting to go down. Day 3 and 4 were the worst of the swelling, which I thought was unusual. Kind of expected it on day 1 and 2.
I had my synthetic gum grafting procedure on tuesday – Listened to Bob Marly the whole procedure – so glad because when accidently my ipod stopped playing I realized that the dentist was sewing up the last stitch – which freaked me out — the procedure was relatively painless except the last stitch – I came home felt no pain- but took 400 mg of Motrin in anticipation of the pain…. took a long nap – woke up with no pain– thought the recovery would be a breeze — walked my puppy — picked her up a couple of times ( she weights 15 lbs) took another nap and woke up with blood all over — couldn’t stop the bleeding — freaked out so went to the emergency room- where the doc said that I probably need another stitch or two — I didn’t want to let him take the “band-aid” that the dentist placed on grafted area ( two lower front teeth). When I got home did the whole tea bag thing and fell asleep around 5a.m. Woke up at 8am and the bleeding had stopped—
Had the gross blood and other taste in mouth.. Called dentist – he said to start rinsing my mouth a with the prescribed rinse a day later… The next two days were rough – I was paranoid about bleeding and so was really careful what I ate– Felt very weak and slept a lot — took many naps and slept through the nights- felt no pain and had a lot of swelling.
Went back to work on Sat- I work in a restaurant so contact with people is essential – I ended up leaving early – worked 4 hrs. took Motrin when I got home — mild pain – but felt a really uncomfortable pulling feeling. Worked Sunday – 6 hrs– Speech is very muffled and took Motrin when got home– mild pain and more of the pulling discomfort.
WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN>
bleeding – wish my dentist could have warned me about it — I am a total baby when it comes to blood —
WORRIES
I worry that the grafting wont work because its of synthetic material
ADVICE
TAKE IT EASY for 5 days after this procedure– really — have smoothies, soup juices, yogurts ready and eat/drink as much as possible — work as least as possible… The recovery isn’t painful but is extremely gross- I can’t imagine
how it must feel to remove cells from pallet — gosh !!! But would do it if it would mean I could save my two bottom teeth…
Best of Luck to all !!!
I had a gum grafting procedure done yesterday on two upper teeth…on one the bone was actually exposed due to a cyst in my gums many years ago…I read all the negative reviews and braced for the worst….if you are having this done DO NOT READ all the NEGATIVE reviews! After a lot of shots with novacaine I had the procedure done. Two teeth removed, gum tissue taken from palate and grafted on two front upper teeth…and a texture of silly putty put over areas where done that serves as a band-aid. I am for the most part pain-free and it is nothing like some of these people are saying. I am staying with soft foods for now and I actually brushed my teeth and brushed over the “silly putty”. I am hoping it continues this way. I worried about this for a whole year and I should not have! The worst part was the shots in the beginning. I took my ipod and listened to music throughout the whole procedure and it relaxed me. I am on antibiotics for a while…don’t need the pain pills. Good luck….I for one am certainly glad I did it…I can’t wait to see the finished product!
I’m glad to read this! I had braces in my teens. Around the teeth that were moved the most, I have receeding gums. I’ve talked to my dentists over the years and they’ve told me that even great dental hygiene can’t always reverse the damage done during braces. Gum graft is definitely in my future.