Healing From All-on-4 Dental Implant Surgery

When it comes to replacing a mouth full of teeth, dentures are the best option you could hope for. You can go from having just gums to a full smile that you’d be happy to show off to anyone.

However, some people feel like removable dentures are lacking in strength. For them, there are all-on-4 implant dentures—dentures that are affixed to dental implants. These offer several advantages when compared to removable dentures, but also happen to involve surgery.

If you’re wondering what recovering from that surgery could look like, here’s some information that you might find helpful.

How Long Will It Take All-on-4 to Heal?

If you had removable dentures before implant dentures, you may remember that it would’ve taken months to heal completely after receiving them, and longer for your mouth to feel normal.

Implant dentures do not take nearly as much time to heal—they put much less pressure on the gums, and the healing process can begin as soon as you get your dentures. Many patients are able to return to normalcy within days of the procedure, managing only moderate discomfort as the wounds heal after that.

What does Aftercare Entail?

While your dentures will be strong and stable, the implant sites will be fairly sensitive for a while after treatment. You should do what you can to avoid agitating them any more than you need to. It’s recommended that you only rinse your mouth with dentist-recommended medical rinses for the first 24 hours, and that you rinse with salt water if bleeding continues the next day.

Avoid touching or playing with the surgical wounds until they’re healed completely, and be very gentle with brushing in the weeks afterward.

What Will All-on-4 Dentures Feel Like?

While you should notice the difference that dental implants make basically immediately, the implants themselves won’t be as stable as they could be for a few months after treatment. Your dentist will likely put you on a soft-food diet until they finish healing.

After that, you should notice how much better these dentures feel than the removable alternatives. They’ll take the pressure off of your gums, and give you some extra stability when doing the things that matter most.

About the Author

Dr. Hiren Shah has been a dentist for well over a decade, and he still loves being able to help his patients get the smiles that they’ve always hoped for. Being able to meet new people and to help them with their problems never gets old for him. Dr. Shah received his dental degree from New York University, and since then he has completed over 1000 hours of advanced education in dental implants.

If you have any questions about all-on-4 implants, he can be reached at his website or by phone at (908) 834-8448.