Will I Experience Pain After My Dental Implant? What Should I Expect?

Dental implant surgeries are often preceded by mixed feelings. You’re excited to take care of those problem teeth that have been making you self-conscious, but you’re worried about the potential pain from the procedure.

These thoughts are perfectly normal before any surgery. When it comes to answering your concern about whether dental implants hurt or not, we’re here to help ease your mind. 

This list of everything you need to know to prepare for your procedure will let you focus on the end result instead of the in-between steps.

Do Dental Implants Hurt Afterward and Other Frequently Asked Questions

The surgery to place dental implants has been perfected over decades. It’s a safe, efficient procedure during and after which there are usually very few people who have complications. That’s not to say there won’t be any side effects such as discomfort or pain. It is a surgery, after all.

Preparing for the possibility of pain can help reduce the severity of it after your tooth implant procedure. Here is a guide to help you prepare mentally and physically for the best recovery possible:

1. You’ll have anesthesia options: As with any surgery, you’ll need a numbing agent to reduce the pain during the procedure. The anesthesia used will depend on your conversation with your oral surgeon and your medical history.

If you choose injectable anesthesia, it may be stronger than the topical agent. Although it will numb the area longer, when it wears off, you may notice pain at the injection site, too.

To alleviate this dental implant pain, you can take over-the-counter medications. But any product with aspirin can actually increase the bleeding, so talk to your dentist before you choose a pain relief product.

2. You should expect to notice some swelling after surgery: Swelling is your body’s way of speeding up healing after any wound. It occurs when thousands of cells are sent to the injured site to help fix the problem. 

With that said, swelling is part of the natural dental implant process timeline. If your swelling is bothering you, you can use ice to reduce it. It will go away on its own, at its own pace, even if you don’t use ice.

3. Bruising is also common: Like swelling, your body has natural reactions to any invasion. When you have an anesthesia injection or other intrusion into your body, as with your dental implants, your capillaries – tiny blood vessels below the skin’s surface – will burst. This causes discoloration we call a bruise, and it’s perfectly normal.

4. After any surgery, there is a risk of infection: If you’re wondering, “Why do my dental implants hurt this long after surgery?” there could be something else going on. 

Tooth implant pain up to a few days after your procedure is normal, but it is possible for an infection to develop at the site of the incision. If this happens, you have to get treatment as soon as possible before the infection spreads to other parts of your body.

In most cases, if you catch the infection early enough, simple antibiotics should be enough to take care of the problem.

5. The answer to “how bad do dental implants hurt” can depend on you: How you take care of yourself after your procedure can determine how long your dental implants hurt. 

Your dental implant recovery will go much smoother if you follow the instructions your dentist gives you. There are certain things you have to avoid, such as using tobacco and eating certain foods. 

Hot and spicy foods, for instance, can irritate the incision site. If you drink alcohol, you may notice an increase in pain and/or swelling. And, of course, hard foods like nuts, popcorn, and chips, will all slow down the recovery process.

It’s also important for your dental implant recovery to make sure you attend all of your follow-up visits, even if you think you’re doing fine. This gives your dentist the chance to check for infections and make sure that you are healing as you should. 

Your Oral Surgeon Will Do Their Part; It’s Up to You to Do Yours

Try to schedule a few days to rest and recover after your dental implant procedure. This will help you get back to full swing a lot faster than if you jump into real life and it causes you to have setbacks.

Even light exercises can be enough to cause complications, since the blood flow is already adjusting to your surgery.

Be sure to follow your dentist’s treatment and recovery plan. You’ll be on your way to your new life with dental implants that you don’t even remember being there. But first, you have to do your part to speed up the healing!