Needing Some Advice

Update: After finishing my antibiotic course, I woke up and saw red dots all over my body. I thought I had chicken pox again. I realized that I had a drug reaction. The skin rash is fading slowly after 3 days.

I had a follow up with the periodontist today. She said that my gums are healing beautifully and all the grafts took. The trouble spot I mentioned earlier is also what she expected to see. She made an appointment for me to come back for revisions of that spot. That's good news. The periodontist said that if the graft doesn't take, it would turn white-ish and not stay pink like mine. My gum line looks kind of crooked right now, but it has only been 12 days. She says that it will smooth out and wrap around the teeth eventually.

I'm just so relieved to hear those words.

Could you tell me how long your swelling "chipmunk look" lasted??
Also you mentioned your first procedure that the roots were covered.... could you explain more about the procedure you had two years ago and how it is different than this one??? Thanks

I had my graft done on Thursday (connective tissue graft). I also felt like I looked like an ape for 4-5 days. The swelling went down slowly and my face became normal with bruises by Tuesday- Wednesday. I don't know where the bruises came from. I had them under my eyes and on both of my cheeks. I didn't feel like going out in public or seeing ppl I know. Everyone asked : what happened to your face?

The gum graft i had 2 years ago is called a free gingival graft. It was much more painful and I lost weight because I couldn't eat for a week. Couldn't even swallow water. The graft does not cover the root, but prevents further gum recession. A piece of gum from the hard palate is carved out from the mouth roof and the wound is left exposed. The area that needed grafting is scraped so there is blood to blood contact, hence, attachment. The gumgraft is then stitched in after the scraping. That graft looks like a patch now and feels hard compared to the gums. I thought that this free gingival graft was the most painful thing i ever experienced. I did not have any swelling or brusing at all considering all that pain.

This graft I just had is supposed to cover the exposed root and correct the "long tooth look". The dentist makes an incision on the roof of the mouth, makes a window, cuts out a piece of gum under the incision, and then stitches back the wound. Here, the roof isn't left open like the other procedure. The graft gets sutured over the area of recession, covering the roots. I don't know if the gum gets scraped this time.

The recovery is definitely different for the 2 techniques. I'd rather have the excruciating pain and look normal than get all the swelling and brusing w/o the pain. I'm still perplexed about the swelling. I feel that the last graft I had was much more traumatic and painful. The only discomfort I had this time was feeling the stitches. I took antibiotics to prevent infection and a huge dose of ibuprofen 3 times a day for a week to decrease swelling.

The dentist made an appointment for me to come back in september for the revision. She is going to pull my gum down to cover the root. She says the graft did not cover my root, but I do have thicker gums there. I do get kind of depressed looking at the graft area. It looks no different than before the surgery, just bulky. The dentist assured me that it will change as it heals. It takes about 4 months for the gums to completely heal.

I hope you're feeling better. Your face will come back around day 5 post-op. You might have bruises.

Thank you so much for explaining everything so clearly. It is Day 6 and my swelling is 50% down but I still feel so depressed over the way my upper lip is so swollen and ugly. I did peak at my graft a couple of times and the area over my two front upper teeth is so thick, much thicker than the next two teeth. I am so unhappy with all this. I was not told enough of what could happen. I am not happy with my dentist. I think when I asked him if I would be able to go back to work that he was hiding a few facts. I could never go to work like this and it is Day 6. He told me that I might need a weekend to recuperate. Oh well, I will have to deal with whatever is ahead. I just pray that I do not need to have this
redone. Thanks again for taking the time to explain.

Are you taking a huge dose of ibuprofen 3 times a day? From my consultation with the dentist, I also had the impression that there would be no problem going back to work after the weekend, and that my gums were going to look nice after the procedure. She said it was going to be "instant gratification". I too feel that they should tell us what we should expect: swelling and bruising for a week, bulky gum that doesn't look like our own gum, and that some of us might need to come back for a revision. I'm in the same shoes as you. Hope you won't need a revision.

I had a gum graft 4 days ago, and it was the second kind you mentioned above -- the donor site was stitched, and the graft covered the roots. Both the sites are swollen at this time, and I can feel some weird sensations (like a raw wound) that I hope will heal soon. I can eat on the side that was not operated on.

You have no facial swelling or bruising? Lucky you. The stitches really bothered me when they started to come off and hang from the teeth.

I went in for a revision of my graft on tooth #5 3 days ago. It looked like the root got covered immediately and one day after the revision. The periodontist just numbed up the gum, pulled the gum tissue down about 1mm, then put sutures at the site. I had pain in that area for a couple of days. The stitches really bothered me. They were hanging down already and got pulled on whenever I ate. I used small scissors and cut the strings last night. My gum seemed to have shrunk up where it used to be before the surgery. Looks a little swollen too. I get so depressed when I look at the area. :*(**

I just had a gum graft TODAY and I am wondering if anyone else has experienced ALOT of bleeding. It feels like I can constantly taste the blood in my mouth.
I can handle the bleeding and the pain, but my main concern is that the graft will not take. I really can't afford to pay for the exact same procedure twice.
Thanks for all your earlier posts - it's nice to know that I'm not alone and other people share similar experiences.

The day of the procedure, I also had a little bleeding at the donor site and the graft site. It's normal to have a little bleeding for a couple of days. As long as you don't spit out a large amount of bright red blood, it should be ok. I also tasted the blood in my mouth for a few days after. The old blood at the suture line will be there for a few days. I rinsed my mouth with warm salt water after eating and it helped get rid of that nasty taste of blood.

If the graft doesn't take, the periodontist should re-do it w/o additional charge. I went for a follow up yesterday on the revision and my dentist said that when it completely heals she will fix it as she too wasn't happy with the result.

Good luck.