TWO Weeks Post Op..... Tell Me If This Is Normal?

MaryJo, My gums look just like how you described yours. Thick and receded up the way they were before the graft, if not worse. My dentist says that thicker gums is the desired result. She made an appointment for me to come back in so she can pull down the gum line. I think that's what you'll have to do eventually. It's going to be a 30-minute procedure. I just hope that after the revision it'll look like the "after" pictures that I saw in the brochures. Afterall, it was not a cheap procedure.

Thanks Jazzcat...



I was hoping someone would take the time to tell me more.....about the healing phase. When you said, "your gums continue to heal and remodel" I felt so much better.

I had this done on June 26th, so it is not quite 3 weeks post op. My tongue keeps groping for what it all feels like and it still feels bulky. Maybe my doctor did what yours did and put extra tissue because of so much recession on my front teeth.

Anyway, within this last week the mass seems to have shrunk and now I am worried that it is shrinking up too high and that when I am done healing it will look as bad as it did before. I am hoping when you say" remodel" that you mean the new gum kind of finds it way down and around the enamel and lays down between the teeth. I had the two front incisors and the two next to them done. I still need two more done on the other side of the incisors and then two on the bottom.

Two weeks ago no one would tell me that I would ever set foot back in a periodontists office. Maybe now, if I learn from you that it does all work out after several months of healing that I will be able to emotionally and mentally have the courage to "do it again" as you did. Again, Jazzcat,

thanks for your full explanation.



MaryJo

Hi MaryJo,



I've had this surgery twice in the last year (I posted about it in early April 2007 after my second round). I had the first gum graft in Sept. 2006 on four upper teeth for severe recession due to brushing too hard. For the first few weeks afterwards, I too was freaking out a bit because my gums felt "too big" up there, but as my periodontist explained, they did go down over time and now feel totally normal almost a year later. Your gums continue to heal and "remodel" for many months after the procedure, so give it some time. If I smile reallllly big, you can see a ridge of tissue above my upper teeth, but I think I notice it more than other people do. My periodontist did offer to "trim" the tissue (which he explained he made quite thick because my recession was pretty bad), but since it doesn't really bother me and seems just cosmetic, I really didn't want to undergo even more cutting.



I had a second round of gum grafting done in March on four lower teeth. This seemed like a much easier procedure all around. I think this is because the condition of the gum over my lowers was not as bad to begin with as that of my uppers, and also because I was familiar with what to expect.



I was pretty scared going in to all this last fall, but now that it is done, I'm very glad I had it done. No more "toothy" smile.



Oh, my teeth were very sensitive after these surgeries, but my regular dentist prescribed some special fluoride toothpaste, and that is MUCH better now.



Hang in there and let me know if I can answer more questions! I can certainly relate to being wigged out by all this.



:-)

I hope it turns out alright.