Patients

• After a tooth extraction, have your child bite down on gauze for 30-45 minutes immediately after the appointment. If the bleeding or oozing persists, place another piece of gauze and have them bite firmly for another 30 minutes. They may have to do this several times to stop the bleeding. • After the tooth is extracted, your child may feel some pain and/or have some swelling. An ice pack can be applied to the area to keep swelling to a minimum. The swelling usually subsides after 48 hours. • Use over the counter pain medication as directed. Make sure your child drinks lots of fluids and eats nutritious, soft food on the day of the extraction. Your child can eat normally as soon as they are comfortable. • Do not rinse vigorously, suck on straws or brush teeth next to the extraction site for 72 hours. These activities may slow the healing process. • It is important to resume a normal dental routine after 24 hours. This should include brushing and flossing their teeth at least once a day. This will speed healing and help keep their mouth fresh and clean. • After a day or two, your child should feel fine and can resume normal activities. If your child has heavy bleeding, severe pain, continued swelling for 2-3 days, call our office immediately.

Your child has received a Space Maintainer appliance to prevent teeth drifting into the space meant for a permanent tooth. These suggestions are important in caring for a space maintainer: • The space maintainer must be kept clean. The band and wire tend to collect food particles. Special care must be taken to remove any collection of food material to prevent decay in that area. • The space maintainer may become loose or even come off if extremely hard or sticky foods are chewed in that area. Your child should avoid hard, sticky candy and bubble gum. The teeth will drift and change position if the space maintainer becomes loose or comes off. To avoid complications, call the office for an appointment to receive it. • A space maintainer should be kept in place until the permanent tooth is ready to erupt. At that time, our doctor will remove the space maintainer to allow the permanent tooth to come into the space reserved for it.

• The cement which holds the crown on the tooth requires approximately twelve hours to fully set. Therefore, only soft foods should be allowed today. Regular diet may be resumed tomorrow. • Stainless steel crowns may become loose or even come off eating hard or sticky foods. Hard, sticky candy and bubble gum should be avoided. • It is not unusual for the gum tissue around the crown to be slightly irritated and inflamed for several days. Use warm salt water rinses or a Q-Tip dipped in warm salt water to rub around the crown several times a day. • The area around the crown should be brushed gently for the next day or two. Regular brushing can resume when the area is less sensitive. • The crowned tooth will come out on its own at the proper time when the permanent tooth is ready to erupt. • Should a crown become loose or fall off, contact the office for an appointment to have it recemented.