Post Op Instructions

Use the patient information provided here to help your child after dental treatment. For questions, please call our Florissant office: Florissant Pediatric Dental Office Phone Number 314-830-9663.

Space Maintainer | After Stainless Steel Crown Restoration | After Tooth Removal


Space Maintainer

Your child has received a Space Maintainer appliance today to prevent teeth drifting into the space meant for a permanent tooth. Several suggestions are important in caring for a Space Maintainer.

  1. The Space Maintainer must be kept exceptionally 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.
  2. The Space Maintainer may be dislodged of pulled off if extremely hard or sticky foods are chewed in that area. Your child should definitely avoid hard sticky candy and bubble gum. If the Space Maintainer is left off more than a few days, the teeth drift and change position, therefore, if it should become loose or dislodged, call the office for an appointment: Florissant Pediatric Dental Office Phone Number 314-830-9663.
  3. Normally a Space Maintainer should be kept in place until the permanent tooth is ready to erupt. At that time the Space Maintainer must be removed to allow the permanent tooth to come into the space reserved for it.

After Restoration with a Stainless Steel Crown

  1. Your child has had one or more teeth restored with a stainless steel crown.
  2. The cement which holds the crown on the tooth requires approximately twelve hours to achieve its final set. Therefore, only soft foods should be chewed with the newly restored teeth today. Regular diet may be resumed tomorrow.
  3. Stainless steel crowns may be dislodged or pulled off if extremely hard or sticky foods are chewed with them. Hard, sticky candy and bubble gum should definitely be avoided.
  4. It is not unusual for the gum tissue around the newly restored tooth to be slightly irritated and inflamed for several days. This can be eased by using a salt water rinse on the area several times daily.
  5. The area should be brushed only gently today, gradually increasing to good daily stimulation of the gum tissue around the crown after several days.
  6. If the crown is on a primary tooth, it will usually come out on its own at the proper time when the permanent tooth is ready to erupt.
  7. Should a crown become loose or dislodged it should be saved and you should contact the office for an appointment: Florissant Pediatric Dental Office Phone Number 314-830-9663.

Care of Mouth After Tooth Removal

  1. DO NOT bite, suck, or rub the numb lip or cheeks. The child should be watched closely so that he/she does not chew on the lip or cheek while it is numb.
  2. Very gently rinse the mouth for the first twelve hours to avoid breaking the clot. Then use warm salt water rinses several times daily until the healing is completed.
  3. Keep the fingers and tongue away from the socket.
  4. Some bleeding following tooth removal is to be expected. The child should bite firmly on folded gauze in the removal area for twenty minutes. Repeat if necessary, only if the bleeding has not stopped.
  5. The regular amount of Tylenol to which the child is accustomed to taking should control any discomfort.
  6. Eat only soft foods in the removal area for the first 24 hours.

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