Exact Answer: 3 Days
As medical science has improved, every kind of surgery is possible today, including surgery from head to toe. Many surgeries are made possible today, like gum grafting.
It is performed to correct the gum recession, defined as a process in which the gum is covering the teeth in and around starts to pull back or sheds, exposing the teeth roots and making a gap between the teeth.
There are many reasons for gum recessions to occur. Moreover, it can also occur with age, but many people go through gum problems at a young age due to common reasons that such as excessive brushing and even genetic issues that may occur in the future.
How Long After Gum Graft Can I Eat Normally?
Gum grafting is a process or surgery that is performed to correct gum recession. It is a simple and relatively quick surgery in which the dentist removes the excess gum from the mouth roof and uses them to fill the gums in the place of absence.
There are three ways or methods in which gum grafting can occur: cutting a flap to extract the excessive tissue (connective tissue grafts), removing the tissue directly from the mouth (free gingival grafts), pull-down method (Pedicle grafts)
The first surgery in which the doctor cuts a flap in the mouth roof to extract the excessive tissues and fills in the exposed roots and gaps using dental stitches. Furthermost, the doctor stitches the gum using dental stitches and closes the flap.
The second type of surgery is the most preferred surgery by the patients as it is the least painful method.
The doctor directly removes the gums layer from the mouth roof without incisions and then fills in the exposed teeth roots and the gaps between them and stitched them using dental stitches.
The third method the doctor uses the pull-down method. The dentist checks for excess layering above the teeth makes small incisions, pulls the tissue over the teeth to cover the roots, and stitches the gums.
Though the doctor may use a tissue bank to perform the surgery instead of cutting or making the incision, the patients prefer to use their gums to fill the gaps rather than from the tissue banks.
Why Does it Take so Long to Eat After Gum Grafting?
After the gum grafting, the person eating comes to a halt. Many factors lead to the recovery, but the most dominating is the condition of the gums and the person’s age.
The conditions play a vital role. For instance, a person with the worse gum condition would take a lot of time to recover than the person with still a better gum condition as the doctor would make a large number of incisions to treat the patient and fill in at the required places.
These stitches would take a lot of time to heal to stitch the flap and the teeth. This can bring a halt to eating, but the person with a better gum condition may recover soon.
Age also plays an important role. For instance, as the person grows old, the gums start to shed and become weak. Not only this, but the tissue counts decrease.
Therefore, an aged person whose gums are already weak due to excessive stitching and cutting and not having enough tissue count to cover the teeth adds extreme pressure and can lead to a lot of time recovering and eating.
A young adult is prone to the pain and can recover early and get back onto the actual diet.
After the surgery, the person must be on a liquid diet and only consume soft food like mashed potatoes that require least or no pressure on the teeth, so the gums have time to recover.
Conclusion
Gum grafting is a process or surgery that is performed to correct gum recession. It is a simple and relatively quick surgery in which the dentist removes the excess gum from the mouth roof and uses them to fill the gums in the place of absence.
There are three ways or methods in which gum grafting can occur: the immediate scrapping of the tissue from the mouth roof, cutting a flap, and the pull-down method, where the patients prefer primary scrapping connective tissue grafts.
After the surgery, the person must be on a liquid diet that includes only water and juice and not fizzy drinks.
Though gum grafting is a long process and affects eating after the gum grafting, the teeth’ conditions become good as the gums protect the teeth from many external agents.
References
2. https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/104453
3. http://www.quintpub.com/userhome/prd/prd_19_3_hurzeler_8.pdf