Approximately 6 or 7 years ago I carried out an audit of post operative complications in my NHS minor oral surgery service at that time.
All of the results were pretty good but we decided to try and make some improvements to reduce post operative complications. I found that many patients returned or contacted the practice just because they didn’t have appropriate advice, particularly on how long they would be likely to be uncomfortable following a surgical tooth extraction.
We worked very hard on the post operative advice and even recently made a video on hot salt mouthwashes (click here)
The advice sheet that we have developed over time can be downloaded here but the most important point of the sheet is the way it is explained to the patient and the time taken to do that. If we explain to people that they are likely to be sore and uncomfortable for up to 1 week following tooth extraction then they are much less likely to attend the practice within that week complaining of discomfort. Similarly, if we explain to smokers that this can increase to 2 weeks we are much less likely to get these incidental occurrences for problems.
I believe it massively reduces the impact of surgery just making sure that patients are rinsing copiously with hot sat water and Corsodyl and have appropriate pain relief.
Hopefully someone will find this sheet useful.
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