Dental Implant Recovery

Healing after Dental Implants

Many patients wonder, “how long does it take to recover after getting dental implants?”. Depending on your specific treatment plan and number of surgeries, the entire healing process usually takes two to nine months.

There are two different healing phases throughout the dental implant journey. The first phase is after the initial implant fixture is placed. The implants have to fuse to the bone through a natural process called osseointegration. The second healing phase is after the short-term replacement teeth are attached to the implant post.

Keep in mind that during the healing phases, you will likely need to partake in a soft-food diet so that you don’t cause any complications to the implant area.

Here are a few foods you can eat for the first 6 months post-op:

• Soft fruits and vegetables
• Eggs
• Rice and pasta
• Yogurt and ice cream
• Fish
• Soft breads
• Anything that can be cut easily with a fork

Food you should avoid:

• Foods that require force to bite into or chew (apples, hard candy, steak, etc)
• Foods with small loose pieces (popcorn, seeds, etc)

As a common practice for patients that are healing after an implant procedure, Dr. Khal gives out his personal cell phone number to make sure he is accessible for anything you might need – he’s always “on call!” That is part of our philosophy, going above and beyond to care for our patients like they are our own family members.