Bleeding After Dental Implants: What’s Normal?

With a success rate of 95% to 98%, dental implants can last for decades. However, complications may arise in some cases and require attention from the dentist. If you see blood in your saliva, it is important to call your dentist as soon as possible.

After you have your dental implants, you need to take special care of the area and be mindful of how you wash your mouth. 

However, if you're experiencing some bleeding after having dental implants, you’ve come to the right place. This Confident Smiles & Implants post will shed some light on what bleeding after dental implants means and what you need to do to prevent it.

Bleeding After Dental Implants

After dental implant surgery, you may experience some light bleeding. Your saliva may also change color. A small amount of blood will likely turn your saliva to a bright shade of red or pink over the span of several days. Spitting should be avoided because it could potentially trigger excessive bleeding.

If you want, you can attempt to control extreme bleeding with gauze (folded or cut to 1-square-inch) by placing it over the wound and biting down gently for about thirty minutes. Repeat this procedure if necessary, before trying wet tea bags as a last resort. If that doesn’t work, contact your dentist. 

Treating Mucositis

Mucositis is a temporary, reversible disease that causes the inflammation and swelling of the tissues around an implant. A major cause of mucositis is overextension, which occurs when the dentist stitches or pins too much tissue. However, you should be aware that Mucositis is also a sign of cancer so if the dentist suspects you have mucositis, it is also important to see a doctor. 

Treating Peri-Implantitis

Implant-related periostitis is the development of inflammation around dental implants. In addition to soreness, redness, and swelling of the gums, A person with peri-implantitis typically experiences a series of more serious problems. These include partial bone fracture as well as damage to the surrounding tissue near the implant. These two problems often cause no pain, but a dentist can detect bone loss with X-rays.

How to Prevent Bleeding After Dental Implants

For the majority of people, bleeding associated with dental surgery procedures such as tooth extraction or implantation is not an issue. On rare occasions, some individuals will experience excessive blood loss. 

Here at Confident Smiles & Implants, we recommend our patients bite into a small piece of gauze and apply stable pressure for at least half an hour. That usually fixes the problem. Chances are, you'll have to go through several pieces of gauze before the bleeding stops.

Need Dental Implants? Visit Confident Smiles & Implants!

At Confident Smiles & Implants, Dr. Luis & Dr. Tori Mariusso take care of and treat all patients like family in our comfortable, family-orientated environment. The goal here is to restore your confidence through a sincere smile. If you’re a Farragut resident, contact us online or call us at (813) 957-4891 to schedule your dental checkup.