I just had a visit to the orthodontist for my monthly checkup. I casually commented that it was bothering me when I flossed my lower front teeth (don't know names) he then said he would like me to get a "free gingival tissue graft". The name sounds scary. (after looking on the internet I've realized that free doesn't refer to costing nothing) My ortho said I had a little amount of hard tissue to begin with and he "should have extracted 4 bicuspids but didn't want to go that route". So I booked an appointment with my dentist for an examine. My braces are supposed to come off June 29/06, but I highly doubt they will . Does the graft hurt? How long is the procedure? How long is the healing time?
A graft takes about an hour or so and heals fairly quickly. People do real well with this. It's purpose is to cover an area of gum recession than can worsen over time. Some tissue is "harvested" from the roof of your mouth and grafted over the current defect. You may want to see a periodontist for this. Good luck. It's not so bad.
long time no see Jenny !
When I first read, I thought you indeed would get a graft for nothing.
Good that you explained. Anyway, good luck ! I know some here did
get a graft and it seemed not too bad at all. BTW, how are you doing now ?
It's been a slow process! I can understand how you must feel. My bite is "coming along" but who knows how long it'll take. The good news is that my braces will be paid for in full in May. That's one reason to celebrate. I miss my naked teeth!!! I always think of your braced journey and realized mine hasn't been that bad. I don't like this new development though. Oh well!!
I just had the exact procedure you are asking about yesterday. I had thin tissue in front of my lower front teeth and a dorito ended up scraping the gum away from one of the teeth. I went for a cleaning and my dentist sent me to the periodontist that day. I had surgery yesterday and it wasn't that bad, it wasn't pleasant but I know it will be better in the long run. They took tissue from the roof of my mouth close to my teeth and placed it in my gum in front of my lower teeth. The procedure took about an hour and they told me that the donor site would be completely healed in about 3 weeks. Until then I have this putty stuff covering both sites which takes like rubber, I'm afraid of the bad breath I'm putting off Pain wise I'm taking prescription streng Aleve twice a day and am fine. They did tell me the putty from the donor site would come out fairly quickly and then the roof of my mouth would feel like a bad pizza burn. Hope your surgery goes well!
The name sounds scary. (after looking on the internet I've realized that free doesn't refer to costing nothing) My ortho said I had a little amount of hard tissue to begin with and he "should have extracted 4 bicuspids but didn't want to go that route". So I booked an appointment with my dentist for an examine. My braces are supposed to come off June 29/06, but I highly doubt they will 
. Does the graft hurt? How long is the procedure? How long is the healing time? 
Pain wise I'm taking prescription streng Aleve twice a day and am fine. They did tell me the putty from the donor site would come out fairly quickly and then the roof of my mouth would feel like a bad pizza burn. Hope your surgery goes well!
