The first week, day by day
Day one. Numbness wears off after a few hours. Take the painkillers before it does rather than waiting for pain to arrive. Some oozing is normal. Do not rinse vigorously, do not spit, and do not explore the area with your tongue.
Day two. Usually the peak for swelling, and often a bruise. Cold compresses on the outside of the face help in the first day; after that they do not.
Day three. Things should be clearly improving. This is the turning point, and it is also the day that matters diagnostically: if pain or swelling is worse today than yesterday, call us.
Day four to seven. Most people have largely forgotten about it. Keep eating on the other side and keep the area clean.
Cleaning while it heals
Brush your other teeth normally from the first day. Around the site, be gentle but do not avoid it entirely, because plaque accumulating there is what causes problems. Use whatever rinse we have prescribed, at the times we said, starting the day after rather than the same day.
The long wait, and why it is invisible
After the first week, recovery stops being something you feel. The implant is fusing to the bone over three to six months, and nothing about that process announces itself. You will have a review appointment to check it is progressing.
Looking after an implant for good
Once the crown is on, an implant is cleaned like a tooth, with one difference: the tissue around an implant is less resistant to infection than the tissue around a natural tooth. Gum disease around an implant, if it is allowed to establish, loses the implant. So daily cleaning and regular check ups are not routine advice here, they are the whole thing.
When to call
Listed in the questions below, and worth reading before you need them. Nothing on that list is something to sit out overnight.