Postsurgical discomfort and at-home recovery: 4 ways to make oral care easier

Sometimes, patients find oral care to be incredibly uncomfortable, whether it's from postsurgical discomfort or pain during at-home recovery from orthodontics, autoimmune breakouts, or undergoing cancer treatments. B. Michelle Strange, RDH, MSDH, says there are some helpful products and ways to make maintaining oral health at home easier for your patients.

THERE ARE TIMES during our patients' lives when oral care is incredibly uncomfortable, and maybe even seems impossible. Sometimes this occurs after postsurgical procedures or perhaps during at-home recovery from orthodontic treatment. Other times, patients may experience discomfort maintaining their oral care during autoimmune eruptions such as lichen planus, while undergoing cancer treatments, or even during herpetic breakouts.