Benefits of Sleeping On an Incline After Oral Surgery
Posted on 8/24/2020 by Candice
Self-care is critical to your recovery from oral surgery, and one of the most important post-op self-care factors is how you sleep. Your body's natural healing mechanisms kick into higher gears while you're resting, but sleeping in the wrong position can actually derail your recovery efforts. Your lying position can determine how quickly you can get a grip on bleeding and swollen gums and other discomforts resulting from your oral surgery. For instance, lying on your back may reduce blood flow to the area of the surgery, limiting the amount of nutrients and other resources needed to facilitate natural healing in those areas.
But another more critical aspect of your lying position is the inclination of your head. In fact, our recommendation for sleeping with your head elevated after oral surgery is couched in what's known as Inclined Bed Therapy (IBT) an alternative treatment regimen being explored to aid recovery from a wide range of illnesses, including heart conditions, congestion problems, sleep apnea, etc.
Why Sleep on an Incline After Oral Surgery?
With your head raised slightly while sleeping, your breathing passages will open up to allow for optimal breathing and your body will be able to drain out more excessive fluid from the site of the surgery. If you lie flat on your back, your swelling and bleeding gums might take longer to heal due to the protracted presence of these fluids. You might even risk losing the blood clot and restarting the bleeding and swelling if you continue lying in this position for longer.
If you're not used to sleeping on an incline, you might want to trade the discomfort of lying in a new position to that of enduring bleeding gums and pains for longer than necessary. You only need to adopt the inclined sleeping position for just a few days or probably a week after the surgery to allow the blood clot to go full bloom.
Use pillows to raise the upper parts of your body, including your head at 45 degrees. You should also avoid sleeping on slippery surfaces like leather, where it can be difficult to maintain your inclined position while sleeping. If your post-op discomforts and swelling persists for longer than a few days, you need to seek out our doctors as soon as possible to get more effective remedies.
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Self-care is critical to your recovery from oral surgery, and one of the most important post-op self-care factors is how you sleep. Your body's natural healing mechanisms kick into higher gears while you're resting, but sleeping in the wrong position can actually derail your recovery efforts. Your lying position can determine how quickly you can get a grip on bleeding and swollen gums and other discomforts resulting from your oral surgery. For instance, lying on your back may reduce blood flow to the area of the surgery, limiting the amount of nutrients and other resources needed to facilitate natural healing in those areas. 
