Patient Care & Post-Operative Management Flashcards
7 cards from real CIT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Patient Care & Post-Operative Management flashcards as text
A patient calls reporting that the healing abutment came off during eating 3 weeks post-implant placement. The BEST advice is:
Answer: Advise the patient to come in promptly so the abutment can be re-seated and torqued
A dislodged healing abutment can allow soft tissue to collapse into the implant well; prompt re-seating prevents loss of the restorative space.
Post-operative bleeding that persists beyond 1 hour after implant surgery despite pressure should be managed by:
Answer: Contacting the surgeon for evaluation and possible re-suturing or hemostatic agents
Prolonged bleeding beyond 1 hour suggests inadequate hemostasis and requires clinical intervention such as additional sutures, electrocautery, or topical hemostatics.
Which of the following best describes the purpose of a post-operative suture placed at an implant site?
Answer: To approximate wound margins, support clot formation, and reduce dead space
Sutures realign the mucoperiosteal flap edges, stabilize the blood clot, and minimize the dead space where hematoma could form.
A patient presents with peri-implant mucositis 6 months post-restoration. Which distinguishes this from peri-implantitis?
Answer: Mucositis involves bleeding on probing but no radiographic bone loss
Peri-implant mucositis is confined to soft tissue inflammation without bone loss, whereas peri-implantitis involves progressive crestal bone resorption visible on radiographs.
When reviewing a patient's post-operative medications, which drug interaction poses the greatest concern for an implant patient taking NSAIDs?
Answer: NSAIDs combined with anticoagulants such as warfarin, increasing bleeding risk
NSAIDs inhibit platelet aggregation and can potentiate the anticoagulant effect of warfarin, significantly increasing the risk of post-surgical hemorrhage.
Which documentation element is MOST critical to record in the post-operative patient chart after each follow-up visit?
Answer: Clinical findings including tissue color, probing depths, and any reported symptoms
Systematic clinical documentation of soft tissue status, probing depths, and patient-reported symptoms creates a baseline for detecting peri-implant disease progression.
A patient with a history of radiation therapy to the head and neck region presents for post-implant follow-up. The technician should be most vigilant for:
Answer: Osteoradionecrosis due to impaired bone vascularity
Radiation damages the microvasculature of jaw bone, severely impairing its ability to heal and increasing the risk of osteoradionecrosis after surgical trauma.