Dental implants in Rugby · the honest guide
Do dental implants hurt? What it actually feels like, day by day
Written by Dr Savan Zala, implant dentist at Rugby Smiles (BDS, MFGDP RCSEng, MSc Dental Implants) · Reviewed September 2026
The short answer: the placement itself should not hurt, because it is done under local anaesthetic exactly like a filling or an extraction. The part people notice is day two, when the area feels bruised and tight, and that is managed with ordinary painkillers. By the end of the first week most people have stopped thinking about it. If you are frightened of the idea rather than the sensation, sedation exists for exactly that.
I place implants at Rugby Smiles, and the question I am asked more than any other is not about cost or how long it lasts. It is whether it hurts. So here is the honest version, in the order you will actually experience it: the appointment, the first night, day two, the first week, and the rare times it does not go to script.
Not sure which route fits? Take the 60-second implant options quiz first.
In the chair: pressure, noise, no pain
Before I start, I tell people the placement is done under local anaesthetic, the same injection you have had for a filling. You will feel pressure and some pushing, and you will hear the drill, but you should not feel pain. If you do, you tell me and we stop and top up. That is the deal, and it is the same deal as an extraction. Most people are surprised how quickly it is over: a straightforward single implant is usually well under an hour in the chair.
If the thought of being awake for it is the problem rather than the sensation, IV sedation is available for £500 a session. You are deeply relaxed, monitored throughout, and most people remember very little afterwards. I place a good share of my implants that way, and for full-arch All-on-4 cases it is the norm rather than the exception.
The first night
The anaesthetic wears off over two to three hours. The best thing you can do is take your first painkillers before it does, eat something soft on the other side, and have an early night with an extra pillow. A little blood-tinged saliva on the pillow is normal. Nothing about the first night should feel dramatic; if it does, ring us.
Day two: the day I warn people about
Day two is the honest peak. The gum has been stitched, the area feels bruised and tight rather than sharp, and there may be some swelling of the cheek. It is an ache you can ignore with a painkiller, not a pain that stops you working. Bruising that appears on the skin a day or two later looks worse than it feels and fades within a week.
What helps most
Paracetamol and ibuprofen at the packet doses, together, for the first two or three days, unless a medical reason rules one out. Cold on the cheek in short spells on day one. Warm salt water rinses from day two, gently.
What to avoid
Rinsing hard or spitting on day one, which disturbs the clot. Hot drinks while numb. Smoking, which slows healing and raises the failure risk more than anything else you control. Poking the site with your tongue, which everyone does anyway.
Back to work
A desk job the next day is realistic for most people. A physical job is better left two or three days. Anyone who had a graft or several implants placed should plan for the longer end.
Days three to seven
By day three it is already easing. By the end of the first week most people have forgotten about it apart from the stitches, which we check at around two weeks and either remove or leave to dissolve. From then on the implant is quietly fusing with the bone for a few months, and you will not feel that happening at all.
When it does not go to script
Occasionally somebody has more discomfort than expected, and there is usually a reason: a difficult extraction on the same day, a bone graft, or painkillers stopped too early. Those are the cases I want to hear from, because a quick review fixes most of them. The signs that mean ring us today rather than wait are pain that gets worse after day three instead of better, swelling that spreads, a bad taste that does not clear, or an implant that feels loose. All are uncommon and all are easier to sort early.
“I would rather take ten calls that turn out to be normal healing than miss the one that is not.”
Dr Savan Zala, implant dentist at Rugby Smiles
The crown appointment and after
Fitting the crown months later does not hurt at all; there is no injection for most people, just a screw or a cement and a bite check. After that an implant should feel like a tooth you do not think about. The thing that protects it long term is the same thing that protects your own teeth: cleaning between it and its neighbours every day and seeing the hygienist, which here is £92 with Airflow. Everything above is planned and priced at a free consultation with a 3D scan; the whole picture is on our dental implants in Rugby page and the implant cost guide.
Questions people ask
Does getting a dental implant hurt more than an extraction?
For most people it is similar or slightly less, because the site is planned rather than pulled. Both are done under local anaesthetic and both have a bruised day two.
How long is the pain after a dental implant?
Two to three days of an ache controlled by paracetamol and ibuprofen, easing from day three. Most people are back to normal by the end of the first week.
Can I be asleep for a dental implant?
You can have IV sedation, £500 a session, which makes you deeply relaxed and leaves very little memory of the appointment. It is not a general anaesthetic, which is part of why it is safe to do in the practice.
Do bone grafts hurt?
A graft at the time of placement adds some swelling and a longer bruised phase, usually a few extra days, rather than a different kind of pain. A graft is £400 and is planned from the scan, never a surprise on the day.
Can I drive home after implant surgery?
After local anaesthetic alone, yes. After sedation, no: you need an adult to take you home and stay with you, and no driving for 24 hours.
What if it still hurts after a week?
Ring us. Pain that is getting worse rather than better after day three needs looking at, and a quick review sorts nearly all of it.
The scan tells us what your mouth needs. The conversation tells you what it will feel like.
The free implant consultation is a conversation and a 3D scan, nothing done to you on the day: your options, whether grafting is needed, and a written price before anything is booked. Nervous? Tell us, and we will build sedation into the plan.
Read next: how long implants take · can implants fail? · am I suitable? · dental implants in Rugby · Rugby Smiles Dental Clinic · 3 Newbold Road, Rugby CV21 2LQ · 01788 579 577