What to Expect on Smile-In-A-Day™ Surgery Day: A Real Timeline
An hour-by-hour walkthrough of a Bauer Smile-In-A-Day™ procedure — from your morning arrival to the moment you see your new teeth in the mirror — written for the person who wants to know exactly what they're walking into.
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The day of surgery is the day patients have been imagining, sometimes for years. Most arrive a little quiet, a little anxious, and a little ready. By late afternoon, they've stopped imagining and started experiencing — and the day looks very different from the inside than it did from the outside.
Here is what actually happens, hour by hour, on a Smile-In-A-Day™ surgery day at Bauer.
Morning: arrival and final imaging#
You'll arrive in the morning, usually around 8am. The first hour is paperwork-light and people-heavy. We greet you, settle you into the surgical operatory, take final pre-surgical imaging if needed, review the plan one more time, and place the IV for sedation.
What you'll feel: alert, possibly nervous, possibly hungry (no eating before surgery). The team is intentionally calm — we've done this conversation many times, and we want it to feel like the routine that it is for us, even if it's once-in-a-lifetime for you.
The clinician who will perform your surgery will sit with you, walk through the day's sequence, and answer any last-minute question you've been holding for weeks. There is no version of this day where you go under without that conversation.
Mid-morning: sedation and the surgical phase#
Once you're comfortable, IV sedation begins. Most patients describe the transition as gradual and unalarming — you're talking, you're not, and then you're back in your body and we're telling you it's done. The clinical team works through the surgical placement, extractions if needed, and the immediate denture conversion that will be your fixed temporary teeth.
Total surgical time varies by case, but for most single-arch Smile-In-A-Day procedures we're typically working three to four hours. Double-arch cases run longer.
What you won't feel: pain, the passage of time, or most of the procedure itself. Sedation is a tool we use specifically to give you a calmer experience and a clearer recovery — not a clinical necessity.
Early afternoon: emergence and the temporary fitting#
As sedation lifts, we move to the prosthetic phase. Your fixed temporary teeth — designed and milled in our on-site lab, calibrated to your bite during the surgical phase — get attached to the freshly placed implants. We adjust the bite, polish the edges, check the fit.
This is the moment most patients describe later as the strangest of the day. You're tired, you're a little numb, and you're looking in a mirror at a smile you've been thinking about for years. The reaction is usually quiet. The big reactions tend to come later, in the parking lot, in the car, the next morning over the coffee you're allowed to have once you've eaten.
Late afternoon: discharge and the first 24 hours#
Once we're satisfied with the bite and the look, we walk you and your driver through home-care instructions. You'll receive:
- A clear, printed schedule for the first 48 hours.
- Prescriptions for pain management and an antibiotic.
- A soft-food diet plan for the first two weeks (purees, smoothies, soft pasta — we have a list).
- Direct contact for the on-call clinician for the first week, in case anything feels off.
You'll leave between 3pm and 5pm in most cases. You should not drive — your driver is non-negotiable. You should not plan anything for that evening except getting home, putting your feet up, and eating something soft.
What surprises most patients#
Three things, consistently:
- How much shorter the day feels than they expected. The sedation collapses time; most patients describe the surgical hours as "twenty minutes" even when they were four.
- How little post-op pain there is. Bruising and swelling are real for a few days. Sharp pain is rare. Most patients use the prescription option only for the first day or two and switch to over-the-counter from there.
- How fast the new normal arrives. Within a week, patients report eating soft foods comfortably, sleeping normally, and forgetting briefly — and then remembering — that they have a brand-new set of teeth.
Frequently asked questions#
No. Sedation lingers for many hours, and you should plan to be a passenger that day and possibly the next. We require a driver to discharge you. Many patients also bring a second person to manage logistics — pharmacy stop, soft food at home, getting comfortable.
Most patients take 3–7 days off, depending on the type of work. Office work is usually realistic by the end of week one. Physical work or speaking-heavy roles often need closer to two weeks. Plan generously; the recovery is real.
Discomfort, yes. Sharp pain, rarely. We send you home with a clear pain management plan, and most patients report the worst of it being more like "tender and tired" than "painful." If anything escalates, you have direct contact with our on-call clinician.
Three to six months after surgery, once the implants have fully integrated with the bone. The final prosthesis is designed in collaboration with you — shape, color, character — and seated when integration is confirmed. The temporary teeth carry you through that window.
