Having dental implants feels like you’re done with your dental treatment. However, it is also essential to know that it is not the end of the dental procedure. You should take care of your implants just as much as your natural teeth. Taking care of your implant will help your implants survive longer. If you don’t know how to take care of dental implants, don’t worry, this guide is just for you!
Let’s discuss how to take care of dental implants in depth to maintain health and a beautiful smile.
Post-dental implant care advice
Do we have to consider oral hygiene after teeth implants? It is essential most definitely. Post-op treatments follow an oral health care routine for the upcoming few days to help the surgical area to speed up the healing process and secure a successful implant.
There are things you should do and things you should not do to expand the longevity of your dental implants. It includes being hygienic, choice of food, and nicotine intake.
If you want, we have a implant procedure guide waiting for you.
Avoid hard or sticky foods
Your choice of food must be limited for a couple of days because if you eat hard food that needs a lot of chewing like steaks or gummy bears it will cause damage like infectious bacteria or loosen the root of the dental implant.
Soft foods and cold drinks such as pudding, ice cream, soft drinks, and cold water is the way to do it. Having drinks with straws is not recommended. You wouldn’t want any pressure in your mouth, it might disturb the dental surgical area.
Avoid smoking
At every stage of your dental implant journey, there is a healing process. Your gums will be very sensitive for at least two weeks. As smoking slows down your blood circulation, it is not recommended. Smoking not only will delay your healing process but also will increase the risk of infection and gum-related complications. Nicotine intake has a major impact on the lack of stability and bond between the tooth implant which leads to surgical failure.
Change your dental hygiene routine
After implant surgeries, you need to have a daily care routine at home to protect the gum tissues and the surgical implant, therefore you will delay an extra day to visit the doctor.
There are many ways for that to be taken care of, for example, choice of a toothbrush, mouthwash, flossing, and water flossing as well for extra attention to smaller details between the teeth. Let’s dive into each one of them in detail.
Get a soft toothbrush ASAP!
In the early days after dental implant surgery, brushing your teeth with a soft toothbrush will keep your surgical area safe and sound, unlike hard ones. Hard-bristled toothbrushes will cause plenty of issues; the unhealed gums are easy to bleed, and it leads to delays in the bone attaching well with the tissue. You can also use electric toothbrushes as an alternative.
Rinse your mouth properly
It is essential to keep your mouth clean after dental implant surgery. Antibacterial mouthwash is very easy thing and helpful. The best know mouthwash is Listerine, however, it contains alcohol, it is not really recommended as alcohol weakens the bonding agent. You may use alcohol-free mouthwashes that are also antibacterial.
If you want to use natural ways to rinse your mouth, warm salty water is a very effective solution. It speeds up the healing process and kills bacteria, therefore, your surgical area is unlikely to be infected. It also helps if you have swollen or bruised gums after the surgery. If you’re facing gum bleeding after your implant treatment, salty water helps to stop the bleeding.
Floss rocks!
Daily flossing is an excellent habit for you to include in your hygiene routine other than just brushing your teeth. Flossing does more detailed cleaning between teeth and dental implants, like preventing any sort of plaque and tartar.
Dental implants do not get cavities like real teeth but dental floss helps them to be attached firmly and healthily, just make sure not to go deep enough with the flossing to the unhealed tissue gum because it is sensitive and easy to bleed.
Another alternative tool is, interdental flossing, it can smoothly be rubbed between teeth and is very effective in cleaning and staying hygienic.
How about water floss?
Water flossing is a great tool to clean your teeth from every angle, it prevents for debris to clump and removes food leftovers. Water floss is not recommended to use after surgery in two weeks, with the compressed water flow on sensitive gum around the surgical area, which will disturb it and cause damage.
You can safely lean towards rinsing in the early days after dental surgery especially warm water with salt, once you are fully healed and the gum is binding tight and firm around the dental implant, then you are good to work with the water flosser.
Regular dentist visits for my implants
You can have oral hygiene at home like flossing, brushing, and others, visiting your doctor serves more than that.
You may have some symptoms such as foul breath smell if you’re not taking care of your implants properly. Regular dental visits are the best way to figure that out. Generally, the worst mistake is, going to the dentist at the last minute. You need to have regular dental visits twice a year for your dental implant check-up, don’t wait until something goes wrong. Have your mouth scanned to see if there is any infection, bone health, debris, tartar, or plaque, and have all that cleaned up so you will extend the longevity of your dental implants.
What happens if I don’t care about my implants?
The difference between a natural tooth and an artificial tooth is that the real one can develop cavities, but still, lack of hygiene can affect the longevity of the dental implant and put the surrounding gum tissue at risk of diseases and infections. We talked about how to take care of dental implants, now we’ll let’s see what happens if you don’t.
- If you’re eating sugary food and chips: false habits like too much eating sweets or chips can spread decay throughout your mouth and grow bacteria around your dental implants causing them to be loose or damage them.
- If you’re brushing teeth too hard: do not put too much force on the dental implant teeth and gums whilst brushing your teeth, if that kind of brushing technique keeps on going that will damage your gums and bleed.
- If you’re grinding teeth and clenching: do not grind your teeth at all. The habit of tooth grinding will affect the dental implants to slow down the healing process and irritate the dental implant not binding with the jaw bone. Eventually, end up with dental implant failure.
- If you’re chewing ice cubes: avoid crunching ice cubes, it can damage the outer layer of your tooth implant and carve it and worst case scenario crack the dental implant open or loosen it.
References:
https://aosillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Dental-Implants-Post-op-Care-Instructions.pdf
