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3 Tips to Care for Your Dental Implants

23 July 2018 by Lonnie Bryant

Dental implants are a fantastic solution for missing teeth for many people. Strong, durable, and natural-looking, dental implants can last a lifetime. However, like original teeth, they require daily care to stay healthy. Use these tips to care for your dental implants and the gums that support them.

1. Keep Dental Implants Clean

Like your original teeth, dental implants require daily cleaning. Dentists recommend brushing every night and every morning using a soft-bristled brush and a toothpaste that contains fluoride. For best results, hold the brush at a 45 degree angle to your gums and use small circular motions to sweep away pieces of food and dental plaque.

Brushing is a great start, but it's not enough to keep your dental implants completely clean. Plaque can build up between the crowns of your implants and harden into tartar, which causes gum disease. To remove this plaque, floss between and around your implants every day.

2. Quit Smoking

Smoking dramatically raises the risk of your dental implant treatment failing, which can mean that your dentist will need to remove the implants. A study by Spanish researchers showed that the rate of failure of dental implants is 15.8 percent among smokers, compared to just 1.4 percent among non-smokers.

Smoking is dangerous for dental implants because tobacco smoke contains many chemicals that damage the gums supporting the implants. These chemicals are particularly dangerous during the period immediately after dental implant surgery, when the gums need to heal. If you are planning to get dental implants, set a quit date before your surgery to give your implant site the best chance of healing well.

3. Reduce Alcohol Intake

After dental implant surgery, you might want to reward yourself with a cold beer. However, dentists agree that it is important to avoid alcohol for at least 72 hours after getting your dental implants fitted. Even one drink during this initial healing period can put you at risk of avascular necrosis (AVN), which restricts blood flow to bone tissue, causing it to die.

After your implant surgical sites have healed, drinking alcohol is less risky. However, it is still a good idea to limit your consumption. People who drink very heavily can develop AVN even once their dental implants are fully integrated into their jawbone. If you are worried about the amount you drink and the effect it can have on your oral health, ask your dentist for advice, or click here for more information.

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