5 Post care instructions to care for your implant teeth

The artificial teeth fixed with dental implants also need care and cleaning like the natural teeth. Even though they are the artificial teeth that are placed with titanium posts, the gum tissues around the implants are vulnerable to infection. Plaque on the implant teeth also occurs with poor implant care and leads to serious infectious conditions over implants called Mucositis and Peri-Implantitis.

The dental implants patients are advised with the necessary aftercare instructions for the longevity of the teeth fixed. This post focuses on such post-op care actions recommended by the dental implant surgeons.

Aftercare instructions for the teeth implants

Whether you fix the implants to restore a single tooth or entire set of the jaw teeth, the surgical site should not be touched for a few days. Likewise, the patient should not smoke for a few days following the surgery. 

This is recommended because smoking and touching the gum with bare hands will taint the treated region and affects healing. The healing process involves a new bone developed around the implant post that assures the success rates of implants.

Once the bone is developed that makes the implant interacts well with the jaw bone, the following actions will help you to extend the implant's durability:

1) Clean the implant teeth 

Effective brushing and cleaning are mandatory to get the implant fixed teeth free from stains and bacterial infection. The following appliances are highly helpful in clean the implants at home:

• Toothbrush – While cleaning toothbrush, don't prefer hard-bristled brushes as they may abrade the fake teeth implanted. Likewise, don't use abrasive toothpaste to clean implants. Get a soft-bristled toothbrush or nylon coated interdental brushes or electric toothbrush for implants.  

• Flossing Wire – Flossing is also indispensable for the well-being of the fixed implants. The tiny spaces around the implants and the teeth should be excluded. Flossing wire helps you to clean such minute gaps.

• Water Flossers – Water flossers have a tip which projects the flow of water with force. When the flow of water irrigates over the teeth and implant teeth, the chances are higher for loosening of the dental calculus around the implant tooth.

• Gum Stimulators – The appliance is provided with a handle and a rubber tip which helps in massaging the gums.  Such massaging streamlines the blood flow inside the gums which in turn reduces bleeding and inflammation.

2) Take soft foods

Chewing hard, crunchy and sticky food items with the implant teeth are really bad for the implant teeth. It is because the intense pressure exerted on the implant will lead to leakage or compromise the implant teeth structure. Hence it is better to switch to soft foods for the betterment of implant teeth.

3) Avoid Tobacco and Alcohol

Smoking cigarette is vulnerable to the health of the implants fixed. Tobacco and other chemical substances in cigarette introduce toxic agents in the gum surfaces around the implants. Likewise, alcohol also affects the implants in the same manner. 

Besides stains, the harmful products exposed to the gum surfaces via tobacco and alcohol will deteriorate the bone formed and weakened the tooth implant fixed.

4) Take plaque disclosing tablets

It is quite harder to analyze the areas on teeth surfaces where plaque is forming. If you take plaque disclosing tablets, they will stain or discolor the regions where the dental calculus is present. Then you can clean and loosen the plaque with the help of teeth cleaning appliances, 

5) Prefer Professional dental implant cleaning

Besides home care actions, Professional maintenance is also essential for the artificial teeth fixed. Visit your dentist who fixed the implant teeth at regular intervals for check-ups. If he/she recommend the dental office implant cleaning, then go for it.

To keep your implant teeth far away from the bacterial invasions, effective oral hygiene actions in the home and Professional care are needed. 

To know more about the implant teeth post-care tips, contact our Dental clinic in Mogappair Chennai.

How does smoking affect dental implants?

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for our health. The oral region with which the tobacco products are inhaled is highly vulnerable to serious infections and diseases. Do you know cigarettes and other tobacco products will affect the false teeth fixed with implants?

Dental implant is the widely used missing teeth replacement solution. Teeth fixed with implants are highly durable and assures 90% of success rates. An implant replaces the missing tooth root and requires ample support from the jaw bone. An implant tooth should be surrounded by healthy jaw bone and gum tissues to stand rigidly. Smoking is powerful to loosen the implants and fall out. 

How smoking is related to implant failure?  The facts are explained by Dr. Sendhilnathan an expert implantologist in Chennai.

1)Smoking shortens the blood flow

Nicotine is the chemical compound present in cigarettes. It can constrict the blood vessels present in mouth and skin. This results in the oral regions do not get sufficient blood supply and antibodies carried by the blood. When the implants are fixed, the implant site is injured because of the surgery. During the healing process, the implant gets fused with the jaw bone.

In contrast, smoking prolongs the healing period. The chances are higher for bacterial accumulation in the surgical site during healing. Bacteria's entry in the implant region interferes the bonding of the implant with the jaw bone. It ends in the false tooth falls down within a short period after implantation.

2)Affects Salivary Glands

Smoking cigarette and consuming tobacco in any form will affect the salivary glands. It results in less production of saliva.

Apart from keeping the moist condition of our mouth, saliva plays a dominant role in excluding the bacteria and other harmful microorganisms in our mouth. If there is a lack of salivary production, it will end up in the dry mouth which is taken advantage by the oral bacteria and cause various oral complications including gum diseases.

Remember that gum diseases like Gingivitis and Periodontitis have the same effect on dental implants like natural teeth. It weakens the bone with the implants and leads to implant failure.

3)Peri-Implantitis

Teeth implants are highly prone to an infectious disease called peri-implantitis. It causes inflammation in the gum tissues and loosen the osseointegrated bone followed by the bone loss and ends in the tooth implants fall out.

As the implants do not have the ligaments possessed by a natural tooth, when an implanted tooth is infected with the infectious disease, it will become easily loosened. 

Dentists say that infectious disease has been caused by oral bacteria. If you are a smoker, then you are highly vulnerable to peri-implantitis.

Conclusion

The durability of implant teeth depends upon how you take care of it. Apart from keeping the fake teeth clean with dental hygiene, you have to skip things that are harmful to the implants. Cigarettes and tobacco products are the prime things to avoid after fixing implants.

If you cannot abstain this habit, at last try to lower the consumption. But you should not smoke for a week before fixing implants. Similarly, avoiding smoking for one week after fixing dental implants is also important. If you smoke immediately following the implantation, bacterial accumulation over the site may occur and leads to further complications.

Have queries on dental implants? Contact the best dental implant centre in Chennai.