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.

The link between Bruxism and Dental Implants

Implant Dentistry is the next big thing in the modern dental world. Dental implants are the ideal choice to replace a missing adult tooth because of their exact match of the real tooth and restoring a real tooth's functionalities like biting and chewing force, speech, etc. Besides these, the implant teeth are firmly anchored with the underlying jaw bone. Likewise, the implants can be used with other restoration appliances like dentures and bridges.

Even though the teeth implants are not natural, they are also prone to certain complications which put the real teeth at risk. The habit of Bruxism will deteriorate the implant teeth as well as the natural teeth.

What is Bruxism?

Bruxism is a movement disorder of the stomatognathic system which is identified with the grinding, clenching of the teeth when a person sleeps and wakefulness. It might occur because of excessive stress or depression.

Whether the cause is, frequent grinding of teeth will leave you with complications like wear down of enamel, weakening jaw bone, etc. Similarly, it will influence the implant dentistry treatments and fake teeth fixed with implants.

In this post, you can come to know how bruxism affects dental implants, explained by Dr.Sendhilnathan, an eminent implantologist in Chennai.

Problems caused by Bruxism on Teeth Implants

1)    Affects Osseointegration

When an implant is fixed, the tissues present in the jaw bone and gum tissues should integrate with the metal post. This process is known as Osseointegration which will take a few months. Teeth grinding will extend the healing period and prolong the process of implant fusing with the jaw bone.

In such cases, the chances are higher for the tooth implants to mobilize. It obstructs the amalgamation of the implant with the bone and leads to implant failure.

2)    Implant Fatigue Fractures

The prosthetic appliance like crowns, bridges and dentures which mimic the shape and structure of a natural tooth have a fatigue curve. Such curves can endure a sufficient force magnitude for a certain time. If it encounters an intense force or force with minimum magnitude repeatedly or a prolonged time, it will cause cracks over the prosthetic appliance or false teeth.

3)    Loosen the implant components

The stress applied on the implant teeth for a prolonged time will cause implant overload. This is the main reason behind the loosening of implants, loosening of the prosthesis and abutment screw (which adjoins the implant and tooth-like substance placed) loosening.

Effects on Treatment planning

It is quite complicated to fix dental implants to a bruxing patient when compared to a person who does not grind his/her teeth. The habit is effective to influence the treatment preparations as described below:

1)    Implant Design

In general, the metallic cylinder implant posts should be wider in order to get a wider root for better contact with bone. Likewise, the implants are fixed with minimum length. If an excess of force is applied over the implant post due to clenching teeth, it will push the metal post to increase the width by 1 mm or more for better placement and reduce strain in the cordial bone.

2)    Prosthesis Design

The prosthetic appliances are designed in the manner of distributing the stress on implants. The contact between the teeth on the upper and lower jaw should be minimum to prevent cracks on the prosthesis. Hence the occlusal surfaces need to be reduced.

Conclusion

It is not a new thing to reveal that bruxism also known as teeth grinding will affect your dental health by weakening the jaw bone, lead to gum recession, tooth loss and other dental discomforts. This habit is powerful to wreck the teeth fixed with implants.

Wearing occlusal guards and night guards over the teeth will help the bruxing persons to avert this habit. We recommend the people who have the habit of grinding their teeth to consult their Dentist.