3 Ways To Mistreat Your Dental Implants
Getting new dental implants is a great solution to missing teeth as your implants become a permanent fixture in your mouth. It is important that you take care of your mouth and gums as they heal after surgery. Here are three examples of what you should not do after you have dental implant surgery.
Slack on Your Post-Surgery Care
It is important to care for your dental implants after your surgery. During this time your jawbones and the dental implants are being joined together and your mouth has a lot of healing to do. Your oral surgeon will give you a list of things you should do and should not do, and it is important to follow every recommendation.
You need to take your full round of any antibiotics your oral surgeon has prescribed. Antibiotics after surgery are used to help fight off any infection and keep any potential infections at bay.
Use any mouthwash your oral surgeon tells you to use so that you can keep your implant's sites clean and free of bacteria. Because it is hard to clean your implants with a toothbrush for the first few weeks, you should do all you can to keep your teeth and gums clean.
Only eat the types of soft foods that your oral surgeon recommends for the first week after your implant surgery. Avoid hard or chewy foods such as apples, popcorn, nuts, and anything else that could bump or apply unnecessary pressure on your implants.
During the first three to six months your implant screw is being fusing to the bone in your jaw. It is a good idea to avoid eating extra-hard foods during this period. Talk to your oral surgeon about an appropriate time frame after your surgery to avoid extra-hard foods.
Don't Keep Your Implants Clean
As soon as your implant screws are placed inside your gums and jawbone, you have the chance of getting an infection inside the implant site and under your gums.
As your implants heal, your gums begin to adhere to the side of your implants, just as your gums naturally attach to your natural teeth. If any type of food particles get wedged down inside the space between your gums and your implants, they can cause an infection. Food particles can irritate your gums and bring in bacteria that results in an infection.
If you don't regularly clean your implants daily by flossing, brushing, or using a mouthwash, a layer of bacterial film will accumulate on your teeth. This layer of bacteria will cause your gums to become inflamed from gingivitis. Inflamed gums will pull away from your dental implants, allowing food particles to be wedged down inside the gap. This will cause further inflammation and bacteria growth.
It is important that you take good care of your new dental implants and your gums. If an infection in your gums gets bad enough, it will turn into an abscess. An abscess can cause bone loss in your jaw, causing to your implant to fall out as they have nothing to hold them in place.
If you do encounter any stuck food particles between your dental implants and your gums, notify your oral surgeon or dentist immediately to have them cleaned out.
Smoke Cigarettes
Smoking after surgery or during the period of osseointegration when the dental implant fuses to bone, can be detrimental to your healing. If you are a smoker and do not stop smoking for the implant surgery and recovery, your surgery site will take much longer to heal. The chemicals in cigarettes can slow your body's ability to heal itself.
By smoking during your healing period, you are putting yourself at risk of infection. A small post-surgery infection can grow larger, instead of healing.
It is best to follow all the rules your oral surgeon from a site like http://www.drwgielincki.com/ gives you to help your gums and bone heal properly after an implant surgery.