Your decision to get dental implants from your dentist in Greenville, SC instead of a traditional denture offers many rewards. Besides avoiding the need to remove your denture whenever you eat or brush your teeth, you also get to enjoy meals without worrying about your dentures’ integrity. Additionally, if losing teeth has affected your speech, dental implants can help bring your speech back to normal by filling the gap.
However, keep in mind that these many benefits come at a price. One of the things you will have to do in exchange for all these benefits is ensuring that the implants are always in good shape. You can do this by improving your oral hygiene. This advice may sound simple but in fact, improving your oral habits can be tough. It means your typical brushing and flossing won’t do; you have to take these habits to another level just to make sure that your dental implants are well-maintained.
An article on the Dentistry IQ Network provides tips on how you can take care of your dental implant better:
In order to maximize the longevity of dental implants, the clinician must understand the morphology of the peri-implant mucosa, the attachment between the mucosa and the titanium implant. It comprises the junctional epithelium, about 2 mm high, and the connective tissue zone of greater than or equal to 1 mm in height. This is the zone that protects the osseointegrated surface from environmental factors, such as plaque in the oral cavity. Proper monitoring and maintenance of this zone is essential to the health and longevity of a dental implant.
Post-surgery infection of the gum region surrounding the implant is the most common risk that has to be prevented. This can result from inconsistent brushing and flossing, which leaves foodstuff that can become a breeding ground for infection-causing bacteria. The author urges people with dental implants along with their dentists to take home care, systemic health, and periodontal history into consideration in their oral hygiene.
Apart from infection, the implant or the crown connected to it is also susceptible to breaking when temperatures change quickly. Any experienced Greenville, SC dentist, like Dr. Trey Kenna from Downtown Dental, would discourage constant drinking of beverages that are too hot or too cold to keep the implant and crown from cracking.
Nonetheless, in case the implant is broken due to an accident, make sure to consult with the dentist who installed it. Your dentist can still save your dental implant if the dental office provides implant restoration services. If the implant is already dysfunctional due to its damage, you can ask your dentist if it’s possible to replace it with a new one.
(Source: Hygiene and the implant patient: A preventive perspective, RDHMag.com)
