Over the years, your smile has endured many hardships. You’ve ultimately lost teeth, but you have replaced them with dental implants, the next best thing to real dentition. You’ve come so far and been through so much; do you really want to experience failure now?
Fortunately, dental implants come with a 95 percent success rate, which means the odds are in your favor, but that does leave a 5 percent chance that they won’t work out. How can you keep this negative outcome from happening? Do these five things!
Be Open with Your Dentist
Believe it or not, the success of your dental implants can begin before you even receive them. During your consultation with your dentist, you need to share your medical and dental history, as well as any current conditions and medications. Based on this information and a thorough examination, your dentist can determine whether preliminary procedures, such as bone graft or sinus life, can increase the odds of success for you.
Practice Diligent Oral Hygiene
Your prosthetic teeth can’t get cavities, but your gum tissue can still become infected, putting your replacements at risk of failure. Fortunately, the simple habits of brushing and flossing your teeth every day go a long way to preserving your restored smile.
Visit the Dentist Often
Complications for dental implants typically don’t happen overnight, but they can develop in a short amount of time, which is why regular checkups with the dentist are necessary. During these frequent visits, your dentist can spot early signs of infection and then steer your smile back on track.
Eat Nutritious Foods
Did you know that the types of foods you have can also impact bacterial growth in your mouth? Sugar, for instance, fuels the strain that can lead to infection and implant failure. On the other hand, plenty of nutritious foods, like leafy greens, peppers, and more, can help your body fight inflammation. Others, such carrots, pears, apples, broccoli, and cucumbers, either have high water content or cause your mouth to salivate, which can reduce the impact of bad oral bacteria. Simply put, a balanced diet can help keep your oral microbiome under control.
Quit Smoking or Vaping
Smoking and vaping have long been shown to increase the risk of oral infection and can endanger your implants. Quitting may be a challenge, but keeping your replacement teeth—not to mention gaining all the other health benefits—will make the effort well worthwhile.
Ultimately, although dental implants are widely successful, you can’t get complacent or take them for granted. Your smile has been through enough—you can’t fail now! If you do these things, however, you should be able to enjoy your dental implants for decades.
About the Practice
With four highly trained dentists on staff, D&G Dental of West Orange takes advantage of cutting-edge technology for dental implants, including laser-guided placement. We handle every step of the process in-house, which means you don’t have to waste time working with a specialist elsewhere. If you are interested in learning more about dental implants, you can take advantage of a free implant consultation by calling our West Orange office at 973-731-2200 or contacting us online here.