Dental implants give patients a second lease at having complete dentures that feel like real teeth. These titanium-based implants are fully grafted on your jawbone, ensuring you can chew food without worrying it would get loose.
Post-operation and within the succeeding days, you must properly take care of your dental implants.
Dental implants with proper care can last for a lifetime. You can extend its lifespan and performance, just like real teeth. It wouldn’t suffer from severe damage within its first few decades.
Here are seven proper ways to take care of your teeth.
Perform Immediate Aftercare
You must do a few important things post-operation to ensure your dental implants and yourself are safe. Patients should expect to feel some pain and swelling during the next few days. To relieve yourself from pain, you should avoid moving around too much within the first 8-12 hours. Prepare an ice pack before the operation and use it every 15 minutes after the operation to reduce the swelling effectively. Take all the dentist’s prescriptions on schedule and avoid rinsing your mouth.
Use Soft Nylon Brushes
Dental implants will feel tender and painful to the touch. Your dentist might prescribe some soft nylon brushes. These will allow you to clean your teeth and reduce the pain you can feel doing it. Soft nylon brushes are more pliable and gentle to your gums. In case the prescribed soft nylon brush still feels painful, consider consulting with your medical professional to find alternatives.
No Abrasive Products
Abrasive products can be extremely painful to your dental implants. They may clean your teeth effectively, but they will cause great discomfort to a freshly-attached implant. It may also affect your dental implant’s healing progress or sometimes derail it. We strongly recommend avoiding over-the-counter strong mint toothpaste and mouthwash. Instead, ask your medical professional for sensitive oral cleaners to ensure your dental implants won’t hurt or feel painful.
Daily Flossing
Keep your dental implants healthy and contaminant-free by flossing daily alongside your brushing schedule. Most people do not floss because it’s a tedious process or feel that brushing their teeth is already enough. However, flossing is necessary. It can remove plaque that builds up around your implants and prevents oral hygiene issues that brushing can’t solve.
To make it a habit, don’t forget about flossing by using technology and other means to remind yourself. For example, you can set a phone reminder or bring floss in your vehicle or traveling bag.
No Sticky and Hard Foods
Sticky and hard foods can be delicious, but they can damage your implants. Sticky food can dislodge and misalign your implants. On the other hand, hard foods can dig your fresh implants into your jawbone, misaligning them and causing severe pain. They’re not worth eating if they cause great pain or cause problems for your implants.
Hard candies, hardshell tacos, ice, caramel, steak, and apples shouldn’t be part of your diet for the first few weeks and months as your mouth recovers from your dental implants.
No Smoking and Alcohol
Smoking and alcohol cause detrimental issues for your health, and that includes your dental implants. They can slow down your dental implant’s healing progress and endanger it with infections. Smoke has many dangerous chemicals that can enter the implant. In some cases, it can cause healing issues or extreme pain. Not consuming them should keep your dental implants healing consistently.
Fulfill Your Regular Dentist Visits
Your dentist will want to observe your dental implant’s healing progress and alignment. They can tell you if everything is looking as it should be. Fulfilling your regular dentist visits allows you to ask dentists about specific pains and issues you might have felt during the healing process post-operation.
