How To Prevent Common Dental Implant Complications

Dental implants are successful over 98% of the time, which makes them almost perfect. However, you can easily fall in the 2% fails if you don't take care of your oral health in the days following your surgery. In particular, do these three things to avoid dental implant failure:                                                                                      

Stop Smoking

By now most people know that smoking has been linked to different forms of cancer. However, few smokers know that smoking also affects different aspects of their oral health. For example, smoking interferes with saliva production, and inadequate saliva production causes dry mouth syndrome and its associated effects, such as increased risk of gum disease.

Secondly, the numerous chemicals in tobacco (and there are hundreds of them) constrict the blood vessels in the mouth, delaying healing and interfering with the integration of the implant to the body. This is why dentists advise dental implant candidates to stop smoking. If you didn't stop smoking before your treatment, do it after getting the implant. If you did stop smoking, just continue avoiding it for the sake of your health.

Maintain Perfect Oral Hygiene

Getting an oral infection at any time is bad; getting an infection soon after getting a dental implant is terrible on so many levels. For example, an oral infection will delay your dental implant healing as well as its integration with the natural bone. Secondly, an infection that affects the bones around the implant may degrade the bone and prevent the implant from integrating with the bone, leading to implant failure. Therefore, brush and floss your teeth religiously to speed up your dental implant's healing.

Avoid Strenuous Physical Activities

Your dentist will advise you to avoid strenuous physical activity in the few days following your dental implant surgery, and you should heed this advice. Straining yourself physically will interfere with the healing site by increasing your bleeding and swelling. That would be unfortunate because the first few days after surgery have a long-term effect on the success of the implant. Anything that interferes with the implant in these first few days can lead to implant failure. Therefore, don't hit the gym, carry heavy things or strain yourself in any way as advised by your dentist.

Hopefully, you won't have any problems with your dental implant and they will serve you for the rest of your life. However, developing complications doesn't mean that your implant treatment is over. Consult your dentist for advice on how the implants can be restored. Click here to continue reading more about dental implants and restoration.