After recently undergoing dental implant surgery, you may want to do everything you can to help your implant sites heal quicker, as well as keep your implants strong and healthy. However, you also need to know about things you should not do, such as the following two bad habits below.
Chewing On Objects
Whether you mindlessly chew on your fingernails or the eraser on your pencil, chewing on any object could cause damage to your implants. The pressure caused by forcing your teeth to bite down repeatedly could cause the implant post to shift, making your new teeth crooked.
Chewing on things while your implant sites are still healing could also introduce bacteria into the open tissue. Since you may not be aware of where an item has been or what kinds of dirt and germs are under your fingernails, you could be contributing to a possible infection in your gums.
Whenever you find yourself chewing on anything, stop immediately. Then, rinse your mouth with germicidal mouthwash to clear out any bacteria. If you do not have any, mix together a tablespoon of salt with a quarter cup of water, then rinse your mouth with that.
Using Any Tobacco Products
Smoking can be detrimental to your body, and your new dental implants are no exception. Not only do the nicotine and tar in tobacco products stain your new implants, but it can also slow down the healing of your gums around the insertion sites by adversely affecting your immune system.
Tobacco inhibits your body's immunity to germs by stripping it of antioxidants and vitamin C. It also introduces harmful toxins into your blood stream, so your immune system becomes busy trying to rid your body of these harmful substances.
Because the immune system is working overtime doing this, it does not give your healing gums the attention they need to heal quickly and properly. This could lead to extended healing time and could also increase your risk of infection, since your white blood cells are off fighting the toxins introduced by the tobacco products.
Try not to smoke for a couple of days right after your procedure. If you find this impossible, at least cut back, or speak to your dentist about cessation aids that can help you during this critical period of healing.
Either one of the bad habits listed above could make your implant sites heal slower, as well as damage them over time. If you need suggestions on how to stop these habits or have questions about other potentially harmful habits for your dental implants, you may want to discuss your situation with a dentist like Cazes Family Dentistry LLC.
Share5 July 2016
Hi, my name is Kevin Nelson and I want to tell you about my experience. I had a painful tooth so I went to see my dentist. After the examination, he said that I needed to have a root canal to save the tooth. I told the dentist to just pull the tooth instead and then he explained why that wasn't a good idea. He said that pulling the tooth would cause additional problems and then he told me what could happen. I didn't want any more problems, so the dentist did the root canal and I'm glad that he did. I wanted to write a blog to tell others about the benefits of a root canal and what to expect during the procedure. I hope that by getting the word out, other people won't make the same mistake that I almost did by getting a perfectly good tooth pulled.