Dental Implant Maintenance: How to Ensure Long-Lasting Results?

Dental implants remain the #1 solution recommended by dentists to replace your missing teeth permanently. Implants are the sole restorative solution that helps replace a lost or damaged tooth entirely from its roots to the crown.

You will love dental implants as replacements for your missing teeth because they are created to appear, feel, and function like your natural missing teeth. In addition, minimal maintenance besides cleaning and caring for dental implants makes it comfortable to maintain them, similar to your natural teeth.

Do not consider the term ‘minimal’ implying they don’t need attention because the ease of caring for them shouldn’t make you ignore dental implant care instructions. You must continue maintaining excellent dental hygiene without skipping the minutest detail to ensure the implants remain with you for life.

How to extend the longevity of dental implants?

If you want to extend dental implant longevity, it helps if you follow the advice provided by our dentist near you on how to maintain dental implants for optimal results. For example, your dentist would have provided the following instructions to help extend the longevity of dental implants. They are:

• Brush your teeth twice daily with a soft-bristled toothbrush and nonabrasive toothpaste.
• Floss daily with an unwaxed floss or use a water flosser.
• Keep nylon-coated interdental brushes on for cleaning your teeth on hand.
• Avoid detrimental habits and visit your dentist for oral prophylaxis every six months.

You may think you had been doing everything mentioned before getting dental implants and wonder why you must spend extra time maintaining dental implant health. If you feel as we believe, we request that you continue reading this article to learn why you must follow the tips and the consequences of not doing so.

Why do Dental Implants Need Additional Care?

Durable materials like biocompatible titanium and porcelain help make dental implants and artificial teeth invulnerable to decay, similar to natural teeth. Unfortunately, it doesn’t indicate they are invincible.

The dental implant embedded in your jawbone and the dental crown mounted atop it can sustain damage by improper care. For example, using abrasive products can result in corrosion of the titanium post and weaken the crown.

Dental implants and crowns don’t attract tooth decay, but the surrounding gum tissue remains vulnerable to gum disease. Dental plaque accumulating on your natural and implanted teeth enables harmful bacteria to grow beneath your gum line and can result in gum disease. This inflammatory infection can severely impact your artificial teeth. Gum disease, when left untreated, silently progresses to periodontitis and peri-implantitis, resulting in implant failure, bone loss, removal of dental implants, additional dental procedures, and adversely affecting your neighbouring teeth.

Your dentist emphasizes the tips mentioned above are essential to ensuring long-lasting dental implant results if you don’t want to become a victim of the consequences listed and avoid going through an intensive procedure at considerable costs and discomfort so that you maintain your implants as best as possible to enjoy its excellent results.

Dental Implant Care Explained

We have provided tips to maintain your dental implants. Below we explain how to proceed with the information when maintaining dental implants.

When brushing your teeth twice daily, ensure that you clean your teeth from all angles of the restoration without adopting aggressive techniques because brushing aggressively can cause your gums to recede. You must also exercise caution with the tools you use to clean your teeth, ensuring you follow your dentist’s instructions of using a soft-bristled toothbrush that suits your needs.

Investing in nonabrasive toothpaste can help your dental implant and the crown besides your natural teeth by enabling you to keep your enamel durable. However, do not consider using whitening toothpaste to clean teeth because most contain nonabrasive ingredients harmful to your implanted teeth.

Although dental implants near you remain in your jawbone for life, the dental crowns visible in your mouth can sustain damage if you indulge in detrimental habits like chewing ice, pens, and pencils or avoid wearing night guards if you grind and clench your teeth.

Dental implants represent restorations providing artificial teeth but need similar care to your natural dentition. Therefore you must visit our dentist for dental exams and cleanings every six months to enable the dentist to keep an eye on your gum health and the condition of the implants. The visits to your dentist at six monthly intervals will ensure dental implants in Ancaster, ON, remain in your jaw for as long as possible.

What Is the Lifespan of Dental Implants?

The longevity of dental implants depends on how well you care for them. You can have the placement in your jaw for a few years or your life. However, efforts are needed to make your artificial restorations permanent by following the tips suggested in this article for optimal results.

Ancaster Family Dentistry provides dental implants to many people with missing teeth, emphasizing dental implant maintenance when patients invest in a lifelong solution. Consult them today if you have missing teeth and want a permanent replacement solution with comprehensive instructions on caring for them to restore your mouth functionality.