Dental Implant Maintenance

By R.S. Mayberry, DDS

Mayberry Dental

. https://www.mayberrydental.com/

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Dental Implant Maintenance

Dental implants are the most successful and long lasting dental restoration dentists can use to replace missing or soon to be lost natural teeth, but they can develop problems and must be maintained properly.

Unlike natural teeth that are attached to bone with a ligament, implants are fixed directly to bone and are very solid and do not move. Because they do not move like natural teeth that have some give when chewing, the way they fit against the opposing teeth is critical to long term success.

Part of placement and maintenance is checking the bite and how these implants function with the natural teeth opposing them; this is what dentists call occlusion. If an implanted tooth does not meet in occlusion properly, the implanted tooth becomes traumatized from undue bite forces.

Over stressed implants will result in bone loss which can lead to failure. Often this condition is not painful and many times presents a situation the patient has no awareness.

Regular x-rays of the bone supporting dental implants should be part of an annual checkup usually during one of the recommended cleaning, maintenance appointments, quarterly or semiannually.

One of the greatest advantages of dental implants over natural teeth is they cannot decay like natural teeth, but they should be cleaned daily with dental floss and a toothbrush. Flossing dental implants is not done the same way as natural teeth because they are cylindrical whereas natural teeth have more varied shapes.

When flossing implants, the floss should be wrapped 360 degrees around the implant and the floss is pulled back and forth around the implant from one side removing the dental plaque that will grow on the surface.

When brushing, the tips of the bristles should be located where the implant exits out of the gum tissue and moved as far under the gum tissue as possible to remove the bacterial plaque. The germs that form dental plaque grow in a 24 hour cycle and removal at least once every 24 hours will prevent these germs from infecting the gum tissue around the implants, just like natural teeth.

Dental implants are the greatest advance in modern dentistry today and have given dentists the ability to replace, single and multiple teeth. Removable partials and complete dentures are poor tooth replacements and something implants can remedy.

The success of dental implants is a tremendous improvement in tooth replacement for people, no matter the type of tooth loss encountered and can remain functional for a lifetime when properly placed and maintained.