How to Take Care of Your Dental Implants

While the average dental implant cost varies, depending on each patient's unique treatment needs, treatment plan, goals, and dental insurance policy, treatment with dental implants can require a fairly significant investment of time and resources. That's why our team at Loftus Dental always strives to ensure successful, long-term treatment outcomes with the most advanced, science-backed treatment tools, techniques, and equipment. In addition to the role we play in our patients' treatment success, you can also help to support your own positive treatment outcome by taking good care of your dental implants and implant-supported restorations. 

What Can Harm Your Dental Implants?

Dental implants are designed to last a lifetime. However, there are some things that can harm them and compromise their stability, such as injuries and periodontal disease. 

Injuries

Injuries that impact the face, mouth, or jawbone can compromise your dental implants. So, it is important to always protect your face during potentially risky activities, such as athletic activities with sticks, balls, impacts, or fall potential.

Periodontal Disease

Advanced periodontal disease (gum disease) is characterized by a bacterial infection of the gums, gingival pockets, periodontal ligaments, and jawbone. The infection can lead to bone degeneration, and if periodontal disease spreads to the jawbone around a dental implant, it can compromise the dental implant's stability and fusion with the jawbone. 

Protecting Your Investment: Ensuring Long-Term Implant Success With Proper Dental Implant Care

Protective Gear

Always wear the proper protective gear during athletic activities. Additionally, we recommend wearing a custom-designed mouthguard to help protect your dental implants, dental restorations, jawbone, and natural teeth. 

Practice Good Oral Hygiene

To prevent periodontal disease, you must practice good oral hygiene. Floss your teeth at least once a day and brush twice a day for at least two minutes (30 seconds per quadrant). Additionally, we recommend that individuals with dental implants and implant-supported restorations upgrade their oral hygiene tools. We recommend using:

• A high-quality, electric toothbrush (one with sonic vibrations, not just a rotating head).
• A water flosser to clean more thoroughly around their dental implants and around and under their dental restorations. A water flosser will flush out bacteria, plaque, and other debris from areas your regular floss can't reach.

Don't Use Tobacco

Tobacco use, especially smoking, can increase your risk of gum disease, hinder your immune system, and cause gum recession. All of these issues can put your dental implants at risk. 

Be Mindful of Your Dietary Choices

While one of the benefits of plant-supported dental restorations is the ability to eat anything you want, we recommend that you avoid chewing on anything especially hard, such as ice, hard candy, or objects like pens, as these could put your restorations at risk of becoming chipped, fractured, or loosened. 

Additionally, we recommend limiting highly pigmented foods and beverages to reduce the potential for staining or discoloration of your dental restorations. 

Continue Visiting the Dentist

No matter how many natural teeth remain in your mouth, you should still continue visiting the dentist at least every six months (or more frequently if necessary) for professional cleanings and routine examinations. These frequent visits are primarily designed to prevent oral health problems from occurring. However, they also ensure that our dentists are able to detect, diagnose, and address any oral health problems that do arise before they have the opportunity to cause significant damage or compromise your dental implants. 

Maintaining Implants: When to See the Dentist

We recommend visiting the dentist at least every six months for regular dental examinations and dental implant monitoring. However, we recommend visiting us sooner if you notice or experience any of the following issues:

• Chipped or broken implant-supported dental restoration
• Stained or discolored implant-supported dental restoration
• Loose or lost dental restoration

Additionally, you should visit the dentist right away if you experience any signs or symptoms of gum disease, such as:

• Red or swollen gum tissues
• Gums that bleed easily
• Receding gums
• Tooth pain or sensitive teeth
• Persistent bad breath
• Pus between the teeth or in the gingival pockets
• Loose teeth
• Bite changes

Professional Dental Implant Maintenance and Restoration

At Loftus Dental, we provide complete dental implant care, including maintenance and restoration. Whether you are experiencing an issue with your implant-supported dental restoration or are concerned that your dental implant anchor might be compromised, we will be here to support you, restore your dental implant, and ensure you enjoy long-lasting treatment and investment in your health that pays off for the rest of your life. 

From Consultation to Completion: Dental Implants in Rapid City

Patients of Loftus Dental enjoy complete, comprehensive dental implant care under one roof. From consultation to completion and ongoing maintenance, we work with patients to provide personalized treatment plans designed to restore the form, function, health, and beauty of their smiles. To learn more about dental implants or to request an appointment with one of our experienced dentists, we welcome you to contact our dental office in Rapid City today.