People who get dental implants tend to research a lot about implant infections and their prevention.
It’s natural to get intimidated by the proliferation of knowledge/prevention strategies online, but the truth is fortunately quite straightforward and simple.
The secret behind healthy implants lies in one simple hack: consistent daily oral hygiene!
See, your implant is an artificial tooth but it’s still connected to the same living tissues (i.e the gums and the jaw) that hold real teeth in place. Hence it’s just as much prone to bacterial invasion as real teeth. Though the implant can’t decay, it can still be infected if attacked by bacteria which usually happens when oral hygiene is compromised.
Daily dental implant cleaning is therefore essential to keeping your implant healthy and long lasting for years to come.
Read this blog to know what daily oral hygiene for dental implants entails and how you can perfect it to ensure your implants last long!
Oral Hygiene And Implant Health: What’s The Connection?
Let’s discuss a bit more about why implant longevity hinges on daily oral hygiene. For this we need to recount the anatomy and physiology of teeth and how implants fit into the picture.
The following happens whenever a lost tooth is replaced with a dental implant:
- The root of the missing tooth is replaced with a dental implant (Titanium/Zirconia post)
- A crown is attached to the implant post
The implant post + crown combination is an intelligent one because it yields a full and comprehensive restoration of the lost tooth, unlike traditional restorations that only restore the visible tooth structure.
It’s a permanent restoration because it’s highly stable and strong (rests on a solid foundation, i.e. the implant) and is independent of your remaining teeth.
However, it’s not independent of your gums and the jawbone, the ‘living’ structures that encapsulate the implant. This means that all the things that surround these structures (like food, plaque and bacteria) would also surround the implant and your new artificial tooth.
Does it mean your new tooth can decay if left uncleaned? No!
Fortunately implants can’t decay (as they themselves aren’t living tissues) but they can still develop a plethora of serious issues if food, bacteria and plaque accumulate around them. These issues include:
Gum inflammation around the implant
Bone loss around the implant
Implant infection
Although these issues develop gradually and may sometimes take months to show up, they can be highly detrimental to the implant’s health. This is especially true about bone loss and implant infection because they ultimately lead to implant failure if left untreated.
The prevention of these issues calls for a consistent (daily) oral hygiene routine containing all the important, implant specific hygiene practices.
How To Make Your Implants Last Long With Daily Oral Hygiene
Now that we know the role oral hygiene plays in keeping your implants healthy, it’s time to look at the specific practices included in an efficient implant hygiene routine.
Here are the basic hygiene practices to keep your dental implants healthy for decades:
- Brushing
It goes without saying that dental implant brushing forms the foundation of your hygiene routine. Just like your natural teeth, your implants also need to be brushed daily, at least twice a day.
A lot of people already practice this but still end up facing occasional gum irritations and flare-ups because their brushing technique is not correct. The technique of brushing is just as important as the frequency, especially with implants since they provide extra surfaces to clean.
Some helpful pointers for effective implant brushing:
- Use a soft bristled toothbrush
- The toothpaste should also be implant friendly (without any harsh chemicals or abrasives)
- Hold the brush at 45° toward the gumline and make gentle vibrations to jiggle the bristles a bit under the gumline.
- Then sweep the bristles away from the gum towards the chewing surface of the tooth to dislodge loosened food debris
- Repeat the above step for all tooth surfaces (outside, inside, all chewing surfaces).
- Flossing
After brushing, dental implant flossing is the second most important step in your hygiene routine.
But this doesn’t mean that flossing comes after brushing. In fact it’s a common misconception that you should floss after brushing. It’s generally best to floss first, then brush, as flossing dislodges the deeply seated plaque particles from between teeth and around the implant which makes it easier for the toothbrush and toothpaste to clean surfaces more effectively (and reach deeper areas for better protection against bone loss and infection).
Like brushing, technique highly matters for flossing too, even more so because it’s meant for deep cleaning. Here’s how to go about it:
- Use a good quality implant friendly floss (such as super floss, with a stiffened end for easy threading around the implant). Alternatively you can use a regular traditional floss along with a floss threader.
- Wrap the floss in a C shape around the implant
- Gently slide the floss up and down then curve it around the gumline to sweep plaque away (don’t snap or force the floss down)
- Clean all the implant surfaces the same way
- If you find this method difficult then you can also use a water flosser for quicker results, though it’s not as thorough as traditional flossing.
- Using Antibacterial Agents
While brushing and flossing remove the most important ‘physical’ barriers to implant health (i.e. food and plaque), they aren’t enough to keep your implant infection free forever.
It’s because brushing and flossing don’t eradicate the harmful, infection causing bacteria themselves, which sometimes may grow beyond their normal limits, putting you at a higher risk for implant infections.
Antibacterial agents like mouthwashes can be of great benefit here as they provide added safety against infections (provided you’re using them on your dentist’s suggestion/approval).
Conclusion
Following a daily oral hygiene routine (including properly executed brushing and flossing, and using antibacterial agents if allowed) is the key to keeping your dental implants healthy and long lasting.
Still researching implants and have questions that you need detailed answers to? Schedule a FREE consultation with the implant experts practising at Columbus Implant Clinic, a premium dental practice located in Ohio, USA. Talk to us and pave your way to a healthy and beautiful smile!
