Avoiding Dental Implant Failure: 4 Helpful Tips

Once you’ve had dental implants placed to recomplete your smile, you will want to do whatever you can to protect them. It’s very rare for implant posts to fail, but it’s still a possibility that you need to watch out for. Fortunately, you can keep the chances of problems occurring to a minimum simply by taking the right precautions. Below are 4 tips that can go a long way toward helping you avoid dental implant failure.

1. Practice Good Oral Hygiene

If you don’t keep your mouth clean, harmful bacteria could build up and eventually lead to an infection of the tissues supporting your implant posts. As said tissues grow weaker over time, the posts could eventually come loose.

The best way to protect the area around your dental implants from infection is to maintain a good oral hygiene routine. Remember to brush at least two times a day, and be sure to give your dental implants the same attention as the rest of your mouth. You should also make a point of flossing to get rid of bacteria that may be hiding in hard-to-reach areas that can’t be effectively cleaned with a toothbrush.

2. Be Careful Around Hard Foods

Dental implants offer chewing power that’s comparable to that of natural teeth, meaning they allow you to eat virtually anything you want. That said, if you put too much pressure on your dental implants, you could end up breaking them. As such, it’s best not to bite directly into carrots, apples, crusty bread, and similarly hard foods; it’s still possible to enjoy them, but you should cut them into bite-sized pieces first.

3. If You Have Bruxism, Get a Nightguard

Do you grind or clench your teeth while you’re asleep? This condition is known as bruxism, and it can seriously damage your dental implants if it goes unaddressed for too long. Luckily, a nightguard can provide an effective solution for this issue. It can stop your upper and lower rows of teeth from grinding directly against each other, thus protecting your implant posts from damage.

4. Visit Your Dentist Every Six Months

It’s important to have a dental checkup and cleaning performed twice a year in order to keep your smile as a whole in great shape. During these visits, your dentist can check the current condition of your dental implants to make sure that there aren’t any problems. If they find anything you need to be concerned about, they’ll let you know what steps you should take next to keep your rebuilt smile intact.

The odds of dental implant failure can never be zero, but you can certainly keep them as low as possible by following the tips above. And if it seems like something has gone wrong despite your best efforts, you can always turn to your dentist for help.

About the Author

Dr. Byron L. Reintjes has over three decades of dental experience. He is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry, and he completed a one-year hospital-based dental residency that emphasized trauma care. His practice in Fresno offers start-to-finish dental implant treatments for patients with any number of missing teeth. If you would like to schedule your initial dental implant consultation with Dr. Reintjes, visit his website or call (559) 438-6684.