Americans care about the way their their teeth look. Despite this, nearly 30 million people in the United States have lost all or some of the teeth on one or both of their jaws. Bridges and crowns are used by 15 million Americans to replace those lost teeth. For many, dental implants may be a better solution. Dental implant solutions are successful in 98% of the people who have them.
Dental implant solutions are appropriate for many people who are missing one or more teeth. Once you have had any kind of dental implants, from whole mouth dental implants to mini dental implants, put in your mouth, how do you keep them healthy and happy? The good news is they do behave a lot like natural teeth and there are things you can do to keep them looking and feeling great.
- Be careful with that area for a period of time after the surgery. It may be minor surgery but it is still surgery. Your mouth, especially the area around where your dental implant restoration was done, will be sensitive and sore for a bit of time following the surgery. One thing you can do is leave the area alone. The area will not feel like the rest of your mouth for some time. The less you can touch or in other ways interact with the area, the better. If you touch the area, you can delay the healing process. The good news is that the dental implant solutions that are offered today require only a short healing time so this will go by faster than you think.
- Watch what you put in your mouth. You probably know to eat only soft foods that are easy on your mouth and your oral surgeon, dentist or dental implant doctor may have told you to chew on the other side of the mouth from the dental implant solutions area. What might be less obvious is that you need to pay attention to the beverages you drink in the days after your dental implant surgery. You should not swish too much liquid in your mouth for the first one to two days after your surgery. Be careful about the temperature of the food and beverages that you eat and drink. You should avoid things that are really hot or cold.
- Be prepared for swelling. It is never fun to have your face swell up but if it happens after dental implant surgery, do not worry about it. That is completely normal and to be expected. This should not be excessive and should only be slight. If your face puffs up like a balloon, that is something you should call your dental implant doctor’s office about. Otherwise ice or cold packs can be used on the impacted area. Any swelling you experience should only last a few days.
- The implant area may bleed a little. If there is only a small amount of blood, use some gauze to absorb it. If you have an excessive amount of blood around the area, talk to the dental implant doctor. A little bleeding is normal. A lot of bleeding is not.
- Do what you can to keep the area clean. For the week following your surgery, you will want to keep the area around the dental implants as clean as possible. Your dental implant doctor may even send you home with a special mouthwash to help you keep the area as clean as you can. After meals, you should use the mouthwash. When you brush your teeth, be as gentle as you can with the area of the dental implant.
- Brush and floss after it heals. Once your dental implant area is all healed, you should go back to brushing and flossing like you were before you had the surgery. If you were not brushing and/or flossing before the surgery, you should start. You can treat your dental implants the way you do the rest of your teeth.
The beauty of dental implant solutions is that they mimic natural teeth better than any other tooth replacement options that are currently available. They may be your best option if you are missing teeth.
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