How to Keep Dental Implants in Great Condition

It is really important to look after your dental implants once they’ve been finished, and your dentist will tell you how best to do that. Mainly it involves keeping them very clean, as implants are even more susceptible to getting gum disease around them than natural teeth. So you’ll need to brush them twice a day, and you may also need to clean around them with floss or interdental brushes as well.

We know that smoking contributes significantly to patients getting gum disease around teeth, and once again, smoking is even more harmful around implants. Some dentists won’t even place implants if you smoke! If you do smoke, then cutting down, switching to vaping or ideally cutting it out altogether is going to make your dental implants last as long as possible.

As with most things in life, if a problem is spotted early, it is usually much easier to fix than if the problem is missed for a long time. That’s just one more reason to go and have your implants checked regularly by your dentist. They will carefully inspect the implants, probe gently around the gum and also take a little x-ray of the implants. All of this information allows your dentist to spot any problems with your implants when they are small and easy to fix – so don’t put off that dental check-up!

The mouth is very sensitive and can sometimes detect problems before they are even visible. So if you feel something isn’t right with your implant, don’t delay hoping it will get better on its own - get it checked out quickly by your dentist. 

5 Questions to Ask Your Implant Dentist

1. What training or qualifications do you have that is specific to dental implants?
2. How long have you been placing implants for?
3. How many implants have you placed and how do you know that?
4. What are you going to do to ensure that my implant treatment is going to be successful?
5. What will you do if my implant treatment is not successful?

5 Tips Before and After Getting Dental Implants

1. Stop smoking
2. Get the rest of your mouth clean and healthy BEFORE having your implants
3. Check out the qualifications of the dentist who is to carry out your implant treatment
4. Keep your implants immaculately clean after they have been finished
5. Make sure you have your implants checked regularly by your dentist

Written by: BILL SCHAEFFER
Implant Surgeon, Co-founder of The Implant Centre

Bill is exceptionally qualified for his role as one of the implant surgeons at The Implant Centre. Having trained in the UK, Bill is both a dentist and a medical doctor. He is also a qualified surgeon and a registered Specialist Oral Surgeon. As if this was not enough, he also has both a Fellowship and Membership from the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

BILL SCHAEFFER's Accreditations:

• BDS MBBS FDS
• RCS (Eng) MRCS (Eng)