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After Care & Maintenance of Your Implants Aftercare and Maintenance It is important to remember that implants are not ‘fit and forget’ and that they need the same amount of care and attention as natural teeth. Your implants have to be regularly serviced and maintained just like a quality car needs regular servicing. Provided they are properly looked after and maintained they will give many years of trouble free function. Review and Adjustment Visits On completion of treatment it will be necessary for you to attend a number of recall appointments to check the condition of the implants and to adjust the bite if required. After this, regular six monthly appointments should be made as normal for dental check ups. Failure to keep these appointments may result in bone loss and damage or even loss of the implants. It is also important that you inform the surgery immediately should you detect any mobility or loosening of your implant teeth. As you age your bite changes. Natural teeth wear and are able to adapt to these changes, but implant teeth need to be adjusted to the new bite position. Occasionally, the small screws which help to retain the teeth become loose, due to either heavy or abnormal biting. You may start to hear a clicking sound or become aware of the tooth moving during eating. This is an easy matter to rectify if caught early as it entails retightening the screws and adjusting the bite or removing the cause of the loosening. Failure to attend early will result in possible fracture of the screw or even worse, damage to the implant and supporting bone. Maintenance and Cleaning Your oral health depends on the health of your teeth and gums. Both are endangered by plaque, the cause of both tooth decay and gum disease, this is why its daily removal is so important. Plaque is a thin, nearly invisible film of bacteria that builds up daily and sticks firmly to all implant and tooth surfaces, even below the gum line. Although the gum tissue around the implants is fairly resistant to infection you should still keep your regular hygiene visits. A build up of plaque will cause problems and possible bone loss from around your implants, resulting in eventual loss. The plaque bacteria turn carbohydrates i.e sugar and starches from the diet into acid and toxins that attack the tooth enamel and gums. Prolonged build up of plaque will lead to gingivitis (inflammation and bleeding gums). It it is not removed regularly, plaque may harden to create a deposit on the tooth and implant surface, known as tartar or calculus. Once formed calculus can only be removed by a hygienist, if it is not dealt with then it may lead to eventual tooth and implant loss. Sonicare Brush In addition to regular hygiene visits the daily use of a Sonicare toothbrush, which has been clinically proven to remove significantly more plaque than ordinary tooth brushing, is strongly advised. This will help you to take better care of your implants, teeth and gums every day. Teeth and Implants Mixed Together If you have teeth and implants mixed together it is also very important to maintain the health of the natural teeth. Should the natural teeth become infected or are lost for any reason the remaining implants may be damaged by the extra pressure caused by the extra work load. In order to protect and reduce the loading on the implants it may be necessary to insert additional implants to replace missing teeth. Implant Retained Dentures If you have a denture made to fit over your
implants, again, it is important to appreciate the need for hygiene
visits. The denture will also require replacing approximately every
three years to compensate for the bone loss which will have occurred
from your jaws over this period. Failure to compensate for this
loss, by adjusting or remaking the denture, will place extra strain
on the implants, which could result in their eventual loss or breakage.
If you have an over denture that is held onto the implants be mechanical
clips, then these too will need to be periodically replaced due
to wear and tear following normal function. |
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