Aftercare for your dental implant; a guide

Have you recently had an oral implant fitted? Good for you!

Not only will an implant provide a stable base for your future teeth to eat with, due to our team, it will also complement your smile, blending in seamlessly to your surrounding teeth.

At High Dental Implants, when we fit a dental implant Melbourne, we will ensure that it is secured using the best techniques, to make certain that it lasts as long as possible while also providing the aesthetic advantages required. Great!

Here, our team provides a rough guide on how to care for your dental implant Melbourne once you are at home.

Eating

As a general rule, once you have had a dental implant Melbourne fitted, you will want to avoid eating spicy foods, hard foods and salt foods; these can aggravate any gum swelling and can dislodge the implant as it fuses.

Try to eat softer, healthy foods, like boiled vegetables and on top of everything else, aim to stay hydrated as this will help your body to heal.

Cleaning

As odd as it may sound coming from a dentist, once your oral implant has been fitted, we advise against brushing the site. Yes, you read that right!

Brushing can and will often aggravate the sore gum line and can introduce infection, so to keep the area clean, rinse it with warm salt water as required to remove food debris. Our team will be able to advise you as to when you can begin using a soft-bristled toothbrush to clean the area, so stay in touch with us post-fitting.

Pain relief

Many patients have concerns that once they are at home and the numbing agents have worn off, they will experience extreme discomfort due to their oral implants.

If you are in extreme discomfort post-fitting, please contact our team immediately. Otherwise, you can mitigate any pangs or unpleasant sensations with over-the-counter pain relief, such as paracetamol.

It is advised that you do not use other pain relief, such as non-steroidal, anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen or aspirin, as these can thin the blood and prolong the bruising.

Appointments

In the months following your oral implant fitting, there will be a few appointments with our team.

And even if you feel that your implants are fusing perfectly and that you don’t need an appointment, we must still insist that you attend them.

This is because they allow our team to assess the stability and fusing of your implants, and allow us to look for signs of secondary issues that you may have missed, such as infection.

So, for the health and longevity of your implants, please attend your follow up appointments with our team!

Lifestyle

Once you have had your oral implants fitted and are waiting for them to fuse, there are a few things you can do to ensure that they not only fuse correctly, but also have the longevity that you want.

And if you are a smoker, we are sorry to say that it is contraindicated; smoking has been linked to gum recession, higher incidence of oral cancer and of course, increases the risk of gum disease. All of this is bad news for your oral implants, so if you wish to quit smoking, please talk to us about cessation.

If you drink excessive quantities of alcohol, this can also shorten the longevity of your oral implants.

DISCLAIMER

All treatment carries risks. Individual consultation is required with one of our practitioners to ensure that the treatment is right for you.