From smoking and grinding teeth to gum disease and chronic health issues, your dental implants are replacement teeth face many of the same threats as your natural teeth. And just as there are plenty of things that can be done to maximize the life of natural teeth, there are plenty of things you can do to maximize the life span of your dental implants and replacement teeth to avoid dental implant failure. Take a look at these tips for keeping your dental implants and replacement teeth in good shape long-term.
Why Do Implants Fail?
It’s rare, but it does happen. Dental implants can fail, even in cases in which the patient does everything right – though this type of case is even rarer.
So, why do they fail? Here’s a look at some of the more common reasons dental implants fail:
Bruxism – this is clenching or grinding the teeth at night. It can put added pressure on your implants, but a mouthguard could help diminish its impact
Peri-implantitis – like gum disease, peri-implantitis can eat away at the gums and other structures supporting the implants
Bone disease – a disease that attacks the bone could undermine the support of your implants
Certain prescription medicines – some medications may weaken the jawbone supporting them implants or make it harder to control gum disease
What Can You Do at Home?
If your implants wobble or the area around them hurts, and your implants have long healed, you need to check with your dentist ASAP.
In the meantime, the following can help rein in gum disease and protect your implants from further damage:
Floss, brush and rinse your mouth more regularly
Avoid smoking
Consider getting a mouth guard is you have bruxism
Consume more calcium
Checking in what your dentist ASAP is the best thing you can do to save your implants. You dentist can deep cleaning procedures to remove the decay, along with bone grafting, if necessary, to fortify the area of your jawbones weakened by peri-implantitis, bone disease or other conditions threatening the foundation of your implants.
More on Dental Implants in Van Nuys, CA
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a consultation with a local dentist to learn more about what you and your
dentist can do to maintain your dental implants in Van Nuys, CA.