There's very little that can endanger a completely healed tooth implant. The implant (a small titanium alloy screw) serves as an artificial tooth root, and it was placed in your jawbone during your oral surgery. The bone then healed around the implant, holding it in position and making it as strong as a natural tooth root. The implant's prosthetic tooth was attached, and your implant became a permanent fixture. In fact, there's only one potential concern that could jeopardize your implant, and this is an infection.
Simultaneous Care
Your dentist or oral surgeon will give you detailed instructions about how to care for your implant's prosthetic tooth. In doing so, you simultaneously care for the implant hidden in your jaw. The tooth is made of robust ceramic material, such as zirconia or lithium disilicate. These materials can't decay or corrode like a natural tooth might. This doesn't mean you can abstain from keeping them clean. Failure to maintain a high standard of oral care can permit oral bacteria to flourish on the prosthetic tooth.
A Corrosive Biofilm
This bacteria can contribute to the formation of a corrosive biofilm (dental plaque) on surrounding teeth, which certainly can decay and corrode. Without diligent brushing and flossing, plaque can calcify or harden and become tartar. There's no way to comprehensively remove tartar at home, and your teeth will need to be professionally cleaned by a dentist. How does this pertain to your implant?
Influx of Bacteria
Unchecked tartar doesn't only affect your teeth. The influx of bacteria will cause inflammation of your gum tissues. This infection has the potential to affect both natural and artificial tooth structures. An infection in the soft tissues around your dental implant is called peri-implant mucositis. This is a reversible inflammatory condition, so you mustn't delay seeking treatment.
Please See Your Dentist
Failure to manage the infection will permit it to spread to your jawbone, where it can break the implant's connection with your jaw. This is one of the few things that can endanger an implant. So if you notice swollen, inflamed gums, please see your dentist immediately. Your natural and prosthetic teeth will be scaled to remove bacterial biofilms. If there's any concern about the ongoing stability of your implant, you may require open flap debridement, which is when a dentist makes a small incision in your gums to access your dental implant, allowing contaminants to be removed from its surface.
You must act quickly when you suspect a gum infection that could affect your dental implant—or better yet, maintain a high level of oral hygiene so you can avoid this type of infection altogether.
To learn more about implants, contact a local dentist such as Hurley Nicholas J DDS PA.
Share27 June 2023
