When you clean dental implants, the practice is quite different from cleaning natural teeth. Since they are attached to your gums and surrounding bones in a different manner, they need to be taken care of differently. The materials made for implants are also different from natural teeth. To learn about how to maintain your dental implant(s), our team at Weston Dental Office has come up with a guide all about it! 

What Are Dental Implants? 

Before we talk about how to properly take care of dental implants, we first need to know everything there is to know about the implants themselves. When you get a dental implant placed into your mouth, it essentially replaces the root parts of your teeth. While things such as bridgework, crowns and dentures are replacements that make up the missing pieces and attach to the root, implants attach to the bone.  

Near the top of the implant, the abutment and lower section of the crown connect to the gums via a detailed structure known as an “epithelial attachment”. The cells will end up naturally attaching to the ceramic or metal material on your implant that contain microscopic suction pads. 

Infection is Dangerous 

Taking care of dental implants is just as important as cleaning natural teeth. This is because both rely on the outside tissue to be healthy in order for them to properly function. When you do not regularly remove the bacteria from the outside of a dental implant, infection known as peri-implantitis can take place. This can result in the loss of attachment from the dental implant to your mouth. Unlike regular inflammation around natural teeth, the inflammation around an implant can be disastrous in the amount and rate at which it grows.  

In many cases, a professional dental hygienist (such as the ones here at Weston Dental Office) have an important role to play in keeping your implant clean and free from infection. The tools used all work together to help keep the tooth clean, and different tools will need to be utilized depending on things such as the nature of the debris, how hard or soft the debris is, and how much they adhere to the tooth’s surface. 

How Are They Cleaned? 

Implants are cleaned in a very detailed way as to not affect the integrity of the tooth leading it to further damage or infection. Natural teeth aren’t like implants, in that if you scratch natural teeth there is no real cause for concern. If even the tiniest scratches are made on the implanted tooth, it can attract more bacteria leading to infection. This is why it is crucial the surface of an implant stays as smooth and shiny as possible.  

A bunch of different power tools have nylon or plastic shields/tips to minimize any potential damage to an implanted tooth. If any of the implant’s body is present, this can likely mean that there is infection that has resulted in either bone loss, gum loss or both. Brushes are also used in cleaning implants to remove bacteria wherever possible. 

Even though the process for cleaning implants is extremely meticulous, these procedures have long term success rates of over 95%. As long as your implant is cleaned periodically by professionals and you do your best to take care of it at home with the help of your dentist’s instructions, you can keep an implant healthy and strong for years. 

Let Our Clinic Help 

If you have been looking to get a dental implant but require professional help to do so, our team here at Weston Dental Office can help. With years upon years of experience in the dental field, our professionals are educated, certified and fully trained to ensure that your teeth are taken care of in the best, most safest way possible. When push comes to shove, we want you walking out of our clinic with a shiny smile (and more importantly, a healthy one!). To learn more about our Dental Implants in Toronto, be sure to call our front desk at 416-247-1928 today!