You might assume undergoing an oral procedure is the most dangerous part of getting dental implants in Winter Park, FL, and this assumption is correct to some extent. However, not taking care of yourself once you get home could harm your health as much as any in-surgery complications, and your dentist isn’t always around to fix the mess. If you’re about to improve your smile with dental implants, learn which practices to avoid for a speedy and safe recovery.
Avoid These Practices During Your Dental Implant Surgery Recovery
Smoking or Chewing Tobacco
Tobacco is the mortal enemy of a recovering mouth, as it contains many harmful chemicals that debilitate your immune system and lower your defenses to battle post-surgery infections. Nicotine and tar in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco also hinder your oral tissue’s ability to heal. Hence, a recovery that shouldn’t take longer than a week could be a never-ending process.
Thanks to tobacco, your dental implant success rate drastically decreases as well, meaning your new teeth fall or fail to become a permanent member of your smile.
Regardless of how anxious you feel after surgery, refrain from consuming tobacco at least two to three days after the procedure. Also, keep the number of smokes a day to a minimum until your dental implants have fully healed.
Aggressive Rinsing
If you just got one or more dental implants, rinsing your mouth too frequently or passionately could produce an opposite effect to the one you intend to achieve. This technique can effectively remove dead cells, dry blood, and bacteria. Yet, doing so many times a day or with excessive vigor can damage the recovering tissue and slow your healing process. Limit your rinsing to two or three times a day, and gently swish the water from side to side to achieve the best results without harming your mouth.
Remember to brush twice daily without letting your brush come into contact with your new implant, as this practice keeps your natural and artificial teeth safe.
Nail-Biting
Like smoking or chewing tobacco, biting your nails is a nervous habit you must drop until your recovery is over. Your nails look fragile, but they’re made of several layers of strong skin cells, so teeth have to exert excess pressure to break them. This practice might not sound dangerous under normal circumstances, but when your oral tissue is weak, and you try chewing on hard objects, you might injure and infect your mouth. Keep your nails away from your face and switch this habit to healthy soft snacks like yogurt, cheese, and soup.
Grinding
Bruxism is not as easy a habit to lose as nail-biting because it’s a condition that unconsciously leads you to press your upper and lower jaw against each other. Teeth grinding can break or loosen your new dental implant, forcing you to pay your dentist an emergency visit. Bruxism can also erode or crack your natural pearly whites and lead to infection and decay.
Discuss possible treatment options with your dentist before your surgery so you can sail through your recovery. Mouthguards have proven to be an effective way to stop bruxism while asleep, so check if this option is available.
Winter Park Dental Offers Top-Quality Dental Implants in Winter Park, FL
Dental implant surgery sounds scary and overwhelming, but you can make it effective by avoiding smoking, aggressive rinsing, nail biting, and grinding. Winter Park Dental offers the best general and cosmetic dentistry services to get your smile looking healthy and beautiful again. Feel free to contact our office to book an appointment.