Having A Dental Implant? Here Are Some Useful Preparation Tips

Things you can do to help your new tooth implant outcome

Dental implants are largely considered to be the gold standard for tooth replacement. Whilst dentures and bridges do have a role to play, neither provides an ideal solution as they don’t replace the root part of the tooth as an implant does. They are also more difficult to keep clean and require more care. Dentures in particular, also cause some patients problems with stability and functionality.

Anyone who has read our blogs will know the basics of the dental implant procedure and that it requires the placing of an artificial tooth root, which is the actual implant part. This is then left to bond with the natural bone and provide a firm anchor onto which a crown is attached.

To be able to place a dental implant requires extra study and qualifications and our Burton team will do all they can to help ensure that you have a safe and effective procedure. Despite all the dentist’s skills though, there are still a number of things that you, the patient, can do to make the treatment and healing go as smoothly as possible.

Stop smoking

At Mike Allen’s Dental Surgery and most other dentists in the UK, anyone wishing to have teeth implants placed will need to stop smoking for a period of time either side of the treatment. There are many good reasons for this. Smoking is one of the biggest causes of gum disease and periodontitis and peri-implantitis can be a real threat to an implant, potentially causing it to fail. Smoking also narrows the tiny blood vessels in the gums and reduces the blood flow to that area. This means that healing is likely to be slower and there will be less ability to fight off any infections that occur. It should be noted that excess drinking can have similar effects too.

Although we recommend, from an oral health point of view, that you stop both of these habits permanently, it is essential that you do so either side of your procedure.

Get some exercise

Nobody is expecting you to sprint to your appointment like Usain Bolt, but a good general level of fitness is beneficial as it will help your body be more efficient at supplying blood to the areas needed. If you already go to the gym etc, we are probably already preaching to the converted. Those of you who don’t though may also not want to and that is fine too. There are many ways that you can improve your fitness without ‘torturing’ yourself. The following are just a few suggestions and you can probably think of others yourself.

Walk instead of getting in your car for a very short journey, or, for the slightly longer ones go by bike if you have one. If taking a bus or car is unavoidable, get off the bus a few stops earlier or park your car a little further away from your destination and walk the rest of the way. Avoid taking lifts and escalators and walk up the stairs. This is very good exercise, especially if you are carrying your shopping at the time.

Dance whilst no one is watching! If you get some time alone in your home, pop your favourite record on and relive your nights at the disco. A couple of tracks and you will soon remember how much energy you use when dancing.

These are just a few ideas but generally just putting in a little extra effort to exercise will pay dividends.

It is also worth preparing for the period following your treatment when you won’t be able to eat normally for a while whilst the implants integrate with the bone in the jaw. If you don’t plan this, you may end up eating little but mashed potatoes for a while. Use the time before your treatment to do a bit of research on liquid and soft foods. You will be needing to eat these for a month or two so why not enjoy them as well.

You will, of course, need to see our Burton dentists beforehand so that we can ensure that your mouth is healthy enough for the treatment to take place. There is no point in placing an implant into infected gums and any gingivitis or periodontitis will need to be treated before the procedure takes place. You can help here by making sure that you brush and floss your teeth well in the lead up to your treatment.

If you have missing teeth and would like to discover more about dental implants and their benefits, as well as the procedure, we are always happy to offer an initial consultation. Patients should also know that we use Straumann dental implants which are considered to be one of the top names in this field.

If you would like to contact us to arrange an initial consultation or for more information in general, you can call Mike Allen’s Dental Practice on 01283 845345.