Taking Care of Your New Peoria Dental Implants

A dental implant in Peoria is surgically placed into the jaw to serve as an artificial tooth root, and as your jaw bone grows around the implant it actually becomes a part of you, like your natural tooth root. After the initial placement by your Peoria AZ implant dentist it’s important that you properly care for the implant site to ensure successful healing.

After your dentist surgically places your new dental implants into your jaw you will need to care for them gently as they heal. During the first day don’t attempt to eat until the local anesthetic has worn off. Then it’s best to stick to cold, soft food and cold drinks during the first 24 to 48 hours to prevent bleeding. Likewise, avoid strenuous activity for the first few days. Some minor bleeding is to be expected following your surgical procedure. Should this occur apply gentle pressure with some dampened gauze.

In general, treat the area gently until it begins to heal. Don’t probe the area with your tongue or toothbrush. When using any type of mouth rinse, just allow it to sit on the implant site, don’t swish liquid around it.

The evening of your surgery, brush the rest of your teeth normally, avoiding the implant site for the first few days. Keep food away from the implant site as much as possible and rinse after eating. In a few days as the site begins to heal you can begin gently brushing this area when you brush the rest of your teeth. Keeping the mouth as clean as possible affords the best chance of success for the dental implants.

While you will be somewhat sore for the first few days you should not be in extreme pain. Your dentist may prescribe pain medication and sometimes antibiotics. If you begin taking pain medication before the local anesthetic wears off and continue taking it as directed you should be fairly comfortable. If you are in extreme pain or if the pain worsens rather than improves over the next few days, contact your Peoria dentist.

During the first few days following the surgery you can expect some swelling. It is generally worse in the morning after lying down all night. Sleeping on several pillows or in a recliner may help lessen morning swelling. Cold packs are also helpful to reduce swelling when used as directed by your dentist.

If you wear dentures that normally cover the implant site you should avoid wearing them as much as possible during the first few days. Dentures Peoria may need to be adjusted to fit over the implant site to ensure that they don’t interfere with healing.

Another word of caution; avoid smoking while the site heals. Studies have shown that smoking can seriously interfere with oral healing.

The good news is that if you follow the instructions given by your dentist, Peoria dental implants have a 95 percent success rate.