Care of implants is essentially the same as for natural teeth. Of course one of the main benefits of a dental implant is that patients never get a cavity on the implant or crown that is attached to it. However, you can suffer from gum disease associated with an implant so it is important to keep the implant crown or bridge clean with proper brushing and flossing. If the implant is being used to snap to a denture or partial denture the snap areas on both the implant (the part protruding from your gums) and the snap area on the denture must be kept extremely clean. Food in these areas reduces the holding ability of the denture and shortens the life of the snaps. Regardless, the snaps or retentive parts of them do in time wear out and need periodic replacement.
You can eat normal food, as with natural teeth, but common sense should prevail and therefore exclude eating ice and chewing on bones.
It is customary to attach the crown or bridge to implants with weaker glue than what is commonly used with crowns attached to normal teeth. The reason that is done is to allow relatively easy removal of the crown to make adjustments or repairs. Occasionally the crown or bridge may come loose and can be readily recemented with perhaps stronger cement. If you are experiencing any looseness of the bridge or implant, please contact our office as soon as possible.
Finally, it is important to let us inspect the implant regularly. Therefore, even with implants you must continue your regiment of twice-yearly cleanings to remove any calcified plaque (tartar), which may be adhering to the implant and allow us to inspect the implant with dental x-rays to find and correct any bone loss that may be occurring.
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