5 Lifestyle Changes to Help Make Your Dental Implants Last

Your new dental implants are extremely durable and lifelike. With proper care and use, they could even last a lifetime. But despite having an impressive 95 percent success rate (even ten or more years after placement) dental implants aren’t indestructible. In fact, many common habits could cause them to fail. To ensure that you get the most of your new smile and your investment in yourself, here are some important lifestyle changes you can make to extend the longevity of your dental implants!

Be a Quitter

Do you smoke, vape, or chew tobacco? Believe it or not, these habits are not only bad for your overall health, but they’re dangerous for your dental implants, too. For new prosthetics, they can slow the healing process and increase your risk of infection. If you’ve healed from surgery and have older implants, they can increase your risk of gum disease and peri-implantitis, both of which can cause them to fail. Thus, it is important that you do everything you can to quit these habits for the health of your body and your smile!

Use the Right Tools

While it may be faster and more convenient to tear open a package with your teeth than it would be to track down a pair of scissors or box cutter, this can be extremely harmful to your smile. Your teeth (both real and prosthetic) were designed to chew food, not rip apart stubborn tape, trim fingernails, or gnaw on pen caps or other items. Thus, if you need to open something, take a few extra moments to get the right tool for the job instead of putting your smile at risk in the interest of saving time.

Put Your Guard Up

If you play sports or have bruxism, speak to your dentist about having a custom mouthguard made. These devices will protect your smile against injury during athletics or from the pressure from your jaw when you grind your teeth. This can help prevent your dental implants from becoming loose, worn or otherwise damaged.

Keep it Clean

Just like your real teeth, your dental implants should be cared for consistently by brushing twice a day with a soft-bristled toothbrush and flossing daily. This will help keep your teeth clean and your breath fresh, as well as lower your risk of cavities in your natural teeth, gum disease, and peri-implantitis, which is a leading cause of dental implant failure.

Check-Up and Check in

Finally, even if you have no remaining natural teeth, it is still very important to visit your dentist twice a year for your regular, biannual exam and cleaning appointments. These are your opportunities to get valuable oral cancer screenings, and for your dentist to keep an eye on the condition of your smile. If they notice any concerning developments, these can be treated before they become more costly or complicated to fix, and if everything looks good, you’ll have the bonus of enjoying that ‘fresh from the dentist’ feeling of extremely clean teeth!

Remember, your dental implants are built to last a lifetime, but you may need to make a few lifestyle changes to increase their odds for success. Be sure to implement the above tips into your daily routine, and you could enjoy your newly rebuilt smile for many years to come!

About Our Practice

At Bear Creek Family Dentistry, we’re proud to offer a variety of oral health solutions to patients all over the DFW area. Whether you need an exam and cleaning, a cosmetic treatment, or you’d like to replace one or more teeth with durable, lifelike dental implants, we’re here to help. To see if you’re a good candidate for this dynamic tooth restoration treatment, schedule a consultation with us today on our website, or call the location nearest you for more information.