Dental implants are frequently considered the optimal solution for missing teeth, and most people are suitable for treatment. However, if you smoke, it might affect the long-term survival of dental implants in Oshawa, not to mention the impact on your oral health.
How Can Smoking Affect Oral Health?
As smoke is inhaled, it can actually burn the tissues inside your mouth, thickening the top layer of skin cells. It also affects your saliva glands, so your mouth is more likely to be drier. When your mouth is drier, it makes it easier for disease-causing bacteria to grow. This can increase the risk and severity of gum disease. Also, the nicotine and other by-products in tobacco affect the blood vessels closest to the skin, causing them to constrict, so there is less blood flow to the gums. Reduced blood flow affects immune mechanisms and the body’s ability to heal.
These are all reasons why dental implants in Ajax may not be such a good solution for smokers in comparison with non-smokers, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t an option.
How Smoking Can Affect Dental Implant Healing
Dental implant treatment relies on the ability of the implant post and the jawbone to integrate or bond together. It’s a process called osseointegration, where new bone growth occurs on and around the implant post during the weeks and months after implantation. Once completed, the implant post is held securely in the jawbone and provides a strong foundation for the implant-supported restoration. When someone smokes, it affects the process of osseointegration and can delay healing. This increases the risk of infection and possible implant loss. The risk of implant failure or other complications such as a dental implant infection in Brooklin is higher in smokers during the first two or three weeks after implant placement and especially when someone is a heavy smoker.
Is It Possible to Smoke Once the Implants Have Healed?
Once the dental implants in Newcastle have healed, the environment is slightly more dangerous in mouths of smokers. This is because smoking can increase the rate of bone loss around dental implants, and even though the amount is relatively small each year, the effect is compounded over time. It’s also thought that a history of smoking could be associated with a failure for the implant to remain firmly fused in the bone, even once it is established. One study looking at long-term implant survival rates discovered that twice as many implant failures were in people who smoked compared with non-smokers. Smoking at the time the implant was surgically implanted was associated with a higher risk. Overall, the difference in failure rates of implants in smokers and non-smokers is not that large, but if you do smoke and an implant fails, then it’s obviously a huge deal.
Minimizing the Risk of Complications and Failures
If you are considering dental implant treatment in Clarington, you will almost certainly want to do everything you can to ensure treatment is a long-term success. Anyone who smokes should try to quit completely, and it may be worth talking to your GP about possible solutions that could help. If quitting entirely seems too tricky, you should stop smoking for at least a week before treatment and for at least two weeks after. Good oral hygiene is essential for anyone with dental implants in Pickering, so make sure you have regular checkups and cleanings.
Dental implant infections and complications in Courtice require urgent treatment, so if you do notice something seems to be wrong, contact Durham Dental Solutions immediately for expert advice and care from our experienced dental implant team.
