Choosing to replace a tooth with a dental implant is a big decision and a financial investment. Once you complete your implant procedure, you’re going to want to take extra care to ensure your investment lasts. Dental implants are a long-term solution to a broken or missing tooth...but what happens when your dental implant fails or becomes loose?

The Important Anatomy Behind Your Implant and Healing

When you receive your implant, the surgeon will drill into your jaw bone a certain depth of millimeters to make room for the implant – the post that holds the new tooth in place. It's also the device that mimics the root of your tooth. You might also need some bone grafting to help build up the bone structure around the implant to ensure it’s strong.

During the six to eight week healing phase before you receive your permanent crown, important things are happening in your body. Your bone begins to heal around the implant. This is when the integrity of your implant is at the most critical stage because your bone is rebuilding and solidifying around the post.

Preventing Implant Failure

During this critical time period while your bone is healing, you can damage the implant body. Think of it like a nail in the wall. If you pull or wiggle the nail, the surrounding drywall holding the nail in place will widen, causing the nail to come loose. The same happens inside your mouth.

Here are some important tips to keep in mind after your implant procedure:

• Pulling on your new implant or impact to it can cause failure so avoid chewing, biting or pulling on the tooth.
• Don’t crunch ice or bite into nuts or apples.
• If you’re a sonic toothbrush fan, switch to a regular soft bristle toothbrush during your healing stage. The vibration might cause disturbances in your bone structure during early stages of healing.
• Increase your vitamin C intake to 1,000-2,000 mg daily to aid in healing.
• Avoid sticky and hard foods like candy, taffy, caramel and such.
• Don’t sip from a straw. The sucking action can cause a vacuum in the mouth which might disrupt the body’s healing process.
• Smoking impacts your body’s ability to heal - take steps to quit the habit.
• Skip the mouthwash because the alcohol content impacts your healing.
• Follow your dental provider’s directions.

While 95 percent of dental implants are completed without incident, in order to keep your implant procedure from falling into that other 5 percent by following your dentist’s post-op directions and stick to these simple, yet important tips.