Maintaining your Dental Implants

Keep your dental implants healthy for life with good aftercare and maintenance.

Patient Oral Hygiene

Regular removal of plaque is essential for long term success of implants. Not only is good tooth brushing important but daily interproximal cleaning, with either floss or interproximal brushes, needed.

Professional Hygiene Maintenance

The patient should be seen for a regular supportive periodontal programme; as often as necessary to maintain a periodontium with minimal pocketing and low bleeding on probing. Maintenance should involve polishing or scaling of implants with titanium or plastic instruments.

Examination

Regular check-ups should also review implant health by examining:

• Occlusion
• Restorative integrity
• Implant or restoration mobility
• Tissue quality
• Plaque control and presence of plaque
• Gingival swelling and gingival index
• Bleeding on gentle probing, suppuration and changes in probing depth
• Radiographs if any change in probing depths are discovered

Problem

If any aspect of the examination is less than ideal, please contact me or refer the patient to see me.