Keep your implants clean else you will develop a serious gum infection
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Infection in gum tissues will lead to tooth loss. If you want to restore the missing teeth with implants, you should have healthy gums. This indicates the longevity of implant teeth is interlinked with your gum health. Similarly, if you don’t keep your implants clean, infection in the gums will occur and makes your implant fail.
In simply, the fixed implant teeth can also get diseased through gums if you do not clean the implant teeth properly.
Before seeing this, let’s take a look at gum disease and teeth implants.
Gum Disease
The infection in gums begins with bacteria-filled plaque stick to the teeth surfaces over the gum margins. When the infection progresses, it damages the gum tissues and destroys the bone in gums supporting a tooth, and eventually end in tooth loss.
The advanced stage of gum disease is associated with increased risk of stroke, heart diseases, and many systemic diseases.
Dental Implants
Dental implants are by far the best treatment among many prosthetic appliances to replace missing teeth. It is a small, screw-shaped titanium post inserted into the jaw bone surgically. It acts as the root of your fixed teeth. Later, a natural-looking restoration like crown, bridge is fixed.
After this, no one can identify you have a lost tooth and it is reconstructed surgically.
Whether it is a single tooth, multiple teeth or full-mouth restoration, implant dentistry is considered the best method for rebuilding the missing teeth.
How is it possible to get gum infections after getting implants?
If you lost a tooth due to gum disease or surgically removed a tooth as a part of periodontal treatments, the infection in the gums would still exist.
You cannot get implant solutions with such infected gums.
So dentists go for periodontal treatments like deep cleanings, perio protect prior to implanting a fake tooth.
Mostly, poor oral hygiene and excessive biting forces have a wreck on dental implants. The extensive force applied on implants can loose the implant’s attachment with the bone. Likewise, improper cleaning of the implants can also develop bacterial infections that can penetrate the gum tissues and eventually deteriorate the bone fused with implants.
Dentists define such infection in gums around the implant teeth as “Peri-implantitis“.
How does gum disease affect my implants?
Peri-implantitis is another form of gum disease and it will have a destructive inflammatory response over the implant teeth fixed.
The soft tissues in the gums surrounding an implant become inflamed due to the bacterial infection. In the meantime, the bone surrounding the implant deteriorates and dissolves over time. This eventually ends in implant failure.
Such diseased implant can be prevented if you contact your implant doctor immediately after noticing the following signs of infection around implants:
- Loose teeth
- Redness in gums surrounding the implants
- Puffy gums around the implants
- Bad Breath
- Throbbing pain in the area surrounding the implants
- Difficulty in chewing
- Receding gums that expose the implant threads
- Pus around the implants fixed
Gum infection around implant teeth (Peri-Implantitis) is a serious condition that requires timely attention. To know more about this implant infection, leave your comments here.
