Dental Implants and The Threat of Gum Disease

05 / 09 / 2017

Dental Implants and The Threat of Gum Disease

How Failing To Look After Your Gum Health Can Threaten Your Dental Implants

We have mentioned before the importance of looking after your gums. Whilst there are many unpleasant symptoms associated with gum disease, including halitosis, or bad breath, the most serious of these occurs during the latter stages of gum disease, known as periodontitis.

Not only are the gums affected at this point, but the bone in the jaw also begins to deteriorate. This can cause teeth to become loose, or even fall out altogether.

This stage of gum disease also presents a serious threat to dental implants. In today’s blog, we look at why your gum health is very important for the health and longevity of your implant.

Bone and gum health

When you arrive for your implant consultation at the Lighthouse Dental Practice, one of the things that we check for is the suitability of your bone structure, and whether it is healthy enough to place a dental implant into. Where it is not, a bone graft may be necessary prior to the procedure. Where there is sufficient healthy bone, an implant can readily be placed for most people.

In addition to checking your bone health, we will also conduct a thorough examination of your gum health. Any signs of gum disease will need to be treated before the implant placement takes place at our Ipswich dental surgery.

The threat of periodontal disease

Once your implant procedure is completed, it is critical to avoid gum disease, periodontitis especially. Looking after your gums is straightforward and relatively easy to do. In addition to brushing and flossing your teeth, and your regular six-monthly check-up, we strongly recommend that you see the dental hygienist at least twice a year; more if recommended. Doing so will help to keep your mouth free of gum disease.

Failure to do so may well lead to the bone where your implant is placed starting to gradually degrade and thin. When this happens, your dental implant may become loose and may even fail altogether.

Peri-implantitis

A similar threat to dental implants lies in peri-implantitis. This has many similarities to periodontitis but predominantly affects the soft and hard tissues surrounding the titanium implant. As with periodontitis, this can be prevented with good oral care both at home and from the dentist and hygienist here at our Ipswich dental clinic. Providing that you look after your gums well, there is no reason why your implant should not provide a strong and healthy replacement tooth for twenty years or more.

If you have missing teeth and would like to find out about dental implants, or, if you have not had your gum health checked recently, whether you have implants or not, please call the Lighthouse Dental Practice in Ipswich on 01473 257379.

We are here to help you.
If you would like to speak to a member of our friendly team about any of the issues in this article please visit our contact page or call us on 01473 257379.