2 Tips To Help You Properly Clean Your Dental Implant

Dental implants are amazing restorations since they look like natural teeth and can last a lifetime with good care. If you are getting a dental implant, you'll want to go over the after-care instructions with your dentist. Here are two tips to help you improve your oral hygiene around the implant site.

Switch to an Electric Rotating-Toothbrush

You can certainly use a manual toothbrush for your implant, but you may have better luck with an electric toothbrush that oscillates. One study found that oscillating-rotating brushes were more effective at reducing bleeding and new plaque formation around implants.

While the correlation is still being studied, there could be many possible reasons why an electronic toothbrush is a better choice. Older populations may have trouble with motor problems, so electric toothbrushes may simply make it easier for people to brush their teeth. Some people don't brush their teeth long enough or with the right pressure, so electric toothbrushes can also reduce those issues since many of these toothbrushes rotate at proper pressures and/or have timers so that patients know how long they should be brushing.

Whatever the reason, your dentist can recommend some electric toothbrush brands that will work well with your implant.

Use the Right Floss or Other Interdental Device

Flossing is an incredibly important habit to eliminate plaque interdental plaque, or plaque between adjacent teeth. However, using regular floss can sometimes be an issue for people with implants. One study found that floss remnants could sometimes get caught around the neck of the implant, or the area where the false tooth meets the gum tissue. These floss remnants could increase the likelihood of peri-implant disease, a condition that causes inflammation around the implant.

 Your dentist could recommend a sturdier, waxed floss that could resolve this issue. He or she might also recommend that you use floss for your natural teeth but use other interdental devices around the implant. For example, interdental flossers/toothbrushes could be better tools since these types of flosser don't leave behind shredded floss and they still clean the area well. Your dentist might also recommend a water flosser, since these tools use the shear force of pulsating water to clean interdental areas; and, they may cause less bleeding than string floss.

Lastly, you may want to add an antiseptic mouth rinse to improve your interdental hygiene. At the end of three months, people who used antiseptic mouth rise had improved levels or plaque, less bleeding, and better gum health than placebo groups.

Reach out to your dentist for more information about taking care of your implant restoration.