Dental implants can't get cavities, but they aren't damage proof. When you have dental implants, you still have to maintain a good oral hygiene routine to prevent any of the natural teeth you have remaining from decaying and your dental implants in place. Otherwise, you might find yourself back at your dentist's office for some implant restoration work. The good news is, because dental implants are fused into your jaw, you can care for them as you would care for natural teeth; you just need to make a few adjustments to your normal routine.

Brushing and Flossing Your Teeth

Even though your dental implants are strong enough to keep from decaying like normal teeth would, you still need to brush and floss your implants. However, you shouldn't use an electric toothbrush to clean your teeth, especially if your implants are new and haven't fully fused with your jawbone. The vibration of an electric toothbrush could cause your dental implant to loosen, and if that happens you'd need to have implant restoration work done. Brushing and flossing on a regular basis keeps plaque from building up on the surface of your implants, and it keeps infection-causing bacteria away from your gums. Remember, it's really important to take care of your gums when you have dental implants, because your gums are providing the support your implants need to stay in place. Because of this, you should also use an interdental toothbrush to clean the space between your teeth and your gums after you brush and floss your teeth normally.

Choosing the Right Toothpaste

Dental implants fuse to your jawbone, but not your gums. So food particles and bacteria will sit in the small crevice along your gum line, damaging your gums, if you don't keep your mouth properly clean. If bacteria sits along your gum line long enough, you could get an infection. To keep this from happening, you should use an antibacterial toothpaste. Remember, every kind of toothpaste is used to fight bacteria, and can be considered antibacterial to some point. So when you purchase toothpaste look for one that contain triclosan—a chemical compound that's used to keep tartar at bay and reduce bad breath. Additionally, you shouldn't use overly abrasive toothpaste, such as toothpaste designed to whiten your teeth, when you have dental implants. If used on a regular basis, abrasive toothpaste will dull the glaze on the surface of your dental implants.

Caring for your dental implants properly keeps them secure and in good shape, making it less likely that you'll have a problem with your implants. However, if you do have issues with your dental implants, contact your dentist (like those at Tijeras Dental Service) to see if you need to have dental implant restoration work done.