Stop! 5 Choices You SHOULDN’T Make After Dental Implant Surgery

Are you a classic rebel? Maybe you don’t like following the rules, and that may be okay in certain situations. However, when it comes to receiving dental implants, the dentist’s aftercare instructions are there to protect you from harm and failure.

So, set aside your rebellious nature for a minute to learn how making the following bad choices after dental implant surgery could hurt you!

Return to Normal Activities Immediately

Everyone is busy, and you may not feel comfortable taking a break from your usual schedule to lie down and relax. However, your mouth will require time and energy to recover. This means you’ll need to take it easy for at least a couple of days. During this time, rest and allow your body to heal from the surgical procedure. Then, as you feel up to it over the next few days, you can resume your normal activities.

Eat Hard, Crunchy Foods

With tender gums, it’s best to avoid foods that could irritate or harm the already vulnerable tissue. As a result, for a few days, you should stick with soft foods like eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and the like so you don’t disturb your healing gums. After about a week, you should be able to bring back normal foods into your diet, but be careful while eating chips, nuts, and other foods until your mouth feels back to previous comfort.

Suck Through a Straw

While you’re on a “soft foods” diet, you may be tempted to get a smoothie or unsweet tea, but you need to avoid sucking through a straw. This motion could remove the blood clot over the surgical site, exposing the tissue beneath to oral bacteria and infection. You must wait at least 48 hours before you use a straw to prevent this painful complication from happening.

Smoke or Vape

Similar to using a straw, smoking or vaping involves a sucking motion that could dislodge the clot. Plus, smoking or vaping encourages the growth of harmful oral bacteria, increasing your chances of a gum infection that could stop progress with your dental implant. In other words, smoking or vaping could interfere with your dental implant’s success. If you do choose to do this habit, wait at least 48 hours after your placement procedure to allow the clot to form in place.

Neglect Your Oral Hygiene

Whether you’re getting just one or a whole arch of dental implants, keeping up with your oral hygiene is important. Obviously, you’ll need to be extra careful about the surgical site(s), but even gently rinsing your mouth with warm saltwater can help keep your mouth clean and facilitate healing.

If you make these choices after dental implant placement, you’re setting yourself up for failure and pain. Trust that your dentist has your best interests at heart and decide to follow the rules in this case.

About the Practice

At North Jacksonville Complete Dentistry, our three highly qualified dentists are proud to offer the entire dental implant treatment in one convenient location. Instead of having to go to a specialist’s office for the surgery, we handle every step in an office and with a team you already feel comfortable with. If you have questions about the dental implant process or surgery, you can contact us online here or call 904-751-4958.