The Impact Of Smoking On Oral Health, Particularly Dental Implants
As a potential patient seriously considering dental implants in Richmond, you’ll be put through a series of processes. One of these is to assess eligibility. Firstly you’ll be put through a series of medical and oral examinations and in addition, one of the most important questions the dentist will ask you is “do you smoke?” If you answer yes, then there’s a good chance that you’ll be asked to quit before implant surgery can take place, but why is this?
We’re all aware of the effects that smoking can have on our overall health, but you may or may not know that it can heavily impact on your oral health too.
The thing is that good oral health is absolutely vital to the long term success of a dental implant. In Richmond for example an experienced implant surgeon may not fit a dental implant to a patient who insists on continued smoking. This is because there are too many risks involved that can’t be controlled. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Slowed bone growth
Firstly smoking is known to slow down bone growth. Unfortunately the success of dental implants relies heavily on a natural process known as osseointegration. As the implant is secured down into the jaw bone, the natural bone tissue merges and fuses with it over time. It’s this process that creates the strong platform upon which a crown is attached. In non-smokers, bone growth takes anywhere between 4-8 weeks, but in those who smoke and indeed in some diabetics, bone growth can take two to three times as long and in some cases might not even occur at all.
Bacterial problems
Although dental implants are considered the best and most natural form of replacement teeth that modern dentistry allows they can suffer when confronted with bacteria, especially in the early days.
This is why it’s so important for patients to practice high standards if oral hygiene after implant surgery in order to keep bacteria and infections at bay. The trouble is that tobacco smoke carries bacteria which is known to attack the gums where the implants are fitted. If not treated it can lead to peri-implantitis and eventually, a failed implant.
In an ideal world any patient considering dental implants would be a non-smoker or at the very least, will have quit smoking. That said, most dentists are realists and therefore understand that quitting smoking isn’t that easy for some people. For this reason, if a patient really can’t give up altogether they might suggest a compromise whereby the patient stops smoking before the procedure starts and doesn’t return to smoking until well after the procedure has been completed (in some cases up to 9 months). However whatever is agreed, one thing’s for sure, if you really want your implants to last, you stand a far greater chance of success if you don’t smoke.
If you want to find out more about how smoking affects your chances of dental implants in Richmond or would like to find out about the procedure itself, then contact Sheen Dental on 020 8876 5277 and book yourself a free, no-obligation consultation. Alternatively, you can check out our website at www.sheendentalimplants.co.uk where you can find a wealth of information on the subject.