Our doctors at Fort Worth Oral Surgery place dental implants in thousands of patients every year. This is a rewarding experience for us, as we are giving our patients the oral health, biting functionality, and smile they deserve. Placing implants is considered oral surgery, and just like you’ll need to take special care of yourself after a medical surgery on your body, you need to follow special aftercare instructions after oral surgery, too. Here are 5 tips from our doctors on how to immediately take care of your implants after they are placed.
1. Make Sure You Keep Your Dental Implants Clean
Any time you have surgery, it’s important to keep the surgical site clean to avoid infection. The same is true for patients who have dental implants placed. While your gums are likely to be too sensitive for you to brush immediately after your oral surgery, our doctors advise that you keep your implants and surgery site clean by using a soft Toothbrush to gently massage the site for the last two weeks.

2. Be Careful Biting Down While You’re in the Healing Process
Once your dental implants heal, you can bite down on anything you’d like – even peanut brittle! But while you’re in the healing process, you need to watch what you eat and bite down carefully. In fact, our doctors recommend you not bite down on your dental implants at all while they are healing, and instead eat soft foods or chew on the other side of your mouth. If you have implants on both sides of your mouth, a soft foods diet may be the best option while you’re healing.

3. Remember Your Temporary Crowns Aren’t Meant to Last Forever
Many of our patients choose to have temporary crowns placed over their implants until their permanent crowns can be placed. While these temporary crowns offer some tooth functionality, remember, they aren’t meant to last. That means you’ll need to be careful with your temporary teeth (also known as flipper teeth) and that you’ll need to inform our doctors immediately if it is rubbing up against your dental implants, or the soft tissues.

4. Maintain Proper Oral Hygiene
Having oral surgery isn’t an excuse to skip brushing twice a day and flossing once a day. In fact, after oral surgery, practicing proper oral hygiene is more important than ever. Once your gums have healed enough to allow for brushing and flossing, make sure you take care of both your natural teeth and dental implants every day.

5. Keep All Your Follow Up Appointments with Our Doctors
Our doctors schedule follow up appointments for you to make sure you’re healing properly and to finish out your treatment plan. Don’t miss any of these appointments, and if you need to reschedule, do so as quickly as possible.

Call Us for More Information About Dental Implants

If you know you need dental implants, and you have more questions about how to care for them after your surgery, we’re happy to help. Call us today at (817) 731-2789 to schedule an initial appointment with our doctors, during which they’ll be happy to answer all your questions.