If you’ve been considering dental implants to replace one or more missing teeth you might be concerned about the healing process. A lot of the patients we see at New Albany Implants are concerned that healing from implant surgery will be a painful, long, and uncomfortable process but that’s not true at all!
For most patients implant healing is easy and only takes a few months. The process is so easy, in fact, that we can place and restore implants the same day! Despite how easy it is for many patients there are still health concerns that can make healing more difficult. None of these will prevent you from getting dental implants but they will mean you requires some special care!
Smoking
We’ve talked about how smoking can be a risk to already established dental implants but it’s just as dangerous for those that are healing! While it isn’t a guarantee that smoking will cause implant failure during healing it does greatly increase the chance!
There are two major concerns for smoking and implant healing. The first is how nicotine restricts the flow of blood to your soft tissue. You may have noticed this as a smoker if you’ve ended up with cold fingers after a cigarette. Plentiful blood flow is necessary to help healing and the slower your blood flows the slower your gums will get better!
Smoking also changes the bacterial balance of your mouth, tipping the balance in favor of harmful bacteria that cause decay and gum disease. The increase in dangerous bacteria can lead to infection during healing, which can completely prevent your implants from integrating with your bone!
Rheumatoid And Connective Tissue Diseases
Patients with rheumatoid conditions have been found to have higher chances of implant failure, especially if they also have disease affecting their connective tissues. Dental implants have been found to not successfully bond to bone, and soft tissue healing time is increased for these patients. This leads to serious risks and failure possibility!
Patients suffering from these conditions need to be properly monitored during healing. We may have you come to visit us more frequently so that we can be sure your implants are integrating properly.
Cardiovascular Disease
Heart disease has an impact on your body’s ability to heal, and not just in your mouth. Stress-related reactions in your body due to cardiovascular constriction can make the stages of healing become disrupted, uneven, or even halt prematurely!
Because cardiovascular disease is closely linked to stress in the body and mind it’s also linked to the body’s immune system. If your ability to fight infection is damaged by heart disease there’s yet one more risk to your implant healing!
Diabetes
While newer research suggests that placing dental implants in patients with diabetes is acceptable there is still risk in doing so! Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can cause complications in healing both soft tissue and bone so it’s important to control your blood sugar and constantly monitor it during implant healing.
This Isn’t The End For Your Implants!
These conditions might make it sound like any of them could stop you from getting implants but that isn’t true at all. You can still benefit from all the different implant services we offer at our New Albany dentist office. We treat each patient as a unique case, so nothing will differ for you. We’ll simply plan your treatment to take any health considerations into account, ensuring that your implants heal perfectly!
We would love to explore your dental implant issues with you so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to call us! We’re here for all of your dental implant questions and needs!
You can reach New Albany Implants by calling (812) 945-7645 or you can request an appointment using our online form. We look forward to seeing you soon!