Can You Smoke After Dental Implants Procedure?
Smoking affects your oral health in different ways like discoloration, gum disease, and even tooth loss. Furthermore, tobacco can impact your gums and implant process.
It has been known that smoking, even after a single cigarette, can increase the chance of having an infection in your mouth.
Smoking after receiving dental implants is not advisable for two reasons. First, it can cause damage to the implants and their surrounding tissue. Second, it increases the risk of implant failure, which leads to more expensive treatment in the future.
How Does Smoking Affect Dental Implants?
Smoking is one of the most important risk factors that can affect dental implants. It contains various carcinogens that cause the deterioration of your oral health.
No matter how much you brush your teeth, it is only temporary because the only way to stop damage and promote teeth care is to stop smoking.
One study found that people who stopped smoking had a lower risk of tooth erosion by 65%. Other studies have shown that smokers are significantly more likely to experience implant failure than non-smokers or smokers who quit smoking.
Dental implants are delicate devices, so smokers need to be mindful of their oral health practices so as not negatively impact this procedure.
Smoking causes gum recession, meaning that the root of your teeth is exposed and this leads to cavities and sensitivity. It also causes dry mouth, leading to bad breath as saliva cannot remove the food particles. This also increases your risk of decay and cavities. And finally, smoking can cause muscle fatigue in the jaw muscles, which distort the shape of the bone where your teeth are anchored. This means that a dentist can’t create a durable and stable implant on top of bone that isn’t strong and stable enough anymore.
Smoking is the leading risk factor for oral cancer, and it also damages the teeth. It is not advisable to smoke while having dental implants to prevent oral cancer and other diseases related to smoking.
How Smoking Affects Bone Grafts?
Dental implants are a durable and reliable way to replace a missing tooth. Sufficient bone density is required before dental implants are fixed on the jaw.
Bone grafting is a technique that is commonly used in dental work to regenerate bone. The two major types of grafting are autograft and allograft. The key difference between the two is the source of bone–It can be either from an area of your body or from an external donor.
Bone grafting helps to support dental implants and make jaws stronger after tooth extraction.
Smoking tobacco products may result in adverse effects on bone grafting procedures and jeopardize the success of dental implants.
How Long Should One Wait to Smoke After Dental Implant Treatment?
It is recommended that patients wait for at least four weeks after dental implant before they resume smoking. However, this period could be longer depending on the severity of the gums or mouth damage during treatment.
Smoking has been shown to significantly impair wound healing because it promotes inflammation, thins blood flow, and damages tissue oxygenation because of carbon monoxide accumulation in the blood.
How to Take Care of Your Dental Implants After You Smoke
It is important for those who smoke to take extra care of their implants to ensure that they don’t get affected by smoking and maintain an overall healthy mouth.
Smoking and dental implants don’t mix. Smoking is a major risk factor for periodontal disease and can cause gum disease to accelerate faster. Smokers will have to pay closer attention to their oral health and implant maintenance. Smoking will cause discoloration and tooth decay, increasing the risk of the body rejecting the tooth implant.
It is also important to get a regular dental checkup to ensure your gums and implants are healthy, free of infection or damage.
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Visit Smiles of Gilbert for more information about dental implants and what you can expect during and after the procedure.