Tips for Post-Implant Care from Your Friendly Toronto Periodontist

If you’ve recently had a periodontic procedure in the Toronto area such as surgery for a dental implant or a periodontal flap, you may be wondering how to care for your mouth in the days and weeks after your procedure. Maintaining proper oral hygiene is essential to helping the area heal, but what about all the rest? Here are some things we recommend here at Cumberland Periodontics for the success of your procedure and optimal healing.

Keep your diet simple

After dental surgery, it’s important to choose your food carefully. While you may have had dental surgery to restore the function of your teeth and get back to enjoying all the delicious foods Toronto has to offer, the days and weeks after your surgery are not the time to test out your new chewing capabilities. Avoid hard, crunchy foods such as nuts or potato chips that could damage the new implant or the tissues supporting it. While delicious, eating popcorn could lodge a kernel in between the implant and sensitive gum tissue leading to infection, swelling, and pain. Given the nature of dental surgery, there will be healing and newly forming gum tissue that would be extremely sensitive to spicy or overly acidic foods as well. Ask your Toronto periodontist for some recommendations on appropriate foods and the time frame you’re expected to adhere to this diet. Overall, in the weeks after your dental procedure, it’s advisable to stick to plain soft foods such as oatmeal, mashed potatoes, yogurts, eggs, and smoothies.

Straws, suction, and spray

The use of straws can wreak havoc on a healing surgical area in your mouth. Any Toronto periodontist will tell you that after a dental procedure like a dental implant or a periodontal flap procedure, using a straw creates suction inside the mouth which can loosen or dislodge any blood clot forming over the affected area. You need the blood to clot to seal off the wound and begin the healing process. Alternatively, spraying tools are also something you’ll want to avoid after your procedure. Oral care tools such as water picks can cause the same issue through the force of spraying water as opposed to suction. If you’ve newly had dental surgery in Toronto, then gently brushing and gently flossing manually is all that is required in the days after your procedure.

Avoid alcohol

While a nice glass of wine from a local Toronto vineyard may sound soothing after the discomfort of a surgical procedure, it could be detrimental to the healing and success of your dental implant. Consuming alcohol carries with it a multitude of side effects that can threaten the healing process and cause further pain and discomfort. Alcohol dehydrates the body and can disrupt the tissues from healing properly when not fully hydrated and also interrupts osseointegration. Osseointegration is when bone tissues fuse to the pores on the surface of the implant to fully integrate your dental implant. Consuming alcohol could lead to a failed implant. It can also increase the dilation of capillaries and vessels in the gums leading to further discomfort for you.