Should I Avoid Smoking If I Have Dental Implants?

Severely damaged or missing teeth can affect your eating, speaking, and looking. That can result in secondary complications like malnutrition, pain, sensitivity, and low self-confidence. Thanks to restorative dentistry, you can transform your oral health, function, and appearance with dental implants.

Dental implants comprise tiny titanium posts fixed into the jawbone through surgery to replace missing teeth. Compared to other replacement treatments like bridges and dentures, dental implants are permanent and offer excellent stability, strength, and appearance like a natural tooth.

Unfortunately, certain factors can disqualify you for dental implant surgery or cause complications with your implant. In this article, let’s find out why you should quit smoking if you want or have dental implants.

Smoking and Oral Health

Smoking is bad news for your mouth and overall well-being. As far as your oral cavity is concerned, smoking increases your risk of developing:

• Periodontal or gum disease
• Oral precancerous and cancerous lesions
• Root caries
• Staining of teeth and dental restorations
• Delayed wound healing
• Post-surgery complications
• Peri-implantitis

These oral conditions can cause significant discomfort and increase your risk of developing serious health issues like diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory problems. Be sure to contact our dentist in Raynham for treatment if you have these and other symptoms.

Smoking and the Risk of Dental Implants

Before any invasive or surgical procedure, the surgeon will advise you to avoid tobacco and alcoholic product for a few days before and after the procedure. If you have or are considering dental implants, smoking can negatively affect your implants and mouth in several ways, including:

• Smoking cause delayed wound healing

An implant fixes into the jawbone through surgery. The bone is supposed to heal around the implant in osseointegration, which takes about 3 – 6 months. Smoking during this period can affect your recovery. When nicotine enters the bloodstream, it reduces the flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to vital organs like the gums and bone. Smoking also releases harmful chemicals which can damage cells and delay wound healing.

• Increased Risk of Infection

Since smoking interferes with blood, oxygen, and nutrients flow in the body, it can result in a weakened immune system. A weakened immune system plus delayed wound healing makes you vulnerable to post-surgical infections. Smoking also increases bacteria and toxins in the mouth, increasing the risk of infections.

• Increased Risk of Peri-implantitis

Even after the initial surgical recovery, your dental implants are still vulnerable to damage. While a dental implant isn’t vulnerable to decay or cavities, it’s susceptible to peri-implantitis. It can cause the implant to lose stability and fail. Smoking can increase your risk of peri-implantitis and affect your recovery.

• Increased Risk of Dental Implant Failure

A weakened immune system, delayed healing, and infections will likely affect osseointegration, leading to dental implant failure. Even after the surgical recovery, other factors related to smoking, like peri-implantitis, can cause the implant to fail.

• Staining

While the dental implant is strong and resistant to stains, smoking can cause the crown that covers the implant to look dull. Even if the implant doesn’t stain, smoking can stain the surrounding teeth, causing a non-uniform smile.

Should I Smoke if I Have Dental Implants?

Whether or not you have implants, it’s essential to common to quit smoking for your oral and overall well-being. If you must smoke, you must wait for at least two to four weeks before smoking (follow your dentist’s instructions).

Furthermore, it would help if you took great care of your oral hygiene and habits. Poor dental hygiene plus smoking significantly increases your risk of implant failure, peri-implantitis, cavities in the nearby teeth, teeth discoloration, and gum disease. Apart from losing the implant, these issues can cause severe discomforts like soreness, swelling, and bleeding.

Schedule an Appointment Today

Are you interested in dental implants in Raynham, MA, or would you like to speak with a professional about smoking with dental implants? Contact Raynham Dental Group, the Office of Dr. Michael Scanlon today, to book your appointment.