When patients at our Aurora office ask what matters most for a successful dental implant, they are often surprised when I mention gum health. Bone health matters too, but your gums play a bigger role in implant success than many realize.
Why Gum Health Matters for Dental Implants
Long-term implant success depends on healthy tissue that heals properly and stays stable over the long term. When gum disease is active, the bacteria responsible for it don't go away when we remove the tooth. Placing an implant in unhealthy gum tissue would interfere with healing and put the implant at risk.
Having active gum disease does not mean you cannot get an implant at some point. It means we would need to treat the condition first to give the implant the best chance of success.
How I Evaluate Gums Before Implant Treatment
During a consultation, I look at more than bone structure alone. I check gum tissue health by measuring the pockets between your gums and teeth and checking for active infection.
For some patients, we can move forward fairly quickly. Others may require gum treatment first. This can include a deep cleaning, improved home care, or sometimes a referral to a specialist.
It depends on what the clinical picture shows during your evaluation. If I find that you need additional treatment before your implant, my team will walk you through the cost and timeline so there are no surprises.
How Can I Protect My Gums After Getting a Dental Implant?
Once we place and restore your implant, keeping the gum tissue around it healthy is an ongoing commitment. Implants cannot develop cavities, but they can develop peri-implant disease. This condition is essentially gum disease around the implant, which can lead to bone loss and even implant failure.
Fortunately, peri-implantitis is largely preventable. A few things I recommend to every implant patient:
- Brush gently but thoroughly around the implant site twice a day.
- Use floss, an interdental brush, or a water flosser to clean below the gumline.
- Keep up with regular professional cleanings. We typically recommend every six months, though some patients benefit from every three to four months.
- Watch for warning signs like bleeding, swelling, or tenderness around the implant, and contact us if they appear.
Call Us with Your Implant Questions
Have questions about whether gum health could affect your implant options? We're happy to take a look and walk you through what we find. Call Baller Dental & Ortho at Southlands at (720) 653-3223.