How to care for the crown after dental implant surgery?

Author: Luo Wei, deputy chief nurse, Peking University People's Hospital

Reviewer: Sun Zheng, Chief Physician, Beijing Stomatological Hospital, Capital Medical University

Dental implants are one of the greatest achievements in the field of dentistry in the 20th century. Compared with traditional dentures, they have many advantages. They are lifelike in appearance, stable, comfortable, hygienic, and easy to use. Therefore, many patients with missing teeth choose dental implants.

Figure 1 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

After dental implant surgery, we need to take good care of it. When caring for the crown, we should pay attention to the following:

First of all, pay attention to cleaning the gingival margin of the crown, and brush the gingival margin clean when brushing your teeth.

In addition, patients should know that when using dental implants, they must follow the principle of progressive loading. That is, when they first use dental implants, they must first eat some soft food and gradually transition to a normal diet, but they should also avoid biting hard food, such as cartilage, which should be avoided as much as possible.

After dental implant surgery, plaque is one of the main causes of peri-implantitis. If peri-implantitis occurs, it will cause alveolar bone absorption and implant shedding, so it is very necessary to effectively control dental plaque, mainly by brushing your teeth in the morning and evening and rinsing your mouth after meals.

As we all know, the most difficult part of the mouth to clean is the back teeth area on the lingual side of the lower teeth and the back teeth area on the buccal side of the upper teeth, which are the focus of brushing. After applying the plaque stain to the teeth, keep it for one minute, then rinse your mouth, and we will see that the bright red part left on the surface of the teeth is the part where the plaque is attached. In this way, we can clean it purposefully. These plaque-stained parts are the parts we need to focus on cleaning. Every time you brush your teeth in the future, you should focus on brushing these parts.

Figure 2 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

The recommended brushing method is the Bass brushing method, which requires the toothbrush bristles to be at a 45-degree angle to the long axis of the teeth; when brushing the upper teeth, the toothbrush bristles should face upwards; when brushing the lower teeth, the toothbrush bristles should face downwards; brush vertically, never horizontally, as brushing horizontally is a wrong way to brush your teeth.

When brushing teeth, brush in groups, usually 2 to 3 teeth in a group, and vibrate horizontally. The movement distance should not exceed one millimeter. And use a little force to make the bristles enter the gingival sulcus, and try to make it enter the gap between teeth, and vibrate horizontally. Vibrate like this about ten times.

Then move on to the next group. When brushing the next group of teeth, be sure to pay attention to the overlap and avoid missing any teeth or gaps in between.

When brushing the occlusal surface, you should gently press the bristles of the toothbrush on the occlusal surface, let the bristles enter the pits and fissures on the surface of the teeth, and gently vibrate horizontally, brushing one tooth at a time. It is generally recommended to brush your teeth for at least three minutes each time.

It should be noted that you can usually brush your teeth on the day of surgery, but you are not allowed to brush the surgical site. You can brush teeth in other parts of the body. Generally, you can brush the surgical site after the stitches are removed (usually 7 to 10 days) and the surgical site has basically healed.