Dental implants are one of the most widely used dental procedures to get new teeth with a well-supportive structure and strength, making your chewing experience more realistic. However, at the same time, infection after dental implant surgery is also very common among people.
The infection not only causes pain and discomfort but also puts your implanted tooth at risk of losing its strength and functionality. In respect of the same, we are going to discuss here about infections that occur after dental implant surgery, with its symptoms, causes and treatment to cure the infection.
Also Read: Why Dental Implants Are Important and its Benefits?
What is Infection After a Dental Implant?
It is a kind of bacterial buildup around the teeth implanted that can be divided into two categories: early post-operative infection or late peri-implantitis. The early post-operative infection can occur within weeks of surgery, while late peri-implantitis is a chronic gum and bone disease that can develop months or years later.
The risk of infection after a dental implant can grow and damage your implanted tooth. Here, you need to understand such an infection in advance to treat it in a timely manner.
What Happens if a Tooth Implant Gets Infected?
When tooth implants get infected, it can lead to irreversible bone loss around the fixture, which makes your implanted tooth start to fail and become a failed implant. You might also feel pain, and there would be swelling around the infected area, making your chewing experience completely restless.
Dental Implant Infection Symptoms
When your dental implant is not going well, you can see swelling and pain with infection around the implanted teeth. However, there are various other signs of infection afterdental implant surgery.
Signs of Infection after Dental Implant Surgery:
When such infections erupt on implanted teeth, you can notice various signs that can cause the infection if ignored. Here are a few symptoms that can help you detect the infection in your implant.
Red or Swollen Gums: If you notice redness, swelling, or puffiness around the implant area, it could be a sign of infection in your implanted teeth.
Bleeding Around the Gums: If there is bleeding that you might notice at the time of brushing or rinsing your mouth, it could be a sign of infection in your teeth.
Pain and Sensitivity: You will also feel pain and discomfort around the implant area; it could be a sign of infection in the implanted tooth.
Pus Discharge from Implant: If there is any discharge of pus from the implanted site, it could be a symptom of infection around the implanted tooth.
Bad Breath: If your breath smells badly even after brushing your teeth, then it could be a signal of infection, as bad bacteria collect around the implant and form a buildup, causing bad breath.
Implant Loss: Ina dental implant, the tooth is fixed with a strong metal into the jawbone. But if this implant starts losing its strength, it could be a sign of dental implant infection.
Also Read: When to Get Dental Implants or after Tooth Extraction?
What Causes Dental Implant Infection?
Though there are multiple reasons that can cause the implant infection, such as not properly brushing your teeth and not maintaining oral hygiene. Apart from that, smoking, chewing hard food items, chronic gum diseases, cavity in the nearby tooth and undergoing any other dental procedure can cause the infections.
Poor Oral Hygiene: It is one of the main causes of dental implant infection. Yes, improper brushing habits allow plaque and tartar to build up on and around the implant. And the implants have a rougher surface than natural teeth, which need more precautionary cleaning to keep them free from infection.
Contamination: While going through the dental surgical process, using unsterilized instruments to cure your teeth or implant the teeth can also become another reason for infection in implanted teeth.
Teeth Grinding: This is a kind of disorder called Bruxism, in which people, mainly during sleep, keep grinding their teeth with excessive pressure that can damage the bone and create pockets, causing infection.
Improper Placement: If a new tooth is placed through a dental implant with the wrong placement or alignment, it can create hard-to-clean gaps that trap food and attract bacteria, causing the infection.
How to Avoid Infection after Dental Implants?
“Prevention is better than cure”. Yes, before your implanted tooth gets infected, take care of it to avoid such infections. To prevent infection after a dental implant, you can follow the following tips.
Follow the Precautions: After going through the dental implant procedure, the dentist will recommend certain precautions that you should follow to avoid such infections. Like what to oral care, what to eat, what not to eat, etc.
Professional Cleaning: Apart from oral care at your home, you also need to professionally clean your teeth. The dentist will professionally clean and remove the bacterial plaque and tartar around the implant site.
Food and Beverages: You also need to avoid consuming the food and beverages that can harm your implanted tooth. Avoid eating hard items, such as extremely hot or cold beverages, that can hurt your teeth.
Antibiotic Medicines: Andafterevery dental implant procedure, you need to take the oral antibiotics as per the dentist’s instructions, so that the surgical area can properly heal and control bacterial overgrowth.
Also Read: Which is Better Dental Implants or Dentures?
How to Treat Infection after a Dental Implant?
Post-dental implant infection is sometimes not noticeable at the initial stage. Despite taking care of various precautions, you might have gone through such infections. However, if your implanted teeth are infected, you need to get professional treatment from a dentist to cure this and avoid major problems.
Cleaning & Sterilisation: If the infection is at the initial stage, it can be cured with professional cleaning. The dentist will sterilise the infected area to remove bacterial plaque and tartar around the implant site.
Antimicrobials: The dentist can also prescribe the use of antibacterial mouthwashes that will help you to remove the infection at its early stage.
Laser & Therapies: If infection is at the moderate level, it can be cured with invasive laser techniques to decontaminate the implant’s surface and promote healing. Here, the dentist will also give you the oral antibiotics to control the further overgrowth of bacteria.
Surgical Debridement: If the infection is severe, the dentist may fold back the gum tissue to completely clean the implant surface and surrounding bone to prevent bone loss.
Bone Grafting: This is also used to prevent bone loss by regenerating bone lost to infection, to provide a stable foundation for the infected teeth.
Explanation: This is the last option when a dental implant is not curable with any of the aforementioned dental procedures. When an implant becomes very loose or the bone loss is irreparable, then the implant needs to be removed permanently. After the removal, you can get a new implant only after healing, which may take 3 to 6 months.
Summing-up
The infection after dental implant can be avoided with proper oral care, following the dentist’s instructions post-implant surgery, avoiding harmful food or beverages, and taking quick action if any such symptoms arise. However, if preventive measures are not taken in a timely manner, an infection after dental implant placement can spread to the other teeth around it, making your life difficult.
Here you need to visit your nearest best dentist in Greater Noida to get a professional treatment for post-implant infections. Dr Sinha Dental Clinic is providing dental implant services with extra care and precautions to avoid such infections and give the best dental treatment in Noida city.
