Like all oral surgeries, the dental implants fitting procedure requires a period of healing. During this time, you might experience some discomfort while the implant bases integrate with your gums and jaw bone. Follow these three tips to speed up your recovery so you can start enjoying your new teeth as soon as possible.

1. Quit Smoking

If you are currently a smoker, quitting tobacco use is one of the best things you can do to improve your body's ability to heal. For best results, try to give up cigarettes before the surgery so your body can begin to recover from the toxic effects of tobacco smoke. At the very least, dentists recommend that you stay away from cigarettes until your gum tissue has fully healed.

In addition to speeding up the healing process, quitting smoking can also reduce your risk of dental implant failure. Very few non-smokers end up having to have their dental implants removed due to failure to integrate with the bone, but the failure rate is much higher in people who smoke. Not smoking helps to improve the health of your bones and gums so they are more able to support your dental implants.

2. Avoid Drinking Alcohol

Dentists recommend avoiding alcohol during the healing period after dental implant surgery. Not only does alcohol interact dangerously with some pain medications, but it also reduces the body's ability to heal.

Drinking too much alcohol causes dehydration, which is likely to increase the discomfort you feel while your dental implant integrates with your gums. Alcohol also causes blood vessels to dilate, which can lead to a major increase in sensitivity. Rather than drinking alcohol, sip water throughout the day to stay hydrated while you recover from dental implant surgery.

3. Take Steps to Prevent Infection

After dental implant surgery, it is important to reduce the risk of infection as much as possible. All oral surgeries present an infection risk, which you can counteract by swishing salt water gently around your mouth. Salt prevents bacteria from reproducing and therefore reduces their ability to infect your gums.

In addition to rinsing with salt water, you must take the full course of antibiotics if your dentist prescribed them to you. Not everyone needs antibiotics to prevent infection after oral surgery, but in people who are particularly vulnerable to infection they can be invaluable for the purpose of avoiding dental implant failure.

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