Proper Care Critical to Maintaining Dental Implants

Dental hygienists are the first line of defense against peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis. The best initial course of action is nonsurgical periodontal therapy with either ultrasonic or hand instrumentation or a combination of both.

In addition to professional maintenance, much of the long-term success of dental implant therapy hinges on effective self-care. Be sure to have your dental hygienists reinforce the vital nature of effective self-care in controlling the bacterial load, and provide explicit oral hygiene instruction.

For example, offer your patients key tips to strengthen their self-care programs.

Determining what areas are hygienically challenging for your patient and demonstrating how to clean these areas are of the utmost importance. To get the most out of self-care practices, have implant patients incorporate antimicrobial dentifrices and mouth rinses, as well as interproximal cleaning devices, into their daily regimens.

Your help is critical to ensure patients have lifelong success in caring for and maintaining dental implants. However, if any of your patients show signs of periodontal disease, let them know that new treatment options such as LANAP are available to them. Have them contact our office here [mailto:doctor@drgaryperlman.com]or call (904) 731-1324 to set up a consultation.