Avoid Smoking After a Dental Implant Placement

If you’ve recently had a dental implant placed, you probably want to do everything you can to ensure a smooth recovery period. One of the most important considerations to keep in mind is that you should avoid smoking in the immediate aftermath of your implant placement. Read more to learn how smoking can negatively affect your healing process.

Why You Shouldn’t Smoke After Dental Work

We all know that smoking comes with a long list of health concerns. When it comes to your dental health, smoking can delay or complicate your recovery after an implant placement and other procedures. The harmful substances found in cigarettes cause your blood vessels to constrict, reducing the body’s ability to send oxygen and other nutrients to your surgical site.

Potential Complications of Smoking After Dental Implant Placement

Not only can smoking slow down your healing process, but it can also introduce a variety of complications. Since smoking weakens your immune system, lighting up a cigarette too early in your recovery period can increase the risk of developing an oral infection around the implant. Smoking can also cause a painful condition called dry socket, where the blood clot that forms over the surgical site gets disrupted.

Worst of all, smoking too soon after surgery may mean that your implant is unable to bond properly with your jawbone. When the implant placement procedure fails altogether, you may find yourself in the disappointing position of needing to have the implant removed. Save yourself the headache of having to start at square one by avoiding smoking for two to seven months after your implant placement.

Dental Implants in San Antonio, Texas

If you’re a smoker, the idea of quitting for even a short period of time may seem like a real challenge, but the success of your dental implant placement depends on it. Consider it a small price to pay for improving the long-term health of your smile. For more information about dental implants, including more aftercare tips, contact the team at Chandler Dental Center.

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Categorised in: Dental Implants, Dental Tips, Restorative Dentistry

This post was written by ChandlerDentalCenter