Without a doubt, dental implants mark the gold standard of tooth replacement. The posts have an inherently high success rate, look and act almost exactly like “real” teeth, and so on. That said, you’d still benefit by tailoring your meals to them; a healthy diet helps dental implants last longer. If you eat the right stuff, your new teeth are almost guaranteed to work for your whole life. You can learn the relevant details below in this primer from your Temple dentist.
Context: Dental Implants Can Fail Early
Before proceeding, note that dental implants can still fail early. The fact that they’re highly effective doesn’t mean they’re invulnerable.
Dental implants can fail early for various reasons, some more likely than others. One of the more common ones is peri-implantitis – an infection of the gum tissue around an implant. Another to consider is failed osseointegration, which occurs when your post doesn’t fuse with your jawbone. Rarer (but still notable) causes even span teeth grinding, poor oral hygiene, and conditions like diabetes and osteoporosis.
Of course, your dentist can provide guidelines to minimize the risk of failure. You’ll just want to adopt any safety measures possible – including healthier eating.
Healthy Eating’s Positive Effects on Dental Implants
When you stick to healthy eating, you help your dental implants last longer. After all, a suitable diet benefits your treatment with:
Improved Bone Health
When your meals have the right nutrients, they promote strong and healthy bones. Research shows that foods filled with calcium, vitamin D, and similar components maintain your bone density. To that extent, you can make failed osseointegration less likely by eating fatty fish, dairy products, and leafy greens. Doing so would make your jawbone robust, ensuring it fuses with your implant posts.
A Stronger Immune System
A good diet also benefits dental implants by boosting your immune system. As for the reason, said boost helps you prevent peri-implantitis – a major contributor to implant failure. That means you can stave off threats to your implants by eating more fruits, veggies, and lean proteins. More specifically, you may want to add more spinach, kale, citrus fruits, nuts, and yogurt to your meals.
Speedy Treatment Recovery
Last but not least, healthy eating speeds up your mouth’s recovery from implant surgery. The nutrients it provides allow your treatment site to form blood clots more quickly. That effect is crucial, as it reduces the number of obstacles to implant fusion (i.e., osseointegration). You should thus stock up on anti-inflammatory foods like fatty fish, nuts, strawberries, and blueberries.
Since a healthy diet helps dental implants last, don’t be careless with your eating. Stick to proper meals so your restored smile endures for a lifetime.
About the Author
Dr. Richard Fossum is a certified dentist based in Temple, TX, having earned his DDS from the UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry. He has amassed expertise in preventive, cosmetic, and even restorative dentistry through years of training and fieldwork, ensuring he can help any patient. Whether your smile needs a dental checkup or dental implants, you can trust him to make your grin thrive! Today, Dr. Fossum practices at his self-titled clinic and is reachable on his website and by phone at (254)-831-4397.