If you have had a dental problem, probably with your tooth or dentures, it certainly had something to do with oral hygiene or a mishap. At Voss Dental in Houston Texas, we have had to deal with a wide range of oral problems that end up being a product of poor oral or dental care. Most of the patients we get are stuck on the methods and proper ways to clean their implants or dentures.
Here, we will be providing you with a detailed explanation of how to do an all on 4 dental implant cleaning. All on 4 dental implants have been a great choice for people who have missing teeth. Essentially, all on 4 dental implants are a set of four implants installed in strategic points on your jaw to support the full arch denture. All on 4 dental implants are a good example of endosteal implants. Endosteal implants are the type of implants that go into your jaw bone. Therefore, this requires you to keep up the best practices in keeping your oral health in check.
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Why Do I Need to Do an All on 4 Dental Implants Cleaning?
Like natural teeth, cleaning all on 4 dental implants ensures that you can keep your teeth or dentures for the longest time possible. Normally, after meals, the food debris on or under the dentures decomposes through bacterial action. If you do not make it your habit to do a regular mouth cleaning, the bacteria will breed and could have a destructive impact on your dental implants. Clean implant dentures will give you a lifetime service. Apart from failed dentures, failure to clean your dental implants can lead to the following oral problems.
- Pain under the denture
- Bad breath
- Pus in your gums and around the implants
- Bleeding while brushing your teeth
- Fever
- A constant bad taste in your mouth
- Wobbly or loose dental implants
- Gum swelling and throbbing pain
- Discoloration of the gum
- Inflammation under the dentures
- Per-implantitis
If you experience these problems, your all on 4 dental implants could be failing, and you could lose your tooth replacement option.
Cleaning All on 4 Dental Implants
Do you have the temporarily fixed bridges or the long term all on 4 dental implants? Are you wondering the best way to perform an all on 4 dental implants cleaning? Implanted teeth are prone to bacterial destruction and infections just the same way natural teeth are. Growing up, you might have come across the phrase ‘clean your teeth after every meal.’ Well, this is still one of the basic ways to keep your oral health in check. Cleaning the dental implants after every meal ensures that you can dislodge the implants’ debris before they stick to your dentures and become a breeding ground for bacterial. The following are five methods that you can use to clean dental implants.
- Flossing your bridge after every meal to remove the food debris that might be stuck under the bridge
- Rinsing your mouth with water and an antibacterial mouth rinse. The mouth rinse should not be alcohol-based.
- Clean your dentures with an electric toothbrush. An electric toothbrush ensures that the cleaning is effective and exhaustive.
- Clean the top of your tongue and the insides of your cheeks to ensure that there are no bacteria left in your mouth. You can use a toothbrush to brush off the debris that gets stuck on your tongue during eating.
- Develop the habit of visiting your dentist for professional cleaning at a frequency of 2 to 3 months.
Essentially, your goal to clean dental implants should have a threefold approach where you:
- Get rid of any food debris that gets stuck on the bridge, the dentures, or the implants.
- Eliminate the bacterial that could breed on or under the bridge of your dental implants
- Prevent the bacterial from sticking on your bridge
What Are The Tools and Items That I Should Use to Clean My Dental Implants?
A successful cleaning and caring of your dental implants involve the use of various tools and items. You can get these cleaning items through your dentist’s recommendation or purchase them from a dental clinic or drug store close to you. In essence, these tools are required to be as effective as possible while, at the same time, being comfortable to use. They should be flexible and as soft as possible. If the cleaning tool injured or inflicted a cut on you during the cleaning, you would have to seek extra healing care. Cuts or injuries in the mouth provide a breeding ground for bacterial and can also damage your dental implants. Some of the tools and items that you could safely use are outlined below.
- A flossing item such as the super floss
- Mouth rinsing product such as the water pick that has a tank filled with ¾ water and ¼ mouth rinsing liquid. Mouth rinsing products are very effective in removing food debris stuck on your denture or under the bridge.
- A small brush that you can use to brush the under the bridge with ease. A good example is a proxy brush that is round instead of the full-sized traditional brush.
- A toothpick that can reach the smallest of crevices, such as the doctor’s toothpick. This toothpick should be as soft as possible and flexible enough to not break while inside an opening.
- An end tuft brush. This is a tiny brush that you can use to reach the surfaces at the intersection of the gum opening and the dental implant bridge.
- Rubber tip helps you in the polishing and brushing of the plaque from the bridge’s surface, around, and under the bridge.
- An electric toothbrush
The Process of Cleaning All on 4 Dental Implants
Cleaning all on 4 dental implants requires a systematic and carefully planned procedure. A well-outlined process will ensure that you exhaustively clean dental implants and attain clean implant dentures. This procedure involves dental bridge cleaning, cleaning of the full arch dental implants, and ensuring that the inside surface of your mouth has no food materials that can later lead to problems in your dental implants. The following is cleaning all on 4 dental implants procedure that you can use to keep your oral hygiene in check.
Step 1: Remove Food Materials on Your Teeth
Use a soft toothpick to get out bigger chunks of food that have been stuck on your bridge, dentures, or implants. A toothpick is especially useful when removing food materials stuck between the teeth or in other dental crevices.
Step 2: Use Super Floss With Implants
You can use a floss to get food materials under the bridge and also between the teeth. A floss is generally great due to its flexibility and ability to reach surfaces that a toothpick or a brush wouldn’t get to. The recommended frequency is once a day. However, if used more frequently, you will observe better and long-lasting results. Before you sleep, ensure that you floss your dentures. Food particles left out during the cleaning can attract bacteria at night, especially because there is less saliva to absorb and wash away the food debris. If you are unsure whether you got all the debris, you should invest in a magnifying mirror and good lighting.
Step 3: Rigorous Cleaning
The next step is a rigorous brushing of your teeth with a soft brush. You should ensure that you contain your brushing around the dentures and close to the gum during this process. You should use a regular brush to clean the dentures. However, investing in an electric toothbrush is a great choice since they are effective than regular brushes. Electric toothbrushes are several times more effective than regular toothbrushes and wave you the brushing time. During the brushing, it is advisable to use a toothpaste that uses non-abrasive products. This is very important, especially because the teeth on your bridge could be acrylic.
Step 4: Clean the Surface of Your Tongue
If you brush dental implants and leave food debris stuck on your tongue, then the cleaning isn’t as effective as it should. Full arch dental implants require an exhaustive mouth cleaning to keep them protected. Therefore, you should brush the upper surface of your tongue just the same way you brush to clean dental implants.
Step 5: Rinse Your Mouth
The final step in cleaning all on 4 dental implants is rinsing your mouth with a non-alcoholic mouth rinsing substance. Rinsing your mouth ensures that any food particle that has endured the rigorous cleaning is dislodged from your teeth. This part is very crucial since it cleans away food materials and other substances from your tongue, the inside of your cheeks, and also under the bridge.
Though it is possible to be very meticulous in cleaning all on 4 dental implants, it is advisable to develop a habit of visiting your dentist. Your dentist has a wide range of equipment and better suited to evaluate your dental health. A visit to the dentist will give you a detailed examination of your dental health. This way, you will be able to keep your dentures and teeth under check while at the same time ensuring that your clean dental implants serve you for a longer period. If you are wondering how to clean teeth implants, you can follow the above steps for a comprehensive dental cleaning.
Conclusion
All on 4 dental implants cleaning is a very important part of maintaining your dental health. All on 4 dental implants cleaning also gives you a chance to salvage your teeth and ensure that you can keep them for longer. If you need any help with all on 4 dental implants cleaning and dental bridge cleaning or wondering how to clean teeth implants, you can contact us at Voss Dental in Houston Texas.
FAQ
Q. Can I brush dental implants?
A. Yes, you can brush them just the same way you would brush real teeth.
Q. My dentist told me to use super floss with implants. Where can I get them?
A. You can purchase a super floss from the local pharmacy or a dentist’s clinic.
Q. What is the best way to clean dental implants?
A. The best way to clean dental implants is dependent on individual cases. However, the procedure can be used on all dental implants.
Q. What are the best dental implant cleaning methods?
A. Regular brushing, flossing, and mouth rinsing are some of the best dental implant cleaning methods.
Q. Do dentists offer cleaning all on 4 dental implants?
A. This is a basic procedure that you can conduct at home. However, depending on the merit of your case, your dentist might be able to help you.
Q. How do I clean full mouth dental implants?
A. If you need to clean full mouth dental implants, you can use the common mouth cleaning procedures such as brushing or flossing.