What Effect Does Smoking Has On Dental Implants?
The negative effects of smoking and Dental Implants
If you are an active smoker and you need dental implants, you should read the following information and take some actions before your surgery.
Dental implant surgery is a standard but effective procedure that needs your total attention in the pre, post, and aftercare. If you are a "chain smoker," maybe you should consider quitting a few months before the dental implant surgery.
The recovery is 50% of the surgery's success.
Smoking and dental implants failure
Tobacco use is associated with gingival bleeding, periodontal disease, bad breath, and oral cancer.
Dental implants might have a better success rate for non-smokers. But if you smoke, that does not mean you cannot get successful treatment. Clinical experience and research results show evident results.
People who smoke cigarettes (or cigar) can expect more complications. Many studies have shown that reducing your smoking habits will lower the chances of dental implant problems or failure.
The Nicotine and the heat will decrease the oxygen and the blood pressure in your mouth, compromising the dental implant's adequate recovery.
Research shows that any oral surgery healing is compromised when the patient smokes. Results have shown that the failure rate increases twice in smokers than in non-smokers.
What happens in your body when you smoke?
When you smoke, you inhale nicotine, which is a vasoconstrictor. Nicotine will drastically reduce the blood supply to the bone graft or/and surgical site. If the tissue around the dental implant received the heat from smoking, it could also suffer the consequences.
The proper healing after a dental implant surgery depends on the Osseointegration process, the metal, and bone bonding. This way, the screw will integrate with your bone.
The lack of proper blood irrigation and heat can create further problems. The mouth will not heal if you smoke. Results show that smoking reduces the success rate and drops somewhere around 50%-70%.
A smoker is constantly inhaling vasoconstrictors. You need optimal blood irrigation when experiencing the osseointegration process after the implant surgery.
If you cannot quit smoking, allow the implants to heal and complete the osseointegration process. It will not help your overall health, but it will maintain the implants and gums to recover. Patients who smoke should quit at least two months after the surgery.
Can I have dental implants if I smoke?
You must clearly understand smoking cigarettes' risks and possible complications during your dental implant surgery healing process.
Inhaling smoke will produce Keratosis. Keratosis is a white layer inside the mouth and is a pre-cancerous symptom.
It can also produce mouth dryness as the toxins and the nicotine block the salivary glands.
A dry mouth can also boost the growth of bacteria and pathogenic agents. Bacteria can also cause gum (periodontal) disease and further problems like adjacent tooth loss.
Smoking after dental implants surgery
How long after dental implant surgery can I smoke? You avoid smoking and wait at least for a couple of weeks.
Smoking after the first two weeks after the dental surgery increases the chance of implant loss. The cases of infection also grow.
Cigarette smoking also boosts bone deterioration or loss around the titanium screws. It is even more common in people who show infection symptoms or inflammation around the gums or tissue. When you smoke, you raise the temperature inside your mouth, increasing the chance of failure.
Nicotine will affect your dental implants' recovery. Smoking will boost the chances of losing an implant even after years of placing it. Later failures of crowns attached to implants also correlate to active smoking history.
How long should you quit smoking before a dental implant surgery?
If you definitely can't quit smoking, try to stop at least one month before your surgery. You will also have to avoid smoking after the surgery for the following weeks.
You could vape too, but the heat and chemicals won't let the implants heal properly. You can also try nicotine patches to control your anxiety.
TRY TO QUIT SMOKING FOREVER.
Improve the quality of your life and quit smoking today. Increase the chances of success rate for your implant surgery.
Quit smoking and benefit your health
Over the years, it has been demonstrated over and over all the damages smoking causes to your body. You can also benefit from your blood irrigation which also helps the healing.
Do you need help to quit smoking? Reach out to these sites,
Smokefree.gov - https://smokefree.gov/
Allen Carr Easyway - https://www.allencarr.com
Last Updated: August 19th, 2022.