Why You Need to Stay Hydrated While Your Dental Implants Heal
One of the easiest ways to care for your oral health, aside from good oral hygiene, is to stay hydrated. This means you need to drink plenty of water and avoid things that might dry your mouth out. This is especially important just after dental implant surgery and during the time it takes for your gums and bone tissue to heal.
Dehydration can have a negative impact on the healing process. But if you ensure that you stay hydrated throughout the healing process, your dental implants will heal as they should.
Saliva has healing properties
Did you know that wounds in the mouth heal faster than wounds on other parts of the body? This is because saliva contains special proteins that speed up the healing process. Saliva also creates a humid environment in the mouth, which is crucial for the healing process. Drinking water and staying hydrated will ensure that you have a steady flow of saliva to aid your healing dental implants.
Oral bacteria thrive in dry mouths
One of the biggest threats to healing dental implants and other oral wounds is bacteria. Bacteria can invade healing wounds and cause infections that could lead to the failure of healing dental implants.
Your saliva is a potent weapon against oral bacteria. Saliva contains enzymes that kill oral bacteria. This is why you have to stay hydrated while your dental implants heal. If you have plenty of saliva in your mouth, then that will ensure bacteria cannot breed out of control and invade the wounds around your healing dental implants.
Water and saliva wash away food particles
Food particles are also the enemy of healing dental implants. For instance, if food particles find their way into the healing areas around your implants, that food could then begin to rot. Bacteria will then feed on those food particles and infection may take root. This could lead to peri-implantitis, a gum tissue infection that could cause your implants to fail.
To avoid this issue, you must drink plenty of water after meals and wash food particles out of your mouth. In the early days after your surgery, be gentle because you don't want to disturb the blood clots around your implants as these are essential to the healing process.
Avoid liquids and foods that dry your mouth out
Certain foods and drinks like coffee, alcohol and salty foods can dry your mouth out. Unfortunately, the lack of saliva that follows will affect your healing dental implants. For the time after your surgery, avoid foods and drinks that will dry your mouth out and slow down the healing process.
Staying hydrated is essential to the healing process. After your dental implant surgery, stay hydrated to ensure that your implants heal quickly. For more information about dental implant surgery, contact a dentist.
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