After a period of tooth loss, there are many changes around the missing tooth area that lead to trouble restoring missing teeth. Although implants are the most optimal method to restore missing teeth, there will still be a few differences between implants and real teeth that you should note:
1. Biting on the lips, cheeks, tongue
Long-term tooth loss leads to soft tissues around the teeth spilling into the missing tooth area. The tongue also has a habit of moving into the area of tooth loss. As soon as the teeth are implanted, those habits cannot be immediately removed. Therefore, when we chew with new teeth, we experience biting on the lips, cheeks, tongue, damaging these tissues. This condition will cease after about 2-4 weeks.
2. Echo opposite teeth
The biological difference between implants and natural teeth is the ligament system around the teeth (which acts as a cushion to reduce force) when chewed. This ligament system makes it possible for natural teeth to be shock-relieved when colliding with opposite teeth. When you chew a porcelain tooth on an implant in the beginning, the opposite tooth collides with an implant tooth that does not have the same ligament system as it, which will make the opposite tooth feel “shocked”, leading to the opposite tooth becoming moist. This phenomenon will disappear after about 2-3 weeks as the teeth get used to the new pressure.
3. Squeeze food
Also due to biological differences, implant restoration in molars creates larger black triangles than real teeth. Therefore, dental implant care will require powerful tools such as dental floss, interstitial brush or water swab
4. Oral hygiene
It should be noted that dental implants have biological properties almost similar to real teeth. This means that the cleaning of the implants needs to be carried out like natural teeth with brushing measures, interdental cleaning, and even the addition of a water swab to help reduce food stagnation around the implant.
