How to Clean All-on-4 Dental Implants?

Here are the top 5 methods to clean All-on-4 dental implants and bridges:

After every meal use super floss under the bridge
Use a water pick and ¼ non-alcohol anti-bacterial mouth rinse and water
Use an electric toothbrush such as Oral B or Sonicare for more effective cleaning
Brush your tongue and cheeks to remove oral bacteria and odors
Attend professional cleaning appointments every 3 months

Whether you have a long term “All on 4” or a temporary fixed bridge installed on implants, your daily home care procedures should be very similar. Your goal is three fold: remove any food that remains, remove bacteria that clings over and under the bridge, prevent the bacteria from hardening onto the bridge to eventually cause mouth odors and implant related gum disease.

Your implant home care tools are soft and flexible, to prevent cutting or injuring the sensitive gums around the implants. Cuts will invite germs to irritate the implants and cause long term problems.

Use super floss a minimum of once per day and try to use this item two or three times per day for best results. Use it before retiring at night to get rid of daily food and bacteria build up. There is less saliva to wash away debris at night, and it is important to remove the debris before going to sleep. You can use a magnifying or make up mirror with good lighting to make the job easier for yourself.

Then use all these next items;

A water pick which has the tank filled with ¼ mouth rinse and ¾ water is a very effective cleaning tool to remove food debris after a meal.

A proxy brush is a small round toothbrush on a handle that can reach under the bridge more effectively than a full-sized brush.

Soft picks or “Doctors Toothpick” is very slim and can reach difficult crevices.

An end tuft brush is small and can reach the surface of the intersection of the bridge and the gum crevice.

A rubber tip is useful for polishing plaque from the bridge surface under and around the bridge.

Using an electric toothbrush is a wise investment since this type of brush is 5 times more effective in cleaning than a manual brush. Use a nonabrasive toothpaste especially with acrylic teeth on your bridge.

Brush the top surface of your tongue and this harbors many bacteria that can spread throughout your mouth.

When cleaning and brushing is complete, rinse twice a day with a non-alcohol mouth rinse like Natural Dentist. Also, dip your cleaning aids in Natural Dentist when cleaning your bridge.

Although you may try to be meticulous in removing the plaque and debris around your implants, your hygienist has better visibility and room to clean anything that may build up under and around the bridge. Arrange an appointment at 3-month intervals for your hygiene visits

At the hygiene visit, for All-on-4 implant supported bridges, to prevent gum disease and make sure that we uncover any contributing factors that might promote gum disease in your mouth, during a typical cleaning visit, the hygienist will clean your nightguard, update your medical history, take your blood pressure, discuss medications and intraoral relationships, review any dental concerns, jaw aches or pains, take any necessary X-rays and discuss the findings, record the pocket depths around the implants and discuss the findings compared to previous visits and review any changes and why they exist, review any bleeding points and tissue appearance.

Then we use a cleaning instrument called a Cavitron, scale any areas of inflammation, bleeding points, subgingival calculus, floss, polish, use a chlorhexidine antibacterial rinse for tissue health. Then we review oral hygiene practices, the use of the soft toothbrush, daily flossing, interdental aids, mouth rinses, and proper toothpastes.

The implant attachments tissues at gum line are checked for redness, inflammation, malodor. Only implant scaling and implant probing instruments are used around and, on the appliance,

The dental polish used is categorized as extra fine rather than the coarse polish which will scratch the appliance unnecessarily.

The dentist will do an intra and extraoral exam-checking hard and soft tissues. If the dentist requires that the appliance be removed for inspection and cleaning, retaining material covering the screw access holes is removed, and the appliance carefully unscrewed from the implants or multi-unit assemblies. The tissue surface of the appliance is brushed, cleaned, and polished to remove any stains and plaque. Then the implants are irrigated with peroxide, and the multi-unit retaining screws (if any) are re-torqued to factory specifications.

After cleaning the implants, the appliance is re-positioned and new appliance retaining screws are substituted and used to tighten the appliance to the implant multi-unit platforms. Teflon spaced is inserted into the access openings and a new layer of composite filling material is carefully placed into each access opening and then smoothed and polished.

About Robert Korwin DMD MAGD MICOI

Dr. Korwin is one of only 8 implant dentists in the world who has qualified for the prestigious dual Mastership Awards from The International College of Oral Implantologists and the Academy of General Dentistry.

About Advanced Dentistry with a Gentle Touch

Established in 1983, Advanced Dentistry with a Gentle Touch serves patients from the following counties in New Jersey: Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesexand the following cities: Red Bank, Middletown, Navesink, Belford, Leonardo, Port Monmouth, Keansbery, Holmdel, Lincroft, Atlantic Highlands, Hazlet, Fair Haven, Keyport, Little Silver, Srewsbury, Rumson, Fort Monmouth, Eatontown, Highlands, Cliffwood