What exactly do implant maintenance and the dental hygienist have to do with each other? Well,  the dental hygienists have a critical role to play towards dental implants maintenance. As a dental hygienist, his or her effort and intervention can mean the difference between an implant usefully serving a patient long term or it becoming infected or inflammed. A dental implant maintenance in Gosford ranges from biofilm removal and plaque debridement to ensuring there is osseointergration among many other things.

A patient who has had dental implants is at an increased risk of two major dental conditions. The first of these is peri-implant mucositis. This is more like gingivitis in cases of natural dentition. It describes a condition whereby the soft tissue surrounding a dental implant becomes inflammed. It fortunately can be reversed with adequate periodontal therapy. The other common post implant condition is peri implantitis. This is a more disastrous inflammatory condition that combines both soft and hard peri-implant tissue. It bears close similarity to periodontitis and is equally complex to manage.

What dental hygienists ought to do

In a bid to effectively care for patients’s dental implants, dental hygienists must first of all correctly identify the procedures that need be done. Ask yourself, what exactly does my patient need? Is it scaling or probing? What other additional procedure has to be performed to help the patient?

Probing is not always necessary but scaling on its part is vital to remove accumulated plaque and calculus. These as we all know are some of the precipitating factors for biofilm development and eventually implant inflammation.

A dental hygienist must be careful with the type of scaling material to be chosen as this may hugely affect the integrity and appearance of the implant afterwards. Resin or plastic scalers are the most advised by dental experts. A A dental hygienist can alternatively opt for titanium scalers as they are also known to never cause scratches on the abutments. He or she should always aim to preserve the hydroxyapatite coating even as he or she works to scale a patient’s implant.

All in all, it’s only important that a dental hygienist offers patients the best possible service. This can be done by constant research and coming up with more innovative ways to help them. Looking for a dental implant provider in Brisbane? Check out this link for more information.