I’ve smoked for most of my adult life. Unfortunately, it’s taken a huge toll on my dental health. I have gum disease so bad that I’ve lost several teeth. I’m to the point where I am embarrassed to smile and recently decided I want to pull the rest of my teeth and get dental implants or dentures. At a recent consultation with my dentist, he said implants are a huge risk and he wouldn’t do them because of my smoking. Is he right? — Jamison
Jamison,
There’s no doubt you’re feeling the effects of what smoking can do to your teeth and gums. For most people, implants are a great way to replace missing teeth. However, if you continue with bad habits like smoking it will affect your implants just the same. You’re at higher risk of complications after surgery as well as complete implant failure because smoking affects how the implant with fuse with your jawbone.
Even if you could find a surgeon who will do the implants, it wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to invest that much time and money if you’re just going to continue smoking. So why not make it your goal to quit smoking? Invest your time and money on those efforts in the short-term and once you kick the habit and get to healthier place, you’ll have a much better chance of the procedure being a success.
This blog post is brought to you by Des Moines cosmetic dentist, Dr. Phelan Thomas. For more information on the services he provides, please visit his Des Moines cosmetic dentist website.