Dental implants are meant to be a permanent solution for missing teeth, so it’s important to take whatever steps you can to make sure that they’re successful in the long run. In addition to maintaining good oral hygiene and protecting your implants from damage, you’ll also want to ensure you’re getting plenty of vitamin D in Reynoldsburg. You may not realize it, but this nutrient is crucial for dental implant success.
How Vitamin D Contributes to Dental Implant Success
When dental implants are placed in the jaw, they form a bond with the bone via osseointegration. This bond is the key to the dental implant process; without it, the implant posts would come loose and might even fall out altogether. As such, if you want to keep your dental implants, you need to make sure osseointegration happens without any problems.
This is where vitamin D comes in. It plays an important role in growing new bone tissue, which is necessary for the osseointegration process. As long as you have adequate levels of vitamin D, your body should be able to create the bone needed to join with the implants.
Vitamin D also helps protect your mouth from gum disease, which is a leading cause of dental implant failure. Studies show that vitamin D helps fight infections and keep inflammation down. Patients with sufficient levels of vitamin D tend to have a lower risk of gum disease, meaning there’s less of a chance that an infection will form around your dental implant posts.
How Can You Get More Vitamin D?
Low vitamin D levels can bode poorly for your dental implants in Reynoldsburg, so you should take whatever steps you can to make sure you’re getting plenty of this nutrient daily. If your doctor finds that you have a vitamin D deficiency, they may suggest taking a supplement. The dosage you need will depend on your current vitamin D levels.
Other ways to get more Vitamin D include:
- Spending More Time Outside: Sunlight lets your skin make vitamin D from cholesterol. Try to get a little sun for at least 20 minutes every day.
- Eat More Seafood: Fatty fish and other types of seafood are some of the best natural sources of vitamin D.
- Add Mushrooms to Your Diet: Mushrooms make their own vitamin D, which gets passed on to you when you eat them.
- Eat Foods Fortified with Vitamin D: Since there are only so many foods that naturally contain high levels of vitamin D, it’s often added to other foods and beverages such as cow’s milk, orange juice, certain cereals, yogurt, and tofu.
Maintaining healthy vitamin D levels is a must if you want to keep your dental implants for life and protect your oral health as a whole. Reach out to your dentist today if you have any concerns about how your diet and vitamin levels might affect your ability to get new teeth.
About the Author
Dr. Walter Mick has been providing comprehensive dental care for Reynoldsburg patients for over 30 years. He has completed educational courses through the Midwest Implant Institute and the Perio Implant Institute, and he is a member of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. He is highly skilled in placing dental implants and making sure they’re successful. To schedule an implant consultation with Dr. Mick at Mick Family Dental Care, visit his website or call (614) 864-4618.