Pros And Cons Of Taking Antibiotics After Dental Implant Surgery
It is not unusual to experience tooth loss as you grow older. However, gone are the days when tooth loss automatically meant a set of dentures resting beside the bed each night in a glass of water. As someone who is about to embark on dental implant surgery, you have concerns about the prescription of antibiotics after the surgery is complete. Many people do not like to take prescribed antibiotics unless they are necessary, so these are the pros and cons to consider about prescription medication recommended after your dental implants are in place.
Pros For Antibiotics
Antibiotics are prescribed after dental implant surgery to reduce the chance of your body rejecting or reacting to the implant material. The good news about dental implants is that the implant rod placed in your jaw to hold the crown in place is made of titanium. Because the rod is a metal and not a biological component, there is minimal chance of the body rejecting it because it is a foreign body.
However, there is a risk of the titanium rod coming into contact with bacteria during its insertion in the mouth. Before the implant process, the rod lies in a sterile solution, but there is no way to fully sterilise the mouth and remove all bacteria before the rod insertion. If the rod does touch bacteria during the surgery, there is a chance of an infection developing at the wound site. Therefore, antibiotics taken after the surgery strongly reduce infection from taking hold in your mouth.
Cons For Antibiotics
There are two reasons for not wanting to take antibiotics after dental implant surgery. These reasons are because you have an allergy to common antibiotics or because you prefer not to suffer the side effects of antibiotics. With regards to dental implant surgery, the antibiotics prescribed could cause side effects of nausea, vomiting or facial swelling. The risk of infection after dental implant surgery is low, so the prescription of the antibiotics is considered a preventative measure more than anything else.
Talk to your dental surgeon to find out more information about the antibiotics used by them during this procedure. Let them know your concerns so you can make a final decision that you are comfortable with. At the end of the day, a successful dental implant process is what you desire, and your surgeon is there to make sure this happens for you.
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