Getting new teeth is not the final step in dental treatment, in fact, maintaining these new teeth in your mouth clean and healthy is a serious job that requires your obligation and commitment. There are some Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to Dental Crowns and Bridges aftercare, to keep these new teeth in your mouth as long as possible.

Any new appliance in your mouth “dental prostheses”, like ortho braces, dental crowns, dental bridges, veneers, and even removable dentures needs special aftercare. As your mouth environment is not created to hold and sustain foreign material like these prostheses, that is why all the materials used in dental prostheses are inert and less probable to cause allergy, though the lack of oral hygiene, and bad practices can cause easily fracture for these appliances or damage to the surrounding gum and underlying bone.

The Importance of proper crowns and Bridges aftercare for long-term success.

Postoperative crowns and bridge aftercare are crucial for several reasons. You shouldn’t take them for granted:

1. Achieving durability and longevity of the Dental Crowns and Bridges:
   While it’s popular to say that the Crown and Bridge shouldn’t last forever, with proper care, good oral hygiene, and regular dental check-ups, we guarantee you to have dental prostheses that can last healthy and sound for 10-15 years long and even more.

2. Maintaining the state of the underlying teeth 
   As Dental crowns and traditional dental bridges use sound teeth as supported abutments, so lack of bridge aftercare or bad oral hygiene could cause decay of these abutments teeth and a following failure of the prostheses. 

3. Keeping the surrounding soft tissue healthy
   Daily brushing and flossing help keep your mouth clean and prevent plaque accumulation which makes you less prone to gingival inflammation(Gingivitis) or periodontal inflammation (Periodontitis).

4. Keeping Good Appearance and Maintaining the dental Crowns and dental Bridges functionalities
   Routine good oral hygiene has a long-term impact on the success of artificial teeth to be long-lasting at their places in your mouth and do their functionality properly. 

Ignoring Dental Crowns and Bridges Aftercare 

From these previous points, we can conclude the drawbacks of neglecting dental crowns and bridges aftercare

1. Dental prostheses fail; as Dental bridges or Dental crowns get broken.
2. Accumulation of food debris around the dental crowns and dental bridges necks and below the pontics of teeth bridges which cause plaque accumulation if it’s not removed within 24 hours, it can accumulate in the form of dental calculus.
3. Inflammation, redness, and soreness of the gum (gingival tissue) surrounding and beneath the artificial teeth.
4. Pockets formation due to food accumulation, gingival recession, and further bone inflammation which could cause at the end tooth mobility and pain on pressure.

Permanent Crowns and Bridges Aftercare instructions

At Sauve Clinic,  we guide our patients through various steps of Dental Crowns and Dental Bridges aftercare, which could be divided into two important steps

Immediate Postoperative Care:

Within 24 hours of the dental procedure 

The most critical duration of time is that hour right after the dental procedure when the local anesthesia starts to fade, the pain starts to reveal and your teeth aren’t quite comfortable with the new crown, bridge, or temporary crowns. 

Within this hour you should take care of simple things:

• Don’t test the anesthesia by biting your lips or your inner cheeks, as you’re losing sensation you can cut yourself badly in these areas and cause yourself ulcers.
• Don’t try to scout on your new tooth (bridge /crown) with your tongue.
• Don’t overbite on your new crown/bridge and act normally.
• Don’t smoke right after any dental procedure, it will worsen any existing wounds.
• Don’t drink alcohol, hot beverages, or cold beverages right after the procedure, to avoid any pain or sensitivity.
• If you put down your crown or bridge and just cemented it, don’t drink any liquids for 10-15 mins till the cementing agent sets and hardens.
• If the discomfort and sensitivity didn’t go away, you could take meds as PainKillers

Within 48 hours of the dental procedure

Numbness from anesthesia will start to fade away, and you will regain your sensation so you should be aware of a few things: 

1. There may be sensitivity or pain in the site of gingival traction or pressure, so, Don’t panic!
2. Don’t chew gum or sticky food on temporary crowns or temporary bridges until the next visit.
3. If you feel high points in the new tooth while biting, or you are uncomfortable and feel a sign of uneven bite, you should wait until your mouth gets familiar with the new artificial teeth, and use them in normal functions like chewing food and speaking, if the issue still persists, you should schedule an appointment with your dentist. 
4. You might have swollen gingiva due to any gingival-related procedure like gingival traction or trimming, and this inflammation will heal soon.
5. Chew gently on your food, and it’s better to eat soft food till you get familiar with your new teeth.

Routine Postoperative Care 

This Daily Routine Care is the most crucial part of this topic, as in order to keep your dental crown, dental bridge, or even temporary crown in your mouth durable and functioning, there are important roles that are your responsibility to keep this dynamic happens, There’s a Diet and Lifestyle you should follow in order to make your dental crown or dental bridge last longer: 

1. Brush Your teeth twice daily
   Twice is the least number, some dentists suggest three times a day or after each meal, that may sound overwhelming, but it highlights how it is important to brush your natural and artificial teeth, to keep them clean from any accumulation of dental plaque, food debris and to regularly stimulate the gingiva under the bridge in normal way.

2. Floss your teeth and use a mouthwash
   Flossing between natural and artificial teeth cleans these gaps between teeth and prevents gingival pockets or further gingival inflammation. You are advisable to use any OTC mouthwash, you are comfortable using, in order to heal any gingival pockets, swellings, or exudates.

3. Avoid eating any hard food 
   Although some think that it’s ok to eat hard food on crowns and bridges, sometimes the crown and bridge material is too hard to be brittle. The dentist has done a good job of making artificial teeth in their places while vertical and horizontal forces are applied. However, there is a weak point you can’t ignore where pontics in bridges are not supported by any hard tissue like abutments and dental crowns. Pointics are weak points in the dental bridge as there is nothing underneath it other than the soft tissue of the gingiva, it soon gets red, swollen, lacerated, causes pain on chewing or biting, and causes halitosis if it starts to accumulate food debris within.

4. Avoid any bad habits and don’t use your teeth as a tool
   Opening cans with your teeth, holding pens, crushing ice, and so many more bad practices can cause fractures of both artificial teeth and the natural teeth underneath.

5. Avoid chewing sticky food like gummy candies, caramels, taffies, etc.
   This sweet sticky food has a rubber effect on the bridge or crown as upon much time chewing sticky food it pulls out the dental crown/bridge from its seated place.

6. Use less abrasive toothpastes that could scratch the dental crown/ bridge surfaces.
7. Attend your regular dental checkups
   Prevention is better than cure, and it’s true when it comes to your dental checkups, if there is a glimpse of any sign of inflammation of the gingiva, pocket formation, or teeth bridge problem, the first one to notice and intervene to prevent that is your dentist, so Regular dental checkup is a must.

8. Regular professional cleaning
   These sessions of regular cleaning, scaling, and washing teeth and gingiva are extremely crucial even for healthy teeth people with no artificial teeth, this cleaning on a regular basis prevents calculus formation, pockets, and dental plaque accumulation.

Temporary Crowns Aftercare  

Temporary crown Aftercare is somehow meticulous and special as this crown is not permanently bonded to the underlying tooth and any falsy movement could pull it out or break it, so if you have a Temporary Crown between visits you should care a lot and do the following : 

1. Avoid chewing hard food, and sticky food.
2. Avoid drinking very hot and very cold beverages.
3. Protect it from involuntary movement of the tongue as it could pull it out from its place.
4. Protect it from any trauma by the opposing tooth.
5. Chew on it gently, Avoid any uneven bites or uneven mastication forces.

Dental Crowns and Bridges Aftercare FAQs