Franklin 
As appealing as dental implants are, a smoker could easily wonder whether they’d qualify for them. Smoking is a well-known risk factor for various health issues, so perhaps it’d prevent you from getting the prosthetic posts. With that said, you don’t need to keep wondering; the answer to your question is easy to find. Your Tyler implant dentist will even share it with you here and now. So, read on to learn whether you can get dental implants if you smoke.
How Dental Implants Work
Before you address the main question, you should know how dental implants work. You won’t understand their relationship to smoking otherwise.
Unlike dentures or dental bridges, dental implants don’t just sit on your gums. Dentists place them in your jaw’s sockets during treatment, where they’ll slowly fuse with surrounding bone tissue. This process ensures the implants won’t slip or fall out like other prosthetic teeth might. Once the fusion is concluded, your implant posts will have become permanent parts of your mouth.
The best dental implant candidates have healthy gum and jaw tissues. To that extent, you should consult your dentist to learn whether you qualify for treatment.
No Smoking Before & After Treatment
Given the points above, you mustn’t smoke right before or after implant surgery. Doing so would likely compromise your treatment results.
Remember that dental implants must fuse with your jaw to work. Smoking before placement surgery could lead to gum disease, which would make any placed implants unstable and likely to fall out. Similarly, smoking right after surgery would negatively impact the implant fusion process and delay healing. Your posts wouldn’t fuse well in that case, forcing you to redo the treatment from the beginning.
A great deal of current science backs up these conclusions. In a 2017 study published by the Journal of International Oral Health, it was found that implant failure is more common among smokers. The same study also noted that increased smoking frequency increases the risk of dental implants failing.
Can You Ever Smoke with Dental Implants?
Smoking is bad for your health and something no dentist would ever encourage. Still, it’s possible to smoke while having successful dental implants.
Smokers must adjust their smoking habits if they want (or have) dental implants. In particular, you should wait at least a few months after implant placement before starting up again. This approach reduces your odds of getting an oral infection, which could cause treatment failure. However, you’d still be at an elevated risk of bone loss near and around your posts; this effect would ruin your treatment after a while.
While you can get dental implants if you smoke, you’re still better off quitting the habit entirely. Talk to your dental provider about ways you might do so!
About the Practice
Franklin Dental Center is based in Tyler, TX. Led by Dr. Donna Franklin-Pitts, our practice aims to give local patients the dreamy smiles they’ve always wanted. That means we tailor our preventive, cosmetic, and restorative treatments to your wants and needs, ensuring the best results possible. Our team even provides dental implants with help from trusted specialists! For more details or to book a visit, please contact us on our website or by phone at (903)-593-2330.