Living with a Full Arch

The First Few Weeks

On the Same-Day and Premium pathways you usually go home on surgery day with fixed temporary teeth where the bone allows;¹ on the other two you wear a denture while you heal. Either way, the first fortnight is about letting everything settle. Swelling and bruising usually peak on the second or third day, then fade over about a week, and the painkillers we supply keep you comfortable. Stick to soft food, chew gently and clean around the bridge with care rather than scrubbing. With the inside of your mouth reshaped, your speech may sound a little different at first. The tongue adapts within a few weeks, and reading out loud helps it along.

Eating

For roughly three months while the implants heal, keep to a soft diet: fish, eggs, pasta, soft bread, well-cooked vegetables and anything else you can manage without tearing or crunching. This phase is temporary, and it gives the bone time to bond to the implants undisturbed.

When the final bridge goes in, most people return to eating what they like, including the steak, apples and crusty bread that dentures made difficult. It still makes sense not to bite ice, nutshells, olive stones or bones with your front teeth. Those can chip any bridge, and natural teeth too.

Cleaning at Home

• Brush morning and night with a soft manual or electric brush, paying attention to the line where the bridge meets the gum.
• Run a water flosser under the bridge once a day; nothing else reaches that space as well.
• Use interdental brushes, or floss with a stiff threader, around each implant.
• If food collects under the bridge, rinse after eating. This is common in the early months while the gum is still settling.
• Wear a night guard if you grind, to shield both the bridge and the implants.

We demonstrate each step when the bridge is fitted and go over it again at your first hygiene visit.

Professional Upkeep

A hygiene visit every three months keeps the gum around your implants healthy, and it is a condition of the guarantee. These visits are with our hygienist, Stefanie Goodall, who cleans around each implant and underneath the bridge while it stays in place. At your reviews Dr Riaz checks the bite and the screws and looks at the bone around each implant on an X-ray. Plan B membership, at £40.16 a month, includes four Airflow hygiene visits a year, so it covers that schedule. To see what the visits protect you from, read how long dental implants last.

Protecting the Investment

• Stay off cigarettes. Smoking is the single biggest threat to implants, which is why the guarantee applies to non-smokers.
• If you have diabetes, keep it under good control.
• Wear the night guard if we have made you one.
• Tell us promptly about looseness, soreness, bleeding or a change in how your teeth meet. Small problems are quick to put right.
• Attend every review and hygiene visit, including when nothing feels wrong.

If Something Goes Wrong

Over years of chewing, a screw can work loose; we tighten it or fit a new one. An acrylic tooth can chip, and the repair is often done in the surgery. If cleaning slips, the gum can become inflamed, and when that is caught early a professional clean settles it. Much less often an implant fails, and the remaining implants usually carry the bridge while it is replaced. None of this is cause for worry; it is the reason the appointments matter. Reviews are short, and North Greenwich is five minutes from Canary Wharf on the Jubilee line.

Questions

This guide explains the options in general terms. Only an examination can tell you which of them suits your own teeth.