Portable Prosthetics: How Soon Can I Fly After Receiving Dental Implants?

Summer is here, and if you like to travel, it’s the perfect time to plan a vacation to a faraway destination. If you’ve recently undergone dental implant surgery, however, you might wonder whether it’s safe to fly. After all, you know major procedures come with a risk of complications, and you don’t want to do anything to cause your implant to fail.

Whether you fly frequently for work or have planned a trip out of town, it’s natural to question how long you must wait after your appointment to get on a plane. Read on to learn more about it!

What’s Involved in Dental Implant Surgery?

Before diving into how long you need to wait after your procedure before it’s safe to hop on a flight, it’s important to understand more about the treatment itself. These artificial teeth consist of three parts which are:

• The titanium pole that’s surgically embedded into your jawbone.
• The abutment that attaches to it and holds your final restoration in place.
• The artificial tooth itself, whether it’s a dental crown, implant dentures, etc.

Your jaw must be sufficiently dense to support dental implants, and if it has grown too frail after tooth loss, a bone graft might be required. Once it’s bulked up sufficiently and has fully healed, your dentist can proceed with placing your restoration.

How Soon Can I Fly After Dental Implant Surgery?

The amount of time you should wait after your procedure to fly depends on your unique circumstances. If you only received a single prosthetic and didn’t require a bone graft, then you can potentially hop on a plane immediately after your surgery. Although your dentist recommends that you take a day or two to rest if you’re in a time crunch and have somewhere you have to be, flying right away is technically possible.

However, if you do travel the same day, it’s recommended that you take an aisle seat near the lavatory so you can change your gauze every 30 to 45 minutes. Also, take packets of salt with you and purchase bottled water once you’re at your gate so that you can rinse with salt water during your flight.

For those who received multiple dental implants or required additional procedures, like a sinus lift, then it’s better to wait 10 to 14 days before flying. Your body requires more time to recover from complex surgeries before it’s safe to head out of town.

If you know you have somewhere you have to be after your appointment, let your dentist know so that they can schedule your procedure according to your needs.

About the Practice

At Jacksonville Dental Excellence, you benefit from a husband-and-wife dental duo that provides a wide range of services conveniently under one roof. Drs. Ryan and Rose Johnson share decades of combined experience helping patients with everything from basic preventative care to more complex treatments, like dental implants. They have the specialized training and state-of-the-art equipment to perform your surgery in-office, so you don’t have to seek an outside provider. If you’re interested in replacing missing teeth and want a consultation, you can request an appointment on the website or call (904) 895-4536.