Dental implants are beneficial solutions for tooth replacement. Tooth loss is what many people may experience due to different reasons. These devices have been proven very popular as a treatment, with a 95% success rate and rare complications. Dental implants are very close to your natural teeth and act like the root of your tooth, while a dental crown replaces the existing tooth.
What are dental implants?
Implants can transform your smile and maintain a youthful appearance and serve many needs, such as preventing further receding of your gums by supporting them and solving dental conditions like cavities or decays.
Though they have one of the lowest failure rates among dental practices, about 5%, dental implants may fail like any other treatment due to one of several causes. Some reasons are natural, while others are attributed to dental malpractice. Causes that lead to dental implant failure due to malpractice include failure to: explain the risks, obtain a complete medical history from the patient, use sterilized tools properly, and offer follow-up care. In cases where your dentist is not responsible for the failed dental implant, other reasons may include gum diseases, smoking, certain medications, poor oral hygiene, and auto-immune problems.
A dental implant is a screw in your jawbone that replaces missing teeth. A single crown is applied for one tooth, while for more than one missing tooth, you may get a dental bridge or a complete denture attached to the dental implant.
What can help to prevent dental implant failure?
To prevent a failed dental implant, you should share your lifestyle and habits with your dentist, such as smoking and drinking alcohol. Disclosing your complete medical history will help your dentist to perform the procedure successfully. Advanced 3-D technology is also beneficial for making surgical guides so that the implant is placed precisely.
Following the aftercare instructions, including a soft food diet, a healthy lifestyle, and proper oral hygiene, is another crucial factor for maintaining your implants.
What are the signs of dental implant failure?
It is necessary to have Osseointegration for the implant to be successfully attached to the jaw bone, or there will be no long-term success of the treatment, and this is where you could expect a failed dental implant which may occur even 10 years after placement. You can diagnose dental implant failures with the help of its warning signs which indicate the treatment has not been successful. Some symptoms are swelling, bleeding, pain, inflammation, or recession of your gums, especially while chewing.
Since these signs may also develop due to other dental conditions, you should visit your dentist to evaluate your oral health.
If you feel that your dental implant is loose, it may not be from the implant itself. It can be the movement of the crown attached to the loose implant, the holding part of your denture, or bridges to the implant. It is rare to experience a long-term failure of your dental implant.
Most dental implant failures develop shortly after the dentist places the dental implant. This condition is associated with the surgery where the implant fails to link to the jaw bone, and you cannot put the denture on that implant. If this happens to you, it does not necessarily mean that your implant treatment will not succeed, or that you cannot have an implant, but you will need to extract the existing implant and start the process over.
One of the benefits you get from an implant is that you will not experience a cavity on that implant. However, other dental conditions might develop around it, and in the case of periodontal gum diseases due to dental implant infections, you will face dental implant failure.
Once periodontitis is diagnosed, the bone area should be cleaned, and the possibility of repeating the treatment needs to be considered.
What is a dental implant recovery?
Fixing a loose dental implant can be performed through different methods depending on the underlying reasons. You can replace the crown or tighten the screw to treat the condition. But, if the implant in the bone is moving, there will be no restorative measures for that, and you will have to remove it and repeat the process, which may be a bit challenging due to the condition of the supporting bone and the place that the implant needs to be set.
You can benefit from various techniques to remove your failed implants depending on how well osseointegrated the implant is. The treatment should be as conservative as possible.
If there is insufficient bone structure into which an implant can be placed, you must receive a graft to produce bone volume.
In cases where your poor aftercare is the cause, you have to be examined for any other oral issues and treat them before going any further.
You may receive a bone graft at the same time as you get your implant removed. After the treatment, the grafted material should integrate with your natural bone to prepare it for supporting dental implants. It may seem complex, but you will feel little to nothing while your dentist performs the operation, thanks to the sedation you have.
It is almost impossible to place a new implant and remove the old one simultaneously. Usually a waiting period of 6 months is required between implant removal and its replacement.
If you need to go for a dental implant, you still have time to do it in the care of our staff. There is no reason to despair if you already have a failed dental implant. We will plan your implant removal procedure and make the necessary preparations for the placement of a new one.
Backed by decades of experience, our professional staff at Aria Dental offers personalized solutions for your oral problems. Here, we are committed to providing the highest standards of dentistry for all oral issues, from routine checkups to complex therapies, in a convenient environment.
You can find the answers to all your dental queries with various services at Aria center.
Our dentists tend to save every tooth with same-day emergency care, even on Saturdays.
If you are in California, you can easily find us in Orange County; if not, no worries! We are with you on the phone for a free consultation.
