Dental implants are the superior restorative solution to replace one or more missing teeth. However, they’re not suitable for everyone, and without the proper assessment, planning and placement, there’s a risk that the treatment might fail or the implants might go bad.
On average, dental implants have a success rate between 90% and 95%. They are an incredible solution to replacing missing teeth. Still, they might not be suitable for all patients, especially if certain patients require pre-implant procedures to make their treatment a lasting success. As placing dental implants is not a specialism, patients should be really careful on who they choose to replace their teeth.
Without extensive prior treatment planning and assessments for viability, dental implants can fail, often due to causes like infection, bone loss, and improper placement.
With any surgery, there’s a risk, which is why antibiotics are given to you following the procedure to prevent an infection. However, if your implant has failed for other reasons, such as a lack of bone in your jaw to support it, here at The Gentle Dental, we always look out for low jawbone density indicators before surgery is even scheduled.
If you are found to not have enough bone in the jaw to support an implant, we won’t schedule your surgery without performing a bone graft (or a sinus lift) to ensure you’re a viable candidate for the procedure. After performing these additional procedures, we’ll take 3D scans again to assess the bone’s density and determine if dental implants are the right option for you after all.
However, if you have already had dental implants and are worried that they are failing, for example, your implant might be painful or unsafe, then learn more below about how to identify a complication and what you’ll need to do as a next step.
Wondering what a failed dental implant looks like? Following your placement, you should have regular check-ups with the dentist to assess how the dental implant is healing. Because you’re not just given a dental implant and the fake tooth, and we never speak to you again. Dental implants are commonly a two-stage procedure, which means we place the implant surgically in one appointment, and then three months or so later, after healing has taken place, we place the final fake tooth.
However, if you’re experiencing any pain, discomfort, or any other odd sensation when you’re biting down or talking, it could be a sign that your dental implant has failed and the healing period has not gone to plan.
Here’s what else you should look out for:
If you’ve not had dental implant surgery with us, we highly recommend contacting the practice that initially placed your implant, who will have to organise an emergency appointment. At this point, the dentists might be able to save your dental implant, depending on the reason for its failure using regenerative materials and nonsurgical procedures. However, if there’s been a certain degree of bone loss, the only thing they might be able to do is to remove the implant.
We always warn patients from going abroad to receive major treatments like this – dentists abroad use different systems and techniques, and if your implant has begun to fail, some dentists in the UK might refuse to touch it. Gentle Dental has helped several cases where dental implant placements have gone wrong abroad and we are happy to step in and help if you need us.
Dental implants are rarely rejected years later, and the risks of this happening to you are minimal. However, it’s not impossible, as something called peri-implantitis can occur.
Peri-implantitis is an inflammatory condition affecting the tissues surrounding your dental implant. The disease occurs when these tissues become infected and begin to break down. Symptoms include swelling around the implant, redness, tenderness, discharge or looseness.
