While dental implants are durable, they’re not completely indestructible. Taking care of your dental implants helps ensure their longevity, much like it does with natural teeth, and this includes routine dental visits so implants can be evaluated and maintained as necessary. Keep an eye out for any of the signs of an issue with your dental implant. As with most dental issues, early interception and treatment can prevent the situation from escalating and could make the difference between saving and losing the implant.
Some things you’ll want to look out for with your dental implants include:
- A loose or mobile implant
- Difficulty biting or chewing
- A bad taste or smell in the mouth, especially near the implant site
- Persistent pain near the implant
- Visible damage to the implant
- Gum recession or visible inflammation in the area of the implant
If any of these symptoms occur, contact your dentist right away. They could indicate infection, bone loss, damage to the implant itself, or a combination of all of these issues. Generally speaking, dentists need to fix dental implants for mechanical reasons or biological reasons – or both.
Mechanical issues include cracked or broken crowns, crowns with failed cement that loosen from their abutment, and damaged abutments, to name a few. These issues have a few different sources, though undue or persistent force is usually the underlying cause. This could mean biting or chewing very hard foods, habitually chewing ice or other non-food items, or simple wear and tear. Chronic tooth grinding and jaw clenching, a condition called bruxism, is particularly dangerous for dental implants, and your dentist will recommend a night guard, along with behavioral therapies, to prevent the destruction bruxism can cause. Dental implants that aren’t positioned correctly during placement could cause imbalanced pressure that weakens certain implants, though this can be avoided by working with a qualified, reputable dental implant team. Of course, impact from injury or an accident could also break an implant component. Most of the time, a mechanical issue is a simple fix, and minor mechanical concerns can be largely avoided by caring for your dental implants and seeing your dentist regularly for checkups and adjustments.
When evaluation indicates a biological cause for a loose dental implant, where the implant post itself is loose, treatment is more complicated. Possible biological causes for a loose implant include peri-implantitis, improper healing of the bone following implant placement, bone loss caused by periodontal disease, and chronically weakened or compromised bone. While some of these causes are beyond a person’s control, like the normal reduction in bone density that happens when people age, many of them can be directly affected by observance of aftercare instructions and consistent oral hygiene habits. If a dental implant has problems with a biological cause, the first line of defense is to control the underlying cause, like removing and treating infection when peri-implantitis arises. Then, the implant may be able to be saved, or a new implant might be placed; in some cases, patients need bone grafts to rebuild the bone when a dental implant is fixed or replaced. Your dentist will help you determine whether you should fix or replace your dental implant after a careful evaluation, so make sure to call right away if something seems amiss with the implant. The sooner you see your dentist, the sooner your dental implant will be fixed.
Related Article: Can a Loose Dental Implant Be Fixed?