A loose dental implant is never a good thing, though the only way to know just how bad it is is to see your dentist. If you notice that your dental implant feels loose, contact your dentist. If it hurts, consider it a dental emergency; if it doesn’t hurt, don’t wait more than a day to see your dentist. If you notice any signs of infection, like pus, fever, inflammation, or bleeding, don’t wait to see a medical professional. Whether it hurts or not, avoid chewing on the loose implant, ideally switching to soft foods to be safe, and don’t put pressure on the implant in any way. Don’t try to repair a loose implant yourself, as home repairs almost always cause irreversible damage, and if your dental crown or other restoration component comes off completely, put it in a clean receptacle and take it with you to your dentist.
Continue to clean your oral tissues normally while you wait to see your dentist, but exercise caution near the loose implant. You might use a gentle water flosser to clean the area, but avoid aggressively spitting or anything else that could further disrupt the implant. At your dental visit, your dentist will determine which part of your implant is loose – the crown, the abutment, or the implant post itself. This involves a clinical examination, manually evaluating which element of the restoration moves when stimulated, and x-rays or 3D imaging scans to assess the density and amount of bone near the implant post. These X-rays can indicate failed osseointegration, infection, or bone loss, helping the dentist understand more about which part of the implant is compromised and what the best solution might be.
The good news is that a loose dental implant could be relatively minor, though only a dentist can make that determination, and only a dentist can fix a loose dental implant. Some evaluations indicate a mechanical issue – the dental implant crown or abutment itself has malfunctioned – in which case the problem is solved by repairing or replacing the broken mechanism. Any of the components of an implant restoration can fail due to stress, whether from eating, tooth grinding, an impact, or simple wear and tear on the teeth. If the abutment that attaches the crown to the implant malfunctions, it can easily be replaced, and if the crown itself is damaged, a new crown can be crafted and placed on the existing implant.
When a dental implant is loose because of biological issues like bone loss, the infection of peri-implantitis, or because the body is rejecting the dental implant, the fix is more complicated. If infection causes an implant to loosen, the first step is to treat the infection, which will probably involve a periodontal treatment called scaling and root planing – except for dental implants, too. This allows the dentist to clean plaque, tartar, and bacteria from the implant site, below the gum line, using tools that are safe for titanium. They’ll also deep clean the natural teeth, above and below the gum line, disinfecting the area where bacteria thrive to discourage further colonization and allow the gums and periodontal tissues to heal. Severe infection might necessitate a prescription for antibiotics, and extensive bone loss might necessitate bone grafts and other tissue regeneration therapies to replenish the bone around an existing implant. In the most serious cases, it may be necessary to remove the existing implant before treating the implant site, grafting the bone, and allowing everything to heal before replacing the implant. Clearly, this is a dramatic step that’s best avoided. Thankfully, you can seriously reduce your risks of loose or otherwise compromised dental implants by keeping your oral cavity clean, regularly seeing your dentist, and taking care of your teeth.
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