Dental Implants Keep Falling Out
You know that nightmare you have were some of your teeth just fall out? Well, I feel like I’m living that. I had four dental implant placed on my lower ridge. These were supposed to eventually have dentures anchored to them. I’m also getting two individual implants on my upper arch. Here is my problem. I’ve only had the implants about a week, and two of them have already fallen out. I have a few questions. First, should I be expected to pay for dental implants that fall out? Second, do I need to be worried about the other two? Third, should I bother getting the two upper ones? Fourth, is it possible to get working dental implants or do I need to find another alternative? Finally, if I do need to find the alternative, what do you recommend?
Wallace
Dear Wallace,
I am sorry this has happened to you. I will tell you that most trained implant dentists have a 5% failure rate. Even then, most of them won’t fail for at least a year. Your dentist has a 50% failure rate in a week. There is something really wrong here. Priority number one will be figuring out why your dental implants failed.
Some Reasons for Dental Implant Failure
- Development of an infection. This is generally accompanied by pain and/or a fever. This can happen if the dentures are not fit properly., often because of poorly fitting fixtures.
- Diagnostic shortcuts. It is important for your dentist to determine if you have enough bone to support the dental implants. If you don’t, there is a bone grafting procedure which can be done.
- The use of substandard implant fixtures. Some dentists will do this to increase their profits without raising their prices.
- Incorrect placement of the implants.
- Placing the dental crown before the bone has had enough time to fuse with the implant fixtures. Dentists call this premature loading.
As for your questions, here are my thoughts:
First, no, you should not have to pay for the failed dental implants, especially ones that failed this quickly. Should you be worried about the other two? Absolutely. Before you do anything else, I want you to see a dentist who has extensive post-doctoral training in dental implants. Don’t tell them who your dentist is, just what happened and ask if they can tell you what caused the failure. Without that information there is no point in moving forward.
Once that is pinpointed, he or she should be able to tell you how to proceed. If you are in good general health, there should be no problem getting dental implants or even the implant supported dentures you are working on. It will require some bone grafting first, but it is very likely you needed that anyway and, failure to obtain that information on the part of your dentist, was why they failed to begin with.
This blog is brought to you by Moline Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.
How Far Back Should Dentures Go?
I had to get lower dentures. They don’t cover my wisdom tooth area, which means I am pretty much just chewing on my gums. My dentist said this is normal, but it is very uncomfortable. Is there anything to do about it?
Stan
Dear Stan,
This is not normal and something your dentist could have prevented. The dentures should not only cover the wisdom tooth area, but go a little past it to what is called the retromolar pad. You don’t want the entire pad covered because that will interfere with any upper dentures you may have. That is the only limitation, however.
The solution, unfortunately, is to completely redo the denture. If you have already paid for it, then your dentist won’t have much incentive to replace it, unless he has a high sense of ethics. You could try showing your dentist this blog post and see if this helps. Before you do that, though, I want to make certain you understand the risks of completely removable dentures, especially lower dentures.
The Down Side of Dentures
When your teeth are removed, your body recognizes that there are no longer any roots of your teeth in your jawbone that need to be supported. In an effort to be efficient with your body’s resources, it immediately begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in order to use them elsewhere. While a great way to handle your body’s resources, it has the unfortunate side effect of shrinking your jawbone. After ten or so years, you will no longer have enough of your lower jawbone to retain your dentures. In dental circles, this is known as facial collapse.
The solution to this is to have dental implants placed and secure your dentures to them. Some people call this implant overdentures. The dental implants serve as prosthetic teeth roots. Because you have “roots,” your body will preserve the minerals there in order to support the teeth.
This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.