Is Your Dental Implant Failing? 7 Warning Signs To Watch Out For | Ear, Nose, Throat, and Dental problems articles | Body & Health Conditions center

Dental implants have come a long way from being an experimental therapy. Today, dental implant treatment is one of the most predictable and safest dental procedures carried out by a dentist. When performed by a qualified and experienced dental surgeon, dental implants can easily last a lifetime.

The failure of dental implants is quite an unusual phenomenon. Long-term studies carried out over a period of 10 to 15 years suggest that less than five percent of implants fail. However, if your implant does fail, there is no need to panic. Plenty of options will still be available.

When are dental implants more likely to fail?

Dental implants seldom fail in healthy individuals with no adverse habits. Some of the most common reasons for failures include heavy smoking, parafunctional habits like clenching of teeth and bruxism, and poor oral hygiene maintenance.

Dental implants are also more likely to fail in patients with underlying systemic diseases like uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, and undetected osteoporosis.

How do you know that your dental implant is failing?

Once your implant surgery is over, you should be vigilant enough to look for subtle signs and observe changes around the implant that may be out of the ordinary.

1. Mobility

Any movement in the implant while chewing, talking or any movements while clenching of teeth is a sure sign of a failing implant.

After surgery, once the implant site has healed, the surrounding bone starts fusing with the implant. This provides enough stability that there should be no movement in the implant screw.

Sometimes, the movement is limited only to the prosthetic crown, while the underlying implant screw is normal and stable. This is called "abutment loosening", in which only the attachment over the gums has become loose. In such cases, the dentist can easily access the abutment screw and tighten it.

If the movement is from below the gum level, it can point to two things; a fractured implant or a loose implant due to infection or bone loss. Fracture of a dental implant is extremely rare and usually only happens in case of some unnatural force on the implant. Movement in the implant, after the healing period is over, indicates that there is insufficient support around it, or the fusion between the bone and the implant hasn’t happened, and the implant is destined to fail.

2. Recession

Similar to a natural tooth, if the gums around an implant screw start to recede, you will be able to see a few threads of the implant. This can act as a precursor for infection and peri-implantitis ultimately leading to bone loss.

3. Pain

Pain is a common phenomenon after dental implant surgery. Any pain or discomfort up to two weeks after surgery can be considered normal. However, if the pain continues after the initial healing, or there is sudden pain in an implant which has been already attached to a prosthesis, it can be due to some underlying infection of the gums around the implant, which can lead to failure.

4. Swelling

Just like pain, some amount of swelling and bruising is to be expected after surgery. However, swelling after the healing period is over, or any swelling in an already functioning implant should be considered as a warning sign.

The most commonly observed reason for swelling is an infection of the gums surrounding the implant. This is known as peri-implantitis.

The most frequent cause of peri-implantitis is improper oral hygiene maintenance by the patient. Much like the normal teeth, implants are prone to gum disease as well. Plaque, tartar, and neglect will destroy the supporting tissues around the implant and cause it to fail.

5. Difficulty in chewing

Just as pain and difficulty in chewing with a natural tooth is an indication that something is wrong, any pain while chewing on an implant-supported tooth or bridge is indicative of a problem. It could be a one-off pain due to chewing on something hard or could be due to some sort of infection underneath. In any case, it is better to consult a dentist immediately.

6. Pus discharge, bad breath, bad taste, and bleeding

Bleeding gums, similar to what you get in gums around natural teeth, are the first sign of inflammation and should not be ignored around an implant. The time taken for infection to go from minor to advanced is much lesser in implants than it is in natural teeth.

In case of advanced infection, you can observe yellowish discharge from the area around the implant screw. This is pus, caused by chronic infection. This pus can also cause an altered sour taste and bad breath even after brushing, similar to what you feel in case of gum disease.

7. Fever and abscess

In extreme cases, when you have ignored the initial signs and symptoms of failure, there could be a full-blown infection in the body. There is an abscess formation around the implant site, causing swelling of the face on the affected side. Severe infection can also lead to the development of a slight fever or in certain cases a sudden spike in body temperature.

Conclusion

Implant failure is considered unlikely although it is not uncommon. Most times, implants will last a lifetime or for decades without any trouble whatsoever. Studies have found that simple steps like maintaining good oral hygiene and getting regular check-ups done are enough to add years to the life of a functioning implant.

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