Dental Implant Salvage – Oklahoma City, OK
Saving Your New Teeth
The vast majority of the time – more than 95%, in fact – your dental implant procedure will be a success, and your new teeth will last for decades if not the rest of your life. However, there are cases where, for one reason or another, your implants simply don’t join with the mouth like they’re supposed to. When this happens, Dr. Isaacson can perform dental implant salvage in Oklahoma City to address the problem and, ideally, let you keep your new smile intact. Is there a problem with your implant? Call our office at once!
Why Do Dental Implants Fail?
There are a few different circumstances where a dental implant might fail, the most common being:
- Gum Disease: A severe gum infection damages the jawbone, causing it to break down and preventing it from integrating with a dental implant properly.
- Smoking: When you smoke, the blood flow to the gums slows down, inhibiting its ability to heal. This makes implants 20% more likely to fail.
- Insufficient Bone Density: A jawbone that isn’t stimulated by the teeth will gradually lose density, and eventually there won’t be enough healthy bone structure to support implants.
- Medical Conditions: Diabetes and other autoimmune diseases can leave you vulnerable to dental implant failure since they significantly slow down the body’s ability to heal and join with the implants.
- Poor Oral Hygiene: It’s important to be able to keep the area around your dental implant clean; if you move well enough to brush effectively, implant failure becomes more likely.
What are the Symptoms of Failed Dental Implants?
There are a few different symptoms that could signal that an implant has failed. In general, if the implant demonstrates any kind of mobility at all, it’s a sure sign that it has not fused with the jawbone as it was meant to. Call us right away if your implant seems to be moving in its socket or if it falls out of the mouth altogether. You should also take heed if you start to have difficulty while chewing.
You should also be on the lookout for signs of an infection. If the gum tissue around an implant has become inflamed or has started to recede, there’s a good chance that there’s a problem with your implant. Naturally, severe pain or discomfort should be an obvious sign that something’s wrong as well.
In any event, you shouldn’t delay seeking help; any given oral health issue becomes more difficult to treat the longer it’s left alone.
How Does Dental Implant Salvage Work?
First, Dr. Isaacson will have to examine your mouth and take a few X-rays to figure out exactly why the failure occurred; the appropriate form of treatment largely depends on the underlying cause. If the area has been infected, we’ll likely need to remove the implant in order to get ride of tartar buildup through a process called debridement; a growth factor will be applied to encourage healing. In most cases, we’ll be able to attempt dental implant placement again once your mouth and jaw are healthy.