I’ve had so any implant failures on my two lower front teeth that my surgeon is stumped. He said he’s never seen this many failures before. Do you know why? Is there ANY chance I can get implants?
Candice from Georgia
Candice,
In many cases, dental implants fail because of some mistake on the part of the surgeon/dentist. However, that is not always the case. Dental implants can fail due to no error whatsoever. For some patients, there is a rare condition with their body chemistry that causes their body to reject the implants, sort of the way some patients can reject a heart or kidney transplant. It just isn’t compatible with their body. If you’ve had many implant failures with a skilled implant dentist/surgeon, you may be one of those rare cases.
That being said, I wouldn’t despair yet. When you said your dentist was “stumped”, it made me wonder about just how skilled he or she truly is. He shouldn’t be stumped. My suggestion is that you get a second opinion. However, I want you to be careful about to whom you go for the second opinion.
Go to the website of either the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, or the American Board of Oral Implantology. Check their membership rolls for a surgeon with fellowship or diplomate status. These surgeons will have impeccable credentials. You can be an exemplary implant dentist without that status, but this will be a sort of guarantee for you that you’ll be getting the best possible information.
This blog is brought to you by Naperville Dentist Dr. Anthony LaVacca.
