Dental Implant Failure

If an implant doesn’t fit correctly or improper techniques are used, the surrounding tissue can become irritated or inflamed, resulting in persistent infection.

There are several causes of loose implants, including substandard fixtures, prematurely loading the implants (i.e., attaching replacement teeth before the jawbone and implants can support them) or placing them in bone that is not dense enough.

Implants can mistakenly be positioned in places where they impair the nerves in the jaw. Nerve impairment can lead to persistent pain, numbness and tingling.

Improperly placing implants can result in the implant puncturing the sinuses, nose or the mandibular lingual space.

Proper placement of implants requires a three-dimensional CT scan. The scan shows the position of the blood vessels and nerves in the bone, the shape of your nasal sinus and other structures. It also reveals whether or not you have enough quality bone available to support the implants.

At our practice, we use i-CAT™ technology for our imaging, so you’ll be exposed to only three percent of the radiation you’d receive from a medical scan. A two-dimensional x-ray isn’t sufficient to ensure that implants are properly placed.

There are medical conditions that affect the success of dental implants. Therefore, a thorough review of your medical history is required before the procedure is performed.

Only six of the over 200 hundred companies that manufacture dental implant fixtures have published juried research and test results illustrating the quality of the fixtures. A substandard fixture can be a fraction of the cost of a high-quality fixture that’s been precision-engineered and fully tested.

Because they’re not designed at the same level and haven’t been tested, cheap fixtures can lead to infection or cause the implants to loosen.

A lack of communication between the surgeon and the dentist or inadequate diagnostic information can cause implants to be placed incorrectly.