At New Albany Implants it’s probably fairly obvious what we focus in (it’s dental implants, in case you didn’t know). We’re proud of our 98 percent implant success rate – it’s hard to boast numbers that high when you place over 500 dental implants a year.
When dental implants fail there are usually some fairly common reasons, which we want to discuss with you today. Some of them are beyond your control, but many are due to neglect or lifestyle choices you make. The good news is that those are problems that can be fixed, often before they cause serious harm.
Failure To Integrate With Your Bone
Dental implants are made from titanium, which is chosen because it does a great job and integrating with your bone. In the course of about eight weeks your dental implant binds to your jaw, forming a strong, permanent connection that makes it just as secure as a tooth.
Sometimes this doesn’t happen, and the reasons why aren’t always clear. In many cases it’s because there isn’t enough bone mass to support the implant, but that’s never a problem at our New Albany office. We use state-of-the-art 3D modeling technology to build a digital model of your skull, muscle tissue, gums, bone, veins, and even nerves. We’ll be able to tell with incredibly accuracy whether you’re a good candidate for an implant.
Peri-Implant Disease
Caring for a dental implant isn’t too tough – it’s pretty much just like a natural tooth. Sometimes, however, things go wrong and you end up with peri-implant disease, a condition that’s a lot like gum disease, only surrounding your dental implant.
This bacterial infection, if it occurs during the implant healing period, can quickly lead to failure. Peri-implant disease is caused by the same things that cause gum disease and cavities, namely oral bacteria that isn’t kept in check by proper brushing and flossing. Implant healing requires dedicated, disciplined care!
Nerve Damage
Placing a dental implant can be tricky in many cases. There are a surprising amount of highly sensitive nerves running very near to your teeth, and striking one of them during surgery can cause permanent numbness and implant failure. This is incredibly rare, but when it happens the consequences are dire.
At New Albany Implants we use the digital modeling mentioned above to plan every aspect of your treatment. Because our 3D model shows every nerve and vein we’ll know exactly where to place your implants so they don’t cause nerve damage, making this concern almost nonexistent. We’ll never take a chance by placing an implant at an angle or in a position that could cause this kind of harm.
Foreign Body Rejections
Just like any kind of surgical implant, your body can reject a dental implant as well. This is an incredibly rare situation that is almost unheard of with dental implants, however. We use advanced biocompatible titanium for all of our implants. Titanium bonds to bone and is able to almost completely disappear inside your body, at least as far as your body is concerned. If you’re concerned about this kind of implant rejection don’t be – it almost never happens.
How We Take Steps To Prevent Rejection
When you get an implant at our office we’ll go through a complete patient education session with you. By the time you get your implant you’ll know how to care for them, what precautions to take, what not to do, and how to tell if something is wrong. With the proper care and attention you’ll be able to minimize your implant rejection risks to the point where you don’t need to worry at all.
The 3D modeling that we use to plan your implant procedure eliminates many of the risks that normally come with an implant procedure. We have complete control over how your implant is placed, eliminating problems due to lack of bone loss, sinus proximity, nerves, and other physical concerns.
Once you’ve left our office the biggest part of implant retention begins: caring for it properly so that you never have to worry about infection or rejection. One of the most common causes of long-term implant loss is the very same peri-implant disease we talked about above. Only regular cleanings, good brushing habits, and flossing can eliminate those risks.
Don’t Be Scared Of Implant Rejection
The implants we’ve placed up to the present day have been overwhelmingly successful. We want to show you how great life can be with dental implants, so don’t hesitate to contact us today!
You can reach New Albany Implants at (812) 945-7645 or you can request an appointment by filling out our online form. We look forward to seeing you soon!