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Dental Implant Salvage – Virginia Beach, VA

Turning Implant Failure into a Success

Smiling couple

While dental implants have an impressive success rate of 95%, failure is still very much a possibility. It could be that the posts were placed incorrectly by another dentist, or you could have developed an infection around the implant site; whatever the case, dental implant complications often lead to pain and often lead to losing your new teeth entirely. Luckily, Dr. Patel can help save your smile with dental implant restoration. Call Lakeshore Dental today if you have any reason to think your implants might be at risk.

Causes of Dental Implant Failure

Dental implant in mouth

One of the more common reasons for an implant to fail is a specific form of gum disease called peri-implantitis. This occurs when the plaque and bacteria in your mouth build up around the base of the dental implant and attack the bone that supports it. It’s usually a consequence of poor oral hygiene.

Smokers tend to be at a high risk of dental implant failure, especially if they continue to use cigarettes immediately after the procedure. Nicotine and tobacco can prevent your mouth from healing correctly, and they introduce all kind of harmful bacteria into your oral cavity, increasing your risk for infection.

Sometimes an implant can fail because of physical damage. A traumatic injury to the face or teeth could knock it loose, or the pressure from bruxism (grinding your teeth while asleep) could cause it to lose its stability.

Finally, if the bone around the implant isn’t dense enough, the metal post won’t join with your jaw correctly and will fail.

How Dental Implant Salvage Works

Smiling woman

The first step in dental implant repair is to figure out exactly what went wrong. Dr. Patel can use the advanced technology at our practice (such as digital X-rays) to thoroughly examine your teeth, gums, and jaw to figure out the cause of your dental implant failure.

The next step is to develop a strategy to treat your oral health issues and, if possible, save your dental implant. This will mean something different for every patient. If you have peri-implantitis, for example, you’ll likely need gum disease therapy to get rid of the infection. For patients whose implants never attached to the surrounding bone correctly, bone grafts might be needed to add density. Dr. Patel might recommend these and other treatments depending on your needs.

Much of the time, your dental implants will need to be removed temporarily while the issue that caused them to fail is dealt with. Once the problem has been resolved, we can try and place new implants. With our i3D Smart Scanner, we can perform precise implant placements to ensure that your new teeth are successful!

What to Do If You Have A Failing Implant

Tooth pain

If you notice anything wrong with your dental implants (such as looseness or pain), call us as soon as possible; the salvage process will be shorter and easier if you make an appointment before the problem gets worse. Implants are supposed to be a long-term investment in a complete, healthy smile; let us help you make sure that that investment pays off!