No one enjoys going through failure. It’s disappointing, frustrating, and maybe even a little embarrassing. Especially if you’ve invested a lot of time, effort, and money in something, like dental implants, failure can sting even more! After all the trouble you’ve gone through to replace your teeth with the gold standard, the last thing you want is to have to start all over again.
In addition to practicing proper maintenance, you’ll need to keep an eye out for signs of dental implant failure if you want your replacement teeth to last a long, long time. What are these signs? Keep reading to find out!
Sign #1: Mobility and Difficulty Chewing or Talking
Ideally, your dental implants should be firmly embedded in the jawbone. In other words, they should be secure and stable without much movement at all. But when the connection between the jawbone and implants starts to fail, they can shift more easily.
Micro-movements can be difficult to identify on your own, but if you regularly visit your dentist, they may recognize an issue early on. Before any real damage can be done, your dentist can address the issue and keep your dental implant strong.
When your dental implants don’t stay in one place, it makes eating and talking significantly more challenging. In fact, you may have a weaker bite or start to slur words. If you notice that your prosthetic teeth feel unstable or weaker, you need to schedule an appointment immediately to see if the problem can be reversed before failure occurs.
Sign #2: Pain or Swelling
Although your dental implant doesn’t contain a nerve, other oral structures around it do. Your gums and jaw have nerve endings that can still communicate pain to your brain. Supposing your dentist placed the implants correctly and safely, your prosthetic teeth should feel pretty similar to real teeth once you have a brief period to get used to them. However, if they move easily or haven’t integrated properly with the jawbone, they can impinge on nearby nerves, causing oral pain and swelling, particularly in the gums.
Sign #3: Gum Infection
A complication called peri-implantitis resembles gum disease, which is the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. Like gum disease, peri-implantitis is an inflammatory condition that infects the gum tissue and jawbone. Without treatment, it can leave you with failed implants back at square one, needing to replace your teeth again.
Symptoms of peri-implantitis look just like those of gum disease:
- Bleeding, red, puffy gums.
- Receding gums.
- Consistently bad breath.
If caught early enough, this infection can be treated and the implants saved.
Although you need to continue to be diligent in monitoring your dental implants on your own, know your dentist can check them at least every six months if you keep going in for regular visits. Together you can recognize the warning signs and take care of the complication as quickly as possible, ensuring your implants don’t come close to failure.
About the Author
After graduating from dental school in 1994, Dr. Gus Bal completed a fellowship in dental implants at New York University. Since then, he has continued to refine his skills with dental implants and other areas of dentistry. He owns and operates Nepean Dental Centre in Nepean and finds great satisfaction in providing top-tier dental services and educating patients on their options. To schedule a dental implant consultation with Dr. Bal, contact his office online or call 613-800-1800.