His Dentist Really Blew This

Question submitted by Deanna:

I had a dental implant placed and it started to feel loose. I went back to my dentist and he said that it was probably just the crown that was loose. He felt it could easily be bonded back on. However, things didn’t go so well. He had trouble taking off the crown. He even used a special tool to help him. However, instead of the crown coming off, the entire dental implant came out with the crown. He said we can do the implant again, but I want to know if he pulled it out by doing something wrong first.

Deanna

Dear Deanna,

I am having a bit of trouble processing the amount of incompetence there has to be for your dentist to not realize it was not the dental crown that was the problem.

When a dental crown is loose, it is very easy to take off. In fact, it would usually fall out by itself. Your dentist would certainly not need a special tool for it. It sounds to me like he did not want to admit the dental implant was the problem. A loose crown is an easy fit. A loose dental implant is serious.

There are a few reasons for a dental implant to come loose. You didn’t say how long you’d had the implant before the crown was placed, but if there was premature loading, it would explain the implant coming loose. Premature loading just means that the dental crown was secured to the implant before it was ready to support it. Your bone needs to integrate with the dental implant before the crown is bonded on. Another possibility for it coming loose is an infection, but you would normally have pain or fever if that were the case.

Replacing a failed dental implant is not as simple as just removing the old one and sticking a new one in there. Your dentist had to remove bone to place the dental implant. That bone will have to be filled in again with a procedure known as bone grafting. Given the failure, it was very likely that there wasn’t enough bone to begin with, which he would have known if he’d done the right diagnostics. You have likely lost even more due to shrinkage because of your loose implant.

In your place, I would tell your dentist that he needs to pay for this to be repaired with the dentist of your choice. Then, I want you to find a dentist who has post-doctoral implant training as well as a high success rate. I would look for a minimum of 95% success rate.

This blog is brought to you by Tucson Dentist Dr. Howard Steinberg.