Should I Remove My Titanium Implants?

Question submitted by Mary:

I started seeing a holistic dentist. I need a dental implant and she is suggesting that I get a zirconia dental implant. In fact, she is also suggesting that I remove my current titanium dental implant and replace it with a zirconia one because she read in a natural news site that new titanium has neurological ill effects. That thought terrifies me. Do you know much about this understanding of titanium?

Mary

Dear Mary,

I think you need to start seeing a different dentist. There is no research that I am aware of (and I do keep up with current research) that says that titanium dental implants lead to any neurological problems. On the contrary, titanium has been used for decades in more than dental implants. You’ll find them in a large number of prosthetics including hip and knee replacements. There are years of data on their effectiveness as well as their longevity. Plus, titanium is very biocompatible and an inert metal, which means it is unreactive.

If you’re worried that I missed something, I am human after all, ask her for the piece she read. It should site the study with a link to it which leads to an abstract from a medical journal describing the study. I strongly suspect whatever she read was just a biased opinion piece being used as click bait.

While there is no problem with you getting a zirconia fixture for your new dental implant, I strongly recommend against replacing your current one. It is not as simple as just removing the titanium fixture and replacing it with zirconia.

First, you will have to remove the original implant. That is one surgery. When you do that, it will take a great deal of your bone with it. Because of the bone loss, you will need to have a bone grafting procedure done. That is a second surgery. Then, after a period of healing, you can finally add the zirconia implant, which is a third surgery.

That is three surgical procedures to get something that you already have. To top it off, each of those three procedures carries risks and you are increasing your chances of dental implant failure as well.

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