I received a dental implant. Yesterday, it felt loose so I went in to see my dentist. He x-rayed my implant and said it was fine, which meant my crown was loose. He agreed to re-cement it on. However, he struggled to get the crown off. I found it hard to believe it was the loose bit when he couldn’t get it off. I mentioned that and he said he knew what he was doing. He said it just needed a specialized tool. But, when he did pull off the crown the implant was still attached. This seems wrong to me. He said he’d fix it and put the implant back in, but I’m not sure I trust him.
Debbie
Dear Debbie,
You are right not to trust this dentist. In fact, I want you to go straight there and ask for him to pay to have this repaired by a different (ie. competent) dentist. He should have known right away it wasn’t the crown which was loose when he couldn’t easily remove it. A loose crown will generally just fall out on its own. Now, he’s made things much worse.
That’s the reason I want him to pay for it to be repaired instead of just getting a refund. It’s going to cost you more to get this fixed than the original procedure. Before we get into all of that, let’s discuss what could have gone wrong.
The most common reason for dental implant failure is infection. However, you should have felt pain if that were the case. You didn’t mention that, just that it was loose. My guess is your dentist placed the implant crown on before your bone had a chance to integrate with the implant. That would cause it to become loose.
What Needs to Happen for Your Dental Implant Now?
In order to repair this, you’re going to need bone grafting done to build back up your jawbone. When your dental implant failed, it left a gaping hole where the new one will need to go. Without that additional bone, there will be no way for it to stay in. Once your bone grafting is completed, then you can get a second dental implant placed.
Whenever I have something go wrong in my life, I always try to look for some benefit which can be gained. In your case, it probably seems like there couldn’t be a benefit. However, I’m thinking this gives you a chance to upgrade your smile, especially because dental implant crowns can’t be changed after they’re finished.
My suggestion is to get your teeth whitened while you’re waiting on your bone grafting to heal. Then, your new implant crown can be made to match your new brighter white smile.
You’ll have new teeth AND look years younger at the same time.
This blog is brought to you by Dr. Steven Collins.