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I just had the crown placed on my dental implant a few days ago and now the implant feels loose. I’ve called the office and they’ve schedule me an appointment, but it isn’t for a few days. Should I try to take the implant out or just be careful with it?
Elliot
Dear Elliot,
Please don’t pull the dental implant out. There is a chance your dental implant could be saved. I’m not crazy about your dentist making you wait. It would have been better if he squeezed you into his schedule, but we’ll have to go with your current options.
There are many reasons that a dental implant could be loose. The best reasons, and easiest to fix, would be either a loose dental crown or a loose abutment. An abutment is the piece that connects the crown to the dental implant.
The other reasons can be a bit more serious and can lead to dental implant failure. You mentioned that this happened not long after he placed the crown. It is possible that the crown was placed before the bone had enough time to integrate with the dental implant. This is an essential step where you do not want any shortcuts taken.
Other possible causes are:
- Infection, though that is usually that is accompanied by pain or fever, which you didn’t mention.
- A substandard dental implant fixture being placed.
- Poor pre-procedural diagnostics, where it was not noted that you didn’t have sufficient bone to support the implant. There are solutions to this, but it needs to be diagnosed.
- Incorrect placement of the dental implant.
You’ve done the important first step in contacting your dentist. Until your appointment, I would just be careful with it. Try not to bite down on it, etc.
Let’s say that the worst case scenario happens and the implant fails. That does not mean you cannot have an implant. You will need a bone grafting procedure in order to build up sufficient bone again. Once that is healed, another implant can be placed.
You may want to see if you can get a an implant dentist to look at it between now and your appointment. Look for someone with advanced post-doctoral training or a fellow with the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI). The later would be ideal.
This blog is brought to you by a compassionate dentist in Baton Rouge, Dr. John Theriot.