Theriot Family Dental

Half My Dental Implants Have Already Fallen Out

Posted by writeradmin

I am getting full implant overdentures on my upper and lower teeth. The plan is to do six dental implants on each arch. We’re doing the lower arch first because those teeth were in the worst condition. I’ve only had the implants themselves for less than a week and three of them have already fallen out. Is there much hope the others will stay? Does this mean I am not a good candidate for dental implants? I was truly hoping not to be stuck with dentures, especially because I am only 35.

Andy

Dear Andy,

implant overdentures

 

It is actually hard for me to believe what I am hearing. In less than a week 50% of your dental implants have failed. With a skilled dentist, the failure rate is closer to 1%. Even with your basic dentists, overall the average failure rate is only 5%, even then they would fail months later not days. I would not hold out much hope for your other three to last much longer.

Reasons for Dental Implant Failure

  • Poor diagnostics. It is possible your dentist did not do the right diagnostics. If you don’t have enough bone in your jaw, then it means you will not have any way to support your dental implants.
  • Infection at the implant site.
  • Incorrect Placement of the Dental Implant
  • Premature loading. This means the dental crowns (or implant bridge, if it is an overdenture) was placed before the bond had time to integrate with the dental implants.

Where to Go From Here

One thing I want you to do is to get a second dentist to look at your dental implants. The purpose of the visit will be to discover why the dental implants failed. This will help form a plan that can enable you to get the implant overdentures you want. When you get this second opinion, I want you to have three considerations:

First, see if you can go a distance away so there is less chance they will know each other. Second, don’t let him know who the dentist is, just in case they do know each other. If he asks, tell him (or her) that you are hoping for an unbiased opinion. Finally, you need the dentist to have expertise with dental implants. I would look for someone who is a fellow with the International Congress of Oral Implantologiests. Once you know the reason for the failure, you’ll be armed with all the knowledge you need to get a refund for this disaster.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentist Dr. John Theriot.