Dental Implant Restoration at Delgado Dental Group
Hi everybody. I'm Dr. Alfonso Delgado from Delgado Dental Group, and we receive many questions about dental implants and dental implant restoration. I'm going to answer some of those questions for you.
What is dental implant restoration?
First of all, the dental implant is the part that goes into your bone. It's the screw that we place into your bone. The restoration is whatever goes on top of it. If you're missing a single tooth, it would be a crown. If you're missing two teeth together, it might be a dental bridge. And if you're missing a full mouth, it might be what we call a hybrid or a full arch dental bridge. In some cases, we have snaps on our implants and what we call an overdenture.
What does dental implant restoration entail?
If we're looking at a single tooth, a bridge, or even a fixed dental full arch dental bridge, restoring it usually involves putting what we call scan bodies on the implants. Then we use an intraoral scanner to get all the necessary information of the mouth and use a computer to design the restoration, whether it's a single crown or a bridge. Then we have that restoration milled and screw it in.
How can I make my dental implants white again?
A question I get is, "Can we whiten the teeth that are on a dental implant?" or "How do I get my dental implants white again?" It's kind of a trick question because the crown on a dental implant doesn't change color. The color you pick is usually meant to match your other teeth or your complexion. Once that color is picked, there's no whitening or changing of the color.
Is it possible to do screw retained crown restorations of single implants?
A question I get is whether it's possible to do a screw-retained crown on a single implant, and absolutely, that's usually the best way to have a crown. It's retained by a screw onto the dental implant. When we plan our cases, we try to ensure we know where the crown should be and then reverse engineer where the implant should be. Therefore, when we make the crown, it's screwed right into the implant. Sometimes it's not possible, and it has to be glued in.
How many years can you keep a dental implant?
Once the surgery is done and it's a success, you should be able to keep it for a lifetime. However, you need to maintain your fake tooth and keep it clean because it can get gum disease just like your regular teeth. It can't get a cavity, but it can get gum disease. As I always say to my patients, what God made didn't last forever, so you can't expect what we make to last forever, but we certainly strive for that.
How many times can dental implants be replaced?
It's really hard to say. Sometimes an implant will fail, and when it does, we remove it, clean out the area, and then do what we call bone grafting to preserve the bone. In theory, you could do it numerous times. It really shouldn't ever need that, but sometimes it does happen. I've had to replace an implant once or twice, but usually, a couple of times is not a big problem.
Is dental implant failure common?
Yes and no. It does happen, but generally, when we place an implant, the success rate is over 90%. The ten-year success rate is probably about 80-85%. So they do fail, which makes it common in a sense, but it shouldn't happen all the time.
What is the most common reason for implant failure?
I would say there are probably two reasons. One is not maintaining the health of the gums around it. Another contributing factor is if your bite, the way your teeth come together, is not correct and puts too much force on an implant. Grinding your teeth over time will lead to an implant failing.
Can you save a failing dental implant?
Sometimes, depending on why it's failing and how bad it is. I've had some success where there was bone loss around the implant. We were able to clean it up and put in a bone graft, and it worked out okay. But sometimes, when there's a gum infection, the implant can get loaded with bacteria, making it almost impossible to clean. It's a very difficult thing to try to save in such cases.
How can you prevent dental implants from failing?
The best way to prevent a dental implant from failing is to take good care of it. Just like you would your natural teeth, you want to brush and floss to ensure it's clean. You want to avoid putting unnecessary stress on it, such as biting foreign objects or your nails. You want to minimize that kind of behavior.
I hope I was able to answer any of your questions about dental implants. If you have any other questions, you can call our office, Delgado Dental Group, at (209) 474-8888, and we'll get you on the road to a new smile.