Dental Implant Risks and Complications
Dental Implant Treatments are consistently amongst the highest performing long-term treatments in Dentistry. Literature and experience shows that 90-95% of Dental Implant Treatments are functioning normally after 20 years.
Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.
YOU MAY EXPERIENCE SOME OF THE FOLLOWING COMPLICATIONS FOLLOWING IMPLANT TREATMENT:
► Surgical Complications such as bleeding, infection and nerve damage causing temporary or permanent numbness to your lip.
► The Implant may fail to integrate to the bone. This is discovered at the time of the second surgery and often is the result of not maintaining a soft diet during the interim between the first and second surgeries, or not returning for adjustments and additional soft linings should soreness and ulcerations occur. Any implant that fails to integrate will be removed. At that time either a new fixture will be placed (followed by another three to six month healing time) or the prosthesis will be constructed on those implants that remain.
► Fracture of abutment fixtures, screws and associated parts are rare but can happen. This could lead to the removal of the fixture, in which case you may need to have a different prosthesis constructed. It may be necessary to switch from a fixed to a removable prosthetic design.
► Your appearance may be changed in terms of tooth contour and position and lip support. Appearance and
speech changes are more likely with upper implants since it is necessary to leave the implant posts
exposed for proper oral hygiene. If this creates an undesirable appearance an esthetic veneer can be made.
► Eating excessively hard foods can lead to increased soreness under the conventional denture and
possible fracture of teeth or fixture parts.
► If the jaw joints or facial muscles are overloaded from excessively hard foods or you clench or grind
your teeth, you may experience some jaw joint and facial muscular discomfort.
► Cleaning the teeth and posts of the implant will be much different from cleaning a conventional denture.
Although rare, abnormal tissue reactions and/or infections can occur around the implant parts if they
are not kept clean. Like other dentures and bridges, the teeth may stain with excessive coffee, tea or
smoking.
► If your denture is of the removable type, the teeth or denture may be damaged if dropped, teeth may de-bond due to the extra forces implants create in your bite.
► There may be some initial discomfort around the implant post immediately after the denture is placed,
which should eventually disappear.
► The screws attaching the prosthesis to the fixture may loosen with time. They will need to be tightened if
this occurs. This will sometimes require remaking your crowns at your expense.
► When the teeth have worn down they will need to be replaced. This means your denture will be
removed for a few days. This would, of course, be at your expense.
THE ALTERNATIVES TO IMPLANT TREATMENT ARE:
1. To not have any treatment.
2. To have a new conventional removable denture.
3. Other surgical procedures to improve residual ridge (with attendant risks and other problems).
4. Other Prosthetic Procedure sincluding dental bridges where adjacent teeth are suitable candidates to hold the bridge
FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS OF IMPLANT TREATMENT YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING RESPONSIBILITIES:
1.. Follow all instructions regarding soft diet and denture use during the healing after each phase of surgery.
2. Clean the implant posts and denture thoroughly as instructed.
3. Appear for periodic examinations as advised by your dentist. There is an additional fee for this service.
4. Exercise care in not abusing the prosthesis.
5. Advise your dentist immediately if any problems are noticed.
