I need some advice. I had a dental implant placed. I was excited to have a permanent tooth replacement. I had been using a dental flipper, so this was a big step up. The crown came a bit loose. I called the dentist and he had me come in saying that the crown was probably loose and he just needed to recement it. I asked him to do an x-ray, which he did, and said everything looked okay, which again pointed to the crown being loose. Unfortunately, he had a bit of trouble getting it off. So, he got out a special tool. But, when the crown did come off, it was still attached to the dental implant which came with it. Is this a normal thing to happen? How do I proceed from here? He’s suggesting we just do a dental bridge, but the other teeth are healthy. I’m not really excited about grinding them down for crowns.
Bruce
Dear Bruce,
It was obviously not your dental crown that was loose, but the implant itself. A loose crown comes off remarkably easy. In fact, most of the time they just fall off without any aid. He really should have known this. Either your dentist is incredibly incompetent or he completely lacks integrity. It would have been obvious the problem was not the crown. If it wasn’t obvious, your answer is incompetence. If it was, then that means he was going to pretend it was the crown because that is an easy fix. The problem being the implant itself is much more complicated.
Here are three common reasons this can happen, but to find out the actual reason, I suggest you see a dentist with some expertise in dental implants.
First, you may not have had enough bone to support the dental implant to begin with. If he did adequate diagnostics, he should have known this ahead of time. Some doctors cut corners on diagnostics and do not do a CT scan. If there wasn’t enough bone, that was fixable. You could have gotten some bone grafting done in order to build up the necessary bone.
Second, you could have had an infection that led to the failure. That is normally accompanied by either pain or fever. You did not mention either of those, so I have my doubts about this one.
Third, there could have been premature loading. This is where the dental crown is placed before the surrounding bone structure had time to integrate with the dental implant. Osseointegration is super important because that is what secures the dental implant in your jaw.
My advice, ask for a refund on your dental implant, then see a dentist with real expertise in dental implants.
This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. Fred Arnold.