Dental implants are used to replace broken or missing teeth. Artificial teeth are implanted into the jaw bone to create a new, complete smile. From time to time you may experience some small issues with your new dental implants, because your body reacts to the procedure. The problems will vary from case to case, but there is specific symptoms to pay attention to.
Swollen gums are one of the biggest dental implants problems . Though it’s an obvious symptom, it could be a variety of problems causing your swollen gums. Though it’s unlikely, one cause of swollen gums is a dental implant infection. Most commonly this occurs when the surgery takes place in a non-sterile environment. In the United States, packages are clean and secure so it’s not a common problem. If the implant procedures scratches inside your mouth and bacteria gets in there, you may experience an infection.
Like with any surgical procedure, your body may reject the dental implants. Naturally your body rejects things that “don’t belong there.” This includes artificial teeth. You may notice your jaw and gums hurting from the implants. When it becomes loose and inflamed, it’s likely your immune system is attacking the implants and rejecting them. Unfortunately, antibiotics and other medications will not cure a rejection. Instead, the implants must be removed from the jaw.
Another type of dental implants problems is dental implant failure. Similar to rejection, this means your artificial teeth are not working properly. Generally implants are made with metal. When they are overworked, the metal posts bend and may break. Therefore the implants fail and must be removed. The ultimate cause of this is poor insertion. Not all patients can afford a complete mouth of implants, so doctors replace just a tooth or two to help ease the chewing problem. All the pressure is put on these teeth, causing them to break. When this happens, the implants must be removed.
Dental implant overload is nearly the same as failure. When the teeth are not lined up properly, a jaw does not chew like a normal jaw should. Therefore, the teeth do not sit in the mouth properly and pressure is put on select teeth. These teeth then bend and break, resulting in implant removal.
If you are not experiencing failure, overload, rejection or infection, it’s likely your problems are simply inflammation. The gums will appear red and swollen over the implants. Infection or trauma causes inflammation, when defensive cells travel to the inflamed area. Medication and special cleaning can fix this problem, but if not treated bone loss may occur. Bone loss is painful and likely when the gum is not kept clean. After surgery you must keep the area clean to avoid these problems. When inflammation is not treated, the issue transfers into the bone and is more difficult to treat. The only way to deal with bone loss is painful bone grafting.
Contact your physician or dentist if you are experiencing any pain or discomfort. Though these are the most common problems with dental implants, symptoms and illness will vary from case to case.