If you are looking for information on dental implants in our webpage or on the internet in general, you'll probably come across a lot of posts that usually describe all their advantages.
This post will actually describe all their disadvantages, in an effort to give you a more complete description of this treatment modality.
- Implants need a surgical procedure. An experienced surgeon will place an implant in 45 minutes, but in case you need more that one implants placed, then your patience and cooperation will be needed.We can help very anxious patient by providing implant placement under general anesthesia or sedation in a hospital.
- Dental implants are expensive. Even if you are missing only one tooth, its replacement with a dental bridge costs less than a dental implant. The truth is that in the long run you may need to pay more, since bridges need replacement more often.
- Dental implant treatment involves a waiting period. Implants need 3-6 months to osseointegrate before their final restoration. In the meantime you may need a transitional prosthesis especially if you are completely edentulous or missing a single anterior tooth.
- Sometimes implant placement may need extra surgical procedures. If there is not enough bone to accommodate dental implants then you may need surgical procedures like a sinus lift or bone augmentation that may increase cost and healing time.
- Implant esthetics in the anterior area are challenging. Loosing a tooth usually means loss of the bone structure around it. As a result the final appearance of the restoration may be significantly affected by the esthetics of the tissues around it. Implant research nowadays, is greatly focused in the way the bone regeneration techniques will help improve the overall esthetics of the anteriorly placed implants.
- Some implants fail. Bone loss may happen after a few years of service. The more it is, the bigger the possibility for the implant to fail. An implant fails when it gets mobile and it has to be extracted. Even in this case the implant can be replaced by a new one.
- Restorations may need replacement after a few years of service. Hybrids, or dentures get their acrylic teeth worn and the change may influence the aesthetics and function of the prosthesis. This is the reason why the prosthesis after a few years may need replacement.
Implant treatment may present with some difficulties depending on ypur case. This doesn't change the fact though, that dental implants are are an excellent type of prosthodontics.
Difficulties may be a significant part of the treatment but according to me they are not as important as the treatment itself.
Domna Evangelidou, DDS, MSc
