Dental Implant Failure & Salvage – Phoenix, AZ

Preserving Your Rebuilt Smile

As perhaps the top choice of tooth replacement options, dental implants bring a wide range of advantages for your smile and overall health. While they offer incredibly high success rates of 95% or more, there’s still a slight chance of failure. That’s why our team at Bell Road Dental Care of Phoenix offers dental implant salvage treatment! We can evaluate your situation and create the proper plans to preserve your restorations so that you can return to enjoying a full bite again.

a dentist explaining dental implants to a patient

Why Do Dental Implants Fail?

a man holding his cheek due to tooth pain

It’s important to know that dental implants can potentially fail due to two primary reasons: failed osseointegration and peri-implantitis. The former can occur during the recovery process after the surgery, as the metal post(s) will need to fuse properly with your jawbone. If this isn’t done completely, it can raise the risk of failure after several years or even a few weeks from receiving your implants.

Peri-implantitis is a form of gum disease that surrounds the implant site and attacks the tissues holding your metal posts in place. If left unchecked, it can weaken the jawbone and gums, making your mouth unable to support your implants. This can occur due to poor oral hygiene or existing periodontal infection, but other contributing factors like physical trauma, osteoporosis, and uncontrolled diabetes.

Symptoms of Failed Dental Implants

a 3D illustration of a dental implant in the jawbone

Remember that dental implant failure doesn’t always happen right after the surgical procedure. In some cases, it can occur years after receiving them. Still, you’ll want to be on the lookout for certain indications of failure, which may include:

  • Pain or discomfort in the implant site
  • A loose dental implant
  • Inflammation in the gums
  • Trouble chewing or biting down
  • Receding gum line around the implant

How Dental Implant Salvage Works

a patient checking his smile with a mirror

If you notice any of the above symptoms or other unusual signs of failure, make sure to notify our team immediately for help. With salvage treatment, we can assess your mouth and condition to find the root problem so that we can develop the right plan for resolving the issue. Some of these methods may involve deep cleaning, scaling and root planing, antibiotics, or another form of infection control. The quicker you contact us, the better our chances are of saving your dental implants.