Are You a Candidate for Dental Implant?

Dental implants are the gold standard for replacing missing teeth. In addition to looking beautiful and feeling natural, dental implants also fend off future bone loss. Unfortunately, many patients are concerned about their candidacy for dental implants.

Here are some issues that could interfere with your ability to receive dental implants, and what our dentists might recommend improving your chances of a successful procedure in the future.

A few health conditions:

Dental implant surgery is a fairly involved procedure. For implants to anchor and heal successfully, patients should be generally healthy and free of diseases that could hamper healing. Certain health problems, including cancer, hemophilia, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders can disrupt a person’s candidacy to receive dental implants because these disorders can affect your ability to heal. Some of these conditions can also cause serious infections after the procedure.

If you have an ongoing medical condition, our dentists at GDNC will carefully evaluate your medical record to determine whether or not you are a candidate for implant surgery now, or if you might be after you address your medical problems.

Ongoing Dental or Periodontal Problems:

To be a good candidate for dental implant surgery, patients should have generally healthy teeth and gums free of ongoing dental and periodontal problems. For example, if you have struggled with gum disease in the past, you should be dedicated to proper oral hygiene, and your teeth and gums should be clean and free of disease before the procedure. otherwise, the infection is likely to migrate to the implant site and interfere with integration. So, the dentist needs to adequate a review of the dental condition of the patient with a special focus on the neighboring teeth and the overall health of the mouth.

Insufficient Bone Mass or Density:

Dental implants are supported by small titanium posts inserted into the jawbone tissue, which is why bone density is so important. The jawbone tissue needs to be wide, deep, and strong enough to support an implant successfully. Because bone mass tends to recede after teeth are lost, patients who have been living with missing teeth for a while may require bone grafts before implants can be placed. Bone grafting is an effective treatment for bone density problems, but grafts can take several months to heal before they are strong enough for implants. At GDNC, our dentists are taking an X-ray or 3D CT scan to determine the bone condition and whether it is enough to place the implant or not.

Lifestyle Habits:

Certain lifestyle habits, such as poor oral hygiene, excessive drinking, or smoking can affect dental implant healing. In order to be a candidate for dental implant surgery, patients should be committed to maintaining an excellent dental hygiene routine and not smoking for the duration of the implant placement process. Patients need to make sure that they are committed to not smoking during the dental implant procedure time in order not to risk dental implant failure. Patients should also avoid drinking while implants are healing since alcohol can dry out the mouth and impede healing.