Dental implants are a permanent tooth loss solution. They function just like your natural teeth and roots and flawlessly match your surrounding teeth. How long does a dental implant last? With proper care, twice-yearly dental visits, and an oral hygiene routine, your dental implants can last a lifetime, and the crowns can last for 15-25 years.
Here’s what you need to know about dental implant longevity and the steps you can take to keep them in great shape for the rest of your life.
How Long Does a Dental Implant Last?: Potential Complications
Dental implants replace your natural tooth root through osseointegration with your existing jaw bone. Your dentist inserts a titanium screw or post into your jaw bone, and the bone soon heals around it, cementing it in place. Once osseointegration is complete, the only way to remove the implant is through fracture or special dental tools. It is a permanent tooth restoration.
While titanium has excellent biocompatibility, sometimes dental implants fail. It’s rare, and the experts at No Gaps Dental do everything to ensure you’re a good candidate for dental implant surgery. Even so, it still can happen, but there are some steps you can take to help prevent implant failure.
Medical Conditions
If you have diabetes, develop cancer or autoimmune disease, you are at a higher risk of early dental implant failure. Additionally, bisphosphonate medications for osteoporosis can have an adverse effect on the osseointegration process. Other factors include infection, immune rejection, and poor blood flow due to certain medications or diseases.
Tobacco Use
Smoking and using tobacco products restricts the blood supply and can introduce bacteria into the wound, causing an infection and eventual rejection of the titanium implant.
Ideal candidates for dental implant surgery do not smoke or use tobacco or are willing to quit for good. You should be completely free of tobacco and nicotine before your surgery, including patches and smoking cessation medications.
Inadequate Bone Density and Surface
Inadequate bone surface and density is another factor for early implant failure. If you’ve had missing teeth for more than one year, you may need a bone graft to strengthen the jawbone area that has deteriorated in that time. This procedure is completed first and must heal completely before the dentist places your dental implants.
Your dental implants must also have enough room to fully integrate with your jawbone. Dental implants must have at least 1 mm in diameter of bone to properly osseointegrate, but if your bone density is low or there isn’t enough surface area, they can fail.
Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol affects the immune system, and chronic drinkers are at a higher risk of failure after dental implant surgery. Alcohol limits the production of essential proteins used in your body’s healing process, which can compromise the success of osseointegration. Lifelong alcoholics may also have compromised bone density.
Hygiene and Habits
You increase the risk of dental implant surgery failure if you do not follow good oral hygiene habits. Brush and floss at least twice per day and use an antiseptic mouthwash for extra cleaning. Visit your dentist at least twice per year for annual check-ups and cleanings.
Without proper oral hygiene, you can develop periodontitis or gum disease. Gum disease can attack your dental implants over time, causing an infection and eventual failure.
Teeth Grinding
If you grind your teeth, also called bruxism, you are at a higher risk of dental implant failure. Nighttime teeth grinding can put extreme pressure on your crown and dental implants. Chewing typically exerts 20-40 pounds of pressure on your teeth. Nighttime clenching and grinding can exert up to 250 pounds of pressure, causing serious damage to your tooth surfaces, enamel, sinus pain, and damage to your jawbone.
How Long Does a Dental Implant Last Compared to Other Options?
Once the titanium post is fully osseointegrated with your jawbone, it can last you for the rest of your life with proper care. The crowns typically last between 15-25 years, depending on your oral hygiene habits and if you eat chewy or hard foods regularly.
Dentures are a popular tooth replacement option because they are affordable in the short-term. However, they don’t provide the same biting pressure as dental implants, which means that the shape of your jaw slowly deteriorates over time. As your jawbone changes, you’ll need to be fitted for new dentures every 5-7 years, which is a recurring expense. While dental implants are more expensive up front, they provide savings in the long run.
Dentures are also not as convenient as dental implants. Dentures sometimes slip while you’re eating or speaking, which can be embarrassing and inconvenient. You need to remove your dentures to clean them at night, and you must be careful of the foods you eat so that you don’t break the appliance.
Bridges are another tooth replacement option for consecutive missing teeth in one area of the mouth. However, unless they are implant-supported, they don’t provide the same bite pressure as dental implants. Over time, your jaw bone will deteriorate in these areas as well. Dental bridges must be replaced every 5-10 years.
How Long Does a Dental Implant Last?: Contact Our Professionals
If you are considering dental implant surgery, the No Gaps Dental professionals are ready to offer you an initial consultation. We’ll perform X-ray or 3D imaging and assess your oral health to see if you’re a candidate for this revolutionary tooth replacement method.
If you qualify, we’ll provide you with a customised treatment plan and move forward with any additional extractions and bone grafting, if necessary. Once you are fully healed, we’ll place the implants, and then later the abutments and the crowns. We custom design your crowns to match your natural smile in shape, size, and colour.
Contact our practice today on (02) 8806 0227 to restore your smile for the rest of your life.
Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks.