Bruxism - Patients who have a habit of clenching or grinding (bruxing) their teeth may be at risk of overloading their implants. For most people bruxism occurs during sleep, which is why they are generally not aware of it. Heavily worn or flattened teeth, chipped enamel edges and/or regularly breaking pieces of heavily filled teeth are the most common clinical signs of bruxism. The effects of bruxism need to be considered during treatment planning and can be compensated for by placing additional implants, selecting appropriate restorative materials and providing a night time bite guard to protect the new teeth.
What can you do if an implant does not work?
If an implant does not achieve or cannot maintain a rigid fixation with the surrounding bone it will eventually become loose and no longer be able to support replacement teeth. Commonly the failing implant causes no discomfort and if there are enough remaining, it may not be necessary to replace it at all.
Failures may not always be so easy to deal with and if you embark upon this type of treatment you have to be prepared to deal with this possibility. Most treatment providers will want to achieve failure rates much less than 5%, however in practice this could mean that 1 in 20 of the implants placed might not survive in long-term function. It is a good idea to discuss how your treatment plan might be affected by the loss of an implant.
How long does treatment take?
For routine cases, from the time of implant placement to the time of placing the first teeth, treatment times can vary between 6 weeks and 6 months. The availability of better bone can be used to decrease treatment time, whilst more time and care must be taken with poorer bone, which can therefore extend treatment times beyond six months.
If there is no reason to shorten the duration of your treatment then be prepared to wait - nobody loses an implant from being patient and allowing nature to take its course.
Are the new teeth joined together?
When multiple implants are placed, they are routinely joined together in the same way that a bridge supported by natural teeth would be designed.
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