4 Major Reasons Why Dental Implants Fail

Southern Georgia Oral Surgery-Hinesville, GA.
Roger Myers DMD

The reasons why dental implants fail is a multi-factorial and very consistent.  The placement of a foreign body or material intended to be accepted by the human body has considerable unpredictability.  Provided the right conditions are met, the dental implant has a high degree of success and acceptance.  A plethora of considerations should be made prior to placement of an implant, which will be discussed later.  However, the following are some valid reasons for dental implants failing

1)  Suitable Host
     ASA classification is a very important factor, when considering the type of patient for implant  
      placement
     ASA Physical Status 1 - A normal healthy patient
     ASA Physical Status 2 - A patient with mild systemic disease
     ASA Physical Status 3 - A patient with severe systemic disease
     ASA Physical Status 4 - A patient with severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
     ASA Physical Status 5 - A moribund patient who is not expected to survive without the operation
     ASA Physical Status 6 - A declared brain-dead patient whose organs are being removed for   
     donor purposes
     The healthier the patient, the less risk of implant failure.  As a patients health status diminishes,
      the risk of of implant failure increases.

  2)  Quantity and Quality of Bone
       Height and width of  the bone is very important in order to assess when assessing or evaluating
       the patient.  Cancellous and cortical bone of sufficient amount is the real mitigating factor
       determining placement.   As the degree of cancellous bone diminishes, the patient is relegated to
        lesser quality of bone.  The cortical bone of lesser quality because of its decreased vascularity.
        A balance between the two is more optimal and usually correlates to better success.
   3)  Negligence by Dentist:
        One of the major causes of dental implant failure is the negligence of the dentist. A dentist is 
        supposed to follow the protocol of osseointegration appropriately(typically four month of  
        healing time for the implant). A dentist is should study the patients medical history very well
        and include it in their decision making process to advance with implant placement. 
        The following are requirements for a proper dental implant procedure.
        1)   Placement of implant at the site in jaw with the appropriate size
        2)   Proper preparation of the location
        3)   Suitable bone graft
        4)   Proper angulation of placement
        5)  Proper torque for placement @ 35-40 ncm-Excessive Torque
        6)  Do not use excessive drilling
        7) 
         It is also observed that many dentists take a shortcut for diagnosis. They follow the results of a 
         two dimensional panographic x-ray. The information shown by the two dimensional
         panographic x-ray is adequate for most of the dental surgery cases, however it is not sufficient 
         for all. This kind of x-ray cannot provide information about the amount and quality of bone 
         present to hold the implant and the accurate location of nerves and blood vessels running 
         through the bone.  This would require computerized tomography(CT) 3-Dimensional
    4)  Infection:

         Infection: Another common cause of dental implant failure is infection. It occurs mainly

         because of two reasons. The dentist does not follow proper techniques for implant integration or

         uses unsterilized instruments for fitting the dental fixtures. Secondly, you do not care much for

         dental health. Poor dental hygiene is sure to invite pathogens to infect your mouth and 

         eventually, leads to failure of dental implant