Dental implants are a long-term, permanent solution to replace missing teeth and look, feel, and function like your natural teeth. This is why so many people choose this treatment over other tooth replacement options. While the cost can be intimidating, the lifetime benefits outweigh this.
So with a beautiful smile, renewed confidence, and improved life that dental implants can provide comes the question: “How long do dental implants last?”
Within this short guide, we’ll answer the question, discuss factors that may affect the lifespan of your dental implant, and recommend ways to maintain it and help it last longer.
How Long Do Dental Implants Last?
A single-unit dental implant system usually consists of a titanium dental implant screw, an abutment, and a dental crown.
While dental implants have the potential to last for decades or potentially a lifetime, the attached crown needs to be replaced after 10-15 years. But of course, this does not apply to everyone as several factors may influence the longevity of dental implants.
Factors That Affect The Lifespan of Dental Implants
The main factors influencing how long dental implants last are health conditions, the dentist’s skill, implant location, and oral hygiene. Visit this website.
How can my health conditions affect my tooth implants?
Bone diseases and uncontrolled diabetes are two of the most common health-related reason for early dental implant failure. As you age, you can develop bone problems that may weaken the bone. If this happens, the bone cannot provide enough support to allow the implants to continue functioning, and they will eventually fail.
Uncontrolled diabetes slows down healing and may affect the bone growth around the dental implants. When this happens, the implant is likely to fail.
The influence of a dentist’s skill in dental implants
An experienced, skilled dentist would have your treatment thoroughly and comprehensively planned out— from the initial consultation to the implant placement, final restoration, and long-term maintenance of your dental implant.
Careful planning of dental implant treatment is critical to its success. This includes taking scans and X-rays for accurate implant placement to yield favourable results. While waiting for the bone to grow around the implants, your dentist should issue you with concise instructions for an excellent and speedy recovery.
And lastly, a dental crown made with superior properties can influence how long your implants will last.
Your dentist’s preparation, skilful execution, and compassion for the treatment’s success help improve the longevity of your tooth implant. Find further details.
Why is implant location relevant to dental implant longevity?
Studies reveal that the back teeth are more prone to implant failure. By nature, the front teeth are for smiling while the back teeth are for chewing. So the back teeth, such as the molars, are subjected to heavy forces when you crush, grind, and chew your food. For this reason, they tend to wear faster.
A recently placed molar dental implant may still be in the process of recovery, so continuous pressure against it may cause early failure. Also, for long-term dental implants, the crown may damage faster with a constant heavy load against it.
Oral health and dental implants
Poor oral health can be related to inadequate hygiene and smoking. If your oral health is not in tiptop shape, you are at a higher risk for dental diseases. This can result in several dental implant complications that ultimately result in their failure.
Meanwhile, smoking can affect the healing and recovery of the implant site. It is even reported that the implant failure rate for smokers can be as high as 20%.
Tips to Help Dental Implants Last
Now that we know the answer to “how long do dental implants last?” and the factors that may cause implant failure, let’s look at the ways to help maintain them.
The most important advice is to maintain excellent oral and overall health by practising good oral hygiene, visiting the dentist for regular check-ups and professional teeth cleaning, eating healthy food to encourage proper health, and discouraging bad habits like smoking. These will help further the life of your dental implants so you can enjoy your smile for a very long time.
Smile With Dental Implants at Complete Dental
On a long-term scale, the answer to “how long do dental implants last?” greatly depends on you. While the dentist’s skill is a factor, your conscious maintenance and upkeep of your smile will help keep them in good condition for as many years as possible.
If you’re interested in dental implant treatment, Complete Dental can help out. Give us a call on 02 3801 6503 or book online to have our friendly staff schedule you for an appointment. We even have a free dental implant consultation in our clinic. Just mention the offer when booking your visit!
Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.
References:
Healthline.com – Are Dental Implants Permanent?
https://www.healthline.com/health/dental-and-oral-health/how-long-do-dental-implants-last
Webmd.com – Dental Crowns
Pubmed.gov – Bone physiology and metabolism in dental implantology: risk factors for osteoporosis and other metabolic bone diseases
PubMed Central – Dental implant survival in diabetic patients; review and recommendations
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3961886/
Pubmed.gov – Oral health: dentures and dental implants
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25594452/
PubMed Central – Smoking and dental implants