Help! My Dental Implants are Broken!
Your dental implants feel, function, and look just like real teeth. Because of this uber natural approach, your dental implant can break if you apply too much pressure to it or don’t follow your dentist’s advice. If you’ve recently received a dental implant, or multiple dental implants, then we want to impart some aftercare wisdom and remind you how your dental implant can be fixed, but also how to prevent it breaking in the first place.
The different parts of your dental implant
Your dental implant is made up of 3 parts, and under the right pressures each of these parts of capable of breaking or wearing. The implant itself is a titanium screw in your jawbone, then comes the abutment or connective post, and lastly comes the dental crown that resembles your natural tooth. If you’re not careful or over-exert your implant, you could risk breaking it.
How these parts could break
Your tooth implant is made to resist the kind of everyday stress that chewing and biting presents, so simply eating a meal shouldn’t cause any breakage. However, certain bad habits that you may have fallen into could cause wear and tear and even breakage in your dental implants. Opening bottles, tearing open packets with your teeth, or biting through labels enacts acute pressure on the few teeth involved, which inevitably channels a lot of tension through your dental implant. You could crack or chip a crown, or even dislodge your connective abutment. Even if they don’t crack or break the first or second time you bite through a resistant material, the wear and tear caused could drastically lower the dental implant’s lifespan.
How to fix a broken dental implant
When these parts break, all we’d need to do is replace the broken component. The dental implant itself, the titanium screw placed in your jaw, can fail if you don’t allow them enough time to heal and fuse with your jawbone. When this happens, the whole implant and every part will need to be replaced, which can take time.
How to avoid breaking your dental implant
- Don’t chew ice or eat very hard foods like crusty bread or baguettes
- Don’t use your teeth to bite through things that aren’t food (i.e. plastic packets)
- Make sure you follow any aftercare advice provided by your dentist
- Don’t overstress the dental implant before its fully healed and integrated
- Speak to your dentist if you notice any changes in your dental implant
- Speak to your dentist if you have a history of grinding or clenching your teeth
- Schedule dental check-up appointments following treatment 2-3 times a year
- Attend your dental appointments used to monitor your healing progress
Dental implants in Liskeard, Cornwall
If you’re considering dental implants in Liskeard, get in touch with the friendly team at The Smile Centre. Contact us online or call us today on 01579 342348 to book your initial consultation and to find out your suitability.