Dental implant issues

JustTakeAllMyMoney

Bit of a long shot posting here with this but here goes as I'm desperate.


10 years ago I had an implant fitted upper left 4 no issues with it until last Oct 18, I started to get a kind of dull ache in the area of my jaw above the implant, tap the teeth in that area and they feel fine. I've been to multiple dentists, had CT / MRI (health insurance) and they cant find anything wrong. I even went to Harley Street specialist (couldn't really afford it put on CC) who suggested it might be something called 'peri implant mucositis', issue is they were talking thousands to sort, considering same practice wanted £500 for a simple filling I knew there charges were high and I just couldn't afford it.


Issue I am having is that in the UK though loads of dentist will fit an implant, only a few (that Ive found) will help look at problems with it and they are very expensive top end practices. In the US its seems the are much more used to dealing with my potential issue.


Does anyone know of any dental practice in the UK that will look at implant issues / problems that don't charge the earth ?


Also anyone else had issues with there implant after a long period of time ? The best way I describe my symptoms is it comes and goes, its not tooth ache pain its a dull ache deep in the jaw bone in the implant area, you can function with it but its constantly bugging me. My current dentist is ready to pull a tooth next to the implant tomorrow just in case its that tooth but Im just not sure it is.


cheers

brook2jack

Is the implantologist who placed the implant still practicing ? Do you have the exact details of which implant was placed etc?

ideally you should return to the dentist who placed the implant.Any periodontist should be able to deal with perimplant mucositis which is , basically , the beginning of gum disease around the implant. Presumably you have been keeping up with visits to hygienist etc since implant was placed?

Who does your dentist suggest, and if you have had a diagnosis could your dentist suggest a periodontist (gum specialist) who may be able to help?

Toothsmith

Implants ARE expensive, and implant maintenance - especially if stuff is going wrong, is expensive too.

As I frequently say here - implants are NOT 'fit-&-forget' items, they need just as much looking after as real teeth - and possibly even more diligent self-care.

I can't understand why 'multiple' dentists didn't know what the matter was, it is generally quite straight forward to diagnose from an ordinary x-ray. I think 'Harley Street' was a bit unnecessary - that is an address, after all, not a qualification. Any implant specialist practice should have been able to help you out - although admittedly, that wouldn't be cheap.

As Brook said. The dentist who placed it would be the best person to go to - but assuming it was UK fitted, and not a medical tourism jobby, the vast majority of implant practices in this country would be happy to help - but it won't be cheap.

JustTakeAllMyMoney

Thanks for the replies.


It was fitted in the UK 10 years ago, I went back to the practice that fitted it, the dentist is not there who did it but they had the images from when fitted so could compare. The place that did it was top end practice, back in the day I could afford it but cant afford it now, they wanted me to have the laser treatment but it was close to 2k, also they couldn't be sure it was that issue as the peri implantitus looks marginal, the tooth in front has a root / large filling though showed nothing wrong on the xray. I wanted second opinion so went to other dentist as didn't want to extract a tooth that didn't need it again they are not sure. Before going to the expense of laser treatment I want to try the antimicrobial therapy as seems cheaper in the US at least, but not found a dentist who offers its all straight to laser. They probed to see if there pockets around implant but marginal, the implant crown itself is cemented on so removal hard and if breaks I need new one, combined with the fact the implant is 10 years old and is a brand hardly anyone uses anymore (including the practice who fitted it) they didn't have the tools needed for the type anymore apparently.


I've looked after the implant its 10 years old and never had issues before, but you are right they are not stick and leave jobs, you need to care for them, you need to make sure your hygienist knows what they are doing with them. I've always told my hygienists I have one but looking back I don't think they really did what they should may be not used to dealing with them, I fear this is what has caused my issue.


Starting to think I will just have to find the £ from somewhere as its been going on for nearly 5 months now, it really brings me down.