Dental Implants

JEN22

A member of my family had severe gum disease. She had all her teeth removed in January and now has dentures. Is it possible she could have dental implants?

Toothsmith

There isn't enough information there.

Yes - it is possible, but will depend on many factors as to whether it could, or even should be done.

The factors that make someone loose their teeth to severe gum disease can also cause very rapid loss of the implants - so if they couldn't keep up with the cleaning routines & habit changes necessary to keep their teeth, keeping implants healthy will also be extremely challenging.

I'm assuming you're asking this because the relative is now finding dentures a bit tricky to get used to?

If it was only January that this happened, then it does take a fair while to get used to wearing a full denture. The older a patient is when this happens, the longer that can take.

The first denture will really only be a temporar6 one though. When the teeth are extracted the denture that is placed has been made by the technician estimating what the mouth will look like once the teeth have gone. This can never be exact. Plus - as soon as the teeth go, the bone starts changing as it heals up, so the dentures do become loose quite quickly.

Your relative will have been told that in 6-12 months a new set will have to be made. These will be a lot more accurate, plus by then, they will be a lot more used to the skill of wearing dentures, so hopefully things will improve.

Implant supported dentures are probably the best option if they can't, but they will need to talk to the dentist about whether these are suitable or not. It is a much more expensive option, and it is one that will require a lot more maintenance than they were able to put into their own teeth - so it's not a decision to take lightly, believing that just spending money is all that is needed.

JEN22

Mum had her teeth out January she now has 16 weeks to heal from the gum disease. The dentist is the putting impants in the another 14 weeks till her new teeth are fitted.


Im just concerned that the gum disease could return with the implants in

Toothsmith

JEN22 wrote: »

Mum had her teeth out January she now has 16 weeks to heal from the gum disease. The dentist is the putting impants in the another 14 weeks till her new teeth are fitted.


Im just concerned that the gum disease could return with the implants in

In this scenario - I'm guessing that your Mum will have been a patient of this dentist for some time, and the two of them have had good discussions on all the factors affecting success, and both are happy to proceed.

Your Mum should know what is necessary in order to look after the implants, and the dentist must be pretty confident that she is up to the task.