Dental implants have been a cosmetic phenomenon to replace natural missing teeth. In order to preserve the strength of your smile, implants are infused with a metal screw in the form of titanium in the jawbone. This ensures the durability and resistance of the actual crown that gets placed on top of the implant, which acts as the natural tooth.
Naturally, people who are seeking replacements for missing teeth have questions about the treatment. One of those questions is understanding whether there are any side effects of metal implants. This is naturally important to help you make the right decision on whether they’re safe or not.
What is equally important is assessing whether dental implant treatment is the right choice of treatment for you. This depends on how strong or weak your dental health is, but the dentist can identify this in the form of a pre-examination before administering any kind of treatment.
So, let’s learn more about metal implants to give you a better idea of any side effects.
What Are Titanium Posts?
Titanium implant posts, whilst they do not possess much risk. There is a dependency on the strength and health of the jaw. Titanium is the material widely used for dental implants and has proven to deliver successful implant treatment. As part of implant treatment, the titanium post is surgically placed into the jawbone to serve the artificial crown that sits on top of it. The abutment acts as the placeholder between the two for a brand new tooth.
What Are The Side Effects?
A few months after dental implant treatment, the titanium screw begins to fuse itself with the bone, and this is a signal for healing to begin. Although, there are dependencies on this being successful. First, the strength of the implant depends on the patient having adequate bone strength to support the implant. Another condition is that the patient doesn’t suffer from gum disease. Although implant treatment has regularly been successful, your dental health will play a pivotal role in ensuring you don’t suffer any side effects and complications in the future.
If your dental health isn’t strong enough, the dentist will typically examine this before treatment. Although here is a breakdown of the potential side effects to be aware of:
Peri-Implantitis
Peri-implantitis is a form of gum infection that builds up within the underlying gum tissue. Some symptoms of this include bleeding when brushing your teeth and gum sensitivity. If you’ve experienced gum disease previously, this side effect is possible if you’re not looking after your implant through strong oral hygiene. The chances of suffering from peri-implantitis are also greater if you smoke.
Nerve Injury
If there’s nerve damage, you’ll begin to experience sensitivity and numbness in and around your mouth, such as the lips and gums. This can happen during implant surgery.
Titanium Allergy
A common side effect is a titanium allergy, and some of the symptoms include hives, mouth bumps, dry gum tissue patches and gum inflammation in and around the implant. This can be determined by performing a MELISA test designed to measure your immune response to titanium.
Is Metal Implant Treatment Safe?
Dental implant treatment has a high success rate and continues to be today. Therefore, metal implant treatment is completely safe. Sometimes, side effects can occur due to external factors or a complication during treatment, but overall, titanium is completely safe.
If you’re seeking further support with your understanding of titanium or implant treatment, or you simply want an implant to replace missing teeth, then consult you local dentist in Quakers Hill today to get started!