Do you want to know if your mouth can reject a dental implant? Unfortunately, the answer is “yes,” your mouth can reject dental implants.

Since dental implant surgery is a complex procedure in a sensitive location, your mouth can reject a dental implant without any fault of your own.

The reasons for no-fault rejection could be genetics or allergies. But, in many cases, dental implant rejection is due to poor oral hygiene, which would be your fault.

Early Symptoms of Your Mouth Rejecting a Dental Implant

How will you know if your mouth rejected a dental implant? Here are the most common symptoms of dental implant rejection in the mouth within days or weeks after surgery.

1) Pain and Discomfort

The most apparent symptoms are continuous pain and discomfort in the mouth. Any time the dental implant gets pressed or applies pressure to food, you will feel even more pain and discomfort. That is a clear indication your mouth isn’t accepting the dental implant.

2) Loose Implant 

If your dental implant feels loose or wobbly, the titanium post has not fused to your jawbone correctly. An oral surgeon would have to diagnose and remedy the problem if possible.

3) Swelling and Bleeding

Some swelling, bleeding, and redness at the site of your dental implant are normal symptoms after surgery.

But if these symptoms don’t go away after a couple of days, you may have something else going wrong in your body that is causing your mouth to reject the implant.

The possible reasons for continuous swelling and bleeding may include an oral infection, diabetes, or an autoimmune disease.

Talk with your doctor and dentist about these medical conditions and the symptoms you’re experiencing in your mouth.

4) Chewing Problems

If you experience chewing problems soon after your dental implant procedure, it could mean the implant’s size, shape, or angle is wrong. Either that or you may have a loose tooth.

Late Symptoms of Your Mouth Rejecting a Dental Implant

Your dental implant might seem fine for the first couple of months after surgery.

1) Mouth Trauma

If you suffer a facial or mouth injury, it could cause your mouth to reject your dental implants.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve had the implants in your mouth for years.

Any mouth or facial trauma could modify the internal structure of your mouth, which could cause your implants to get rejected. Mouth trauma can loosen your artificial tooth as well.

2) Implant Protrusion

Dental implants could slowly protrude close to the nerves and tissues in your mouth over time.

Changes to your facial and physical structure are the primary reasons this occurs.

Nerve damage creates feelings of numbness, pain, and tingling in the mouth. Once this happens, you won’t be able to eat or drink without feeling pain and discomfort.

Preventing Your Mouth From Rejecting a Dental Implant

Dental implants have a roughly 95% success rate amongst patients. However, your mouth can reject a dental implant in time if your oral health changes.

Here are the best ways to avoid dental implant rejection in the mouth:

1) Practice good dental hygiene

The number one rule for sustaining good dental hygiene is to brush, floss, and rinse your teeth and mouth.

It reduces the accumulation of plaque and bacteria in the mouth and keeps your dental implants strong and secure.

2) Stop smoking

People who smoke have a 20% greater chance of their mouth rejecting their dental implant.

Since smoking restricts blood flow in the mouth, it is more difficult for the implant site to heal. That is why you should stop smoking to avoid this problem.

3) Get a bone graft if necessary

Low jawbone density may cause your mouth to reject a dental implant.

But you can correct this problem by getting a bone grafting procedure to transplant new bone to the parts of your jawbone with low density.

4) Consume vitamins and minerals daily

Consume vitamins and minerals which increase bone strength, such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, etc.

If you stick with this plan, your mouth should never reject your dental implants unless genetics or allergies get in the way. But that is extremely rare.

Conclusion

Dental implant rejections can be salvaged, so don’t let them keep you down.

Continue working with your dental care provider to look for viable solutions for helping your mouth accept dental implants.

References:

1.Esposito M, Grusovin MG, Polyzos IP, Felice P, Worthington HV. Interventions for replacing missing teeth: dental implants in fresh extraction sockets (immediate, immediate-delayed and delayed implants). Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010 Sep 8;(9):CD005968. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005968.pub3. PMID: 20824860.
2.Misch CE. Contemporary Implant Dentistry. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby; 2020.
3.Jokstad A. Patient outcomes after placement of dental implants. J Oral Maxillofac Res. 2019 Sep 30;10(3):e3. doi: 10.5037/jomr.2019.10303. PMID: 31598369; PMCID: PMC6802353.
4.Quirynen M, Van Assche N, Botticelli D, Berglundh T. How Does the Timing of Implant Placement to Extraction Affect Outcome? Int J Oral Maxillofac Implants. 2017 May/Jun;32 Suppl:s27-s37. doi: 10.11607/jomi.17.s1. PMID: 28402346.
5.Atieh MA, Alsabeeha NH, Payne AG, Duncan WJ. Immediate single implant-supported restorations in the anterior maxilla: a systematic review. Int J Oral Maxillofac Implants. 2013 Nov-Dec;28(6):1424-32. doi: 10.11607/jomi.3068. PMID: 24278930.

 

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