Any Dentists on the board ...

[Doug E]

that can shed some light on the problems I'm having with an implant ?

I had an implant on T3 put in 2 years ago in Jan 2011. 6 months later it loosened and they had to replace the crown and abutment. Now 20 months after that it is completely out.

I felt it starting to loosen last week but this weekend it got worse and then tonight it fell out. I had an appointment for this coming Wedensday for them to look at it but since it fell out tonight I'll be showing up tomorrow morning when they open at 7am.

By falling out I mean that I am holding in my holds the crown attached to the abutment attached to the post.

Any insight what the issue might be ? The last x-ray they took showed the implant looked good in the jaw but there is obviously something wrong that the abutment and post have come loose twice now in only 2 years.

Any professional thoughts would be much appreciated. TIA!

[Instrument 41]

I'm in the same boat. Just waiting to hear from insurance about putting in a bridge. Very frustrating. Being in sales I am very conscience about my appearance. Missing a tooth is not what I need.

[89911]

Your implant never integrated with the bone and there was a failure. There are so many variables as to why that its impossible to find out from a few questions. Improper placement is generally the main reason and its not usually a fault on your part. Who did this implant and what is their background would be a start. Best of luck.

[89911]

I've read your post again and another question is, do you still have the implant body still in your mouth? If so, it may of unscrewed in some odd situation. Again, many variables.

[Doug E]

Thanks for your replies 89. The implant (ie., anchor) was still in my mouth so it was just the post, abutment and crown that came out as one piece. The dentist removed the crown from the abutment and screwed the post back in so he could take molds for the new crown.

I asked him what he did differently this time and he said he tightened the post to 35 n-cm, vs. the 20-25 last time. He showed me the mini-torque wrench he used and it looked like an ant compared to the torque wrench in my garage !

Dentist said he couldn't say why or how the post came loose but he felt confident that the additional tightening this time would prevent it from happening again. Guess time will tell ...

I-41 - given the issues I've had with this implant / crown process I'm second guessing now if I should just have gone the bridge route from the start. Hope it all works out for you.

[Zeke]

I think you need some Loctight. Get the green.

[cnielsen]

It should be fine after being properly torqued. I have seen a couple abutment screws loosen over the years and I have been able to access the screw and re-torque them. Everything has been fine since then.