What We Can Do If a Dental Implant Fails

Dental implants are a great tooth replacement option because they excel in both form and function, not to mention offer a 95% success rate. But what about the other 5%?

As periodontic specialists, the team here at Baton Rouge Perio — Dr. Jenny Herman, Dr. Kenneth Markle, and Dr. Barry Biner — is prepared in the unlikely event you have a dental implant that is failing. Below, we discuss one of our go-to procedures for dental implant failure — a laser therapy called LAPIP®.

Dental implant failure — an uncommon problem

There are many reasons why dental implants garner such a high success rate, and topping that list is the fact that they encourage new bone growth that fuses the tooth replacement into place. In effect, dental implants become integrated into your jawbone as the roots of your lost tooth once were.

What your dental implant installer does beforehand to encourage this integration is important. At our practice, we understand the impact that periodontitis can have on your gums and teeth, and we take every step necessary to ensure that your replacement teeth get the best start. This means:

• Extracting the diseased tooth
• Addressing any infection that may be lingering
• Preparing the implant site with a bone graft, if necessary

These steps should create the best environment for your implant to successfully integrate into your jawbone.

When implants do fail, it's typically for one of two reasons: 1) Gum disease returns and weakens the bone around the implants, or 2) There was too much stress on the implant.

Fighting back against ongoing gum disease

If you have a dental implant that’s failing because of ongoing gum disease that’s weakening the implant’s support, we refer to this as peri-implantitis. With this condition, bone loss occurs because of infection and inflammation in the hard and soft tissues that surround your implant.

If you have peri-implantitis that’s threatening your dental implant, we can fight back with an innovative dental technology called LAPIP, which stands for laser-assisted perio-implant procedure.

Using a specialized laser, we clear away diseased tissues, as well as any bacteria and pathogens in the area. From there, we scale the tooth’s surface again and make any necessary modifications in the bone.

Where LAPIP really shines is that it creates a regenerative environment that promotes new hard and soft tissue growth to stabilize your implant. In more scientific terms, we can encourage a stable fibrin blood clot, which contains stem cells, to create a sealed off area in which new growth can occur around your implant.

While many people think of laser therapy as an excisional process (we remove tissues), with LAPIP we use it more as a regenerative tool that can save your dental implant.

If you’d like to learn more about this innovative technology that can save a failing dental implant, we invite you to contact our office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced and skilled periodontists.