Dental Implant Rejection - Twice

I have attempted (2) DENTAL IMPLANTS and have had (2) IMPLANT rejections. With my first implant, my DENTIST thought that the implant's threads were too small thus not grabbing enough bone so a month or two later he retried the implant with another implant with larger grooves that that one seemed to set better, more securely and after a two week visit it seemed to be doing fine because XRAYS showed bone growing aound it at it was suppose to. However, with in a few days after the follow up visit (about 2 weeks after it was installed) the tooth shifted and I thought that the temporary crown was loose on top of the implant stem, there was no pain, no bleeding, nothing so I didn't feel alarmed and went three more weeks like this until I felt that it was too loose. When I made an emergency appointment my dnetist imformed me that I had rejected a second implant and he was able to manually remove the implant WITHOUT me even feeling it. My Dentist suggested that maybe I grind my teeth some in my sleep which could have disturbed the implant which allowed tissue to grow in between the grooves or maybe my BODY simply rejected the implant twice.

Let me state that I HAVE FULL CONFIDENCE in my DENTIST'S COMPETENCY and DO NOT believe or think in the slightest that his technique has caused ANY of these REJECTIONS.

My QUESTION what are the REJECTION SCENARIOS? How could I IMPLANT that is SCREWED TIGHTLY into my BONE allow tissue to get in there? I'm a VERY HEALTHY eater, I workout 3-4 days a week, played college football and though I've had a couple of broken bones, I've never had a problem with brittle bones.

Could my body be rejecting the TITANIUM MATERIAL? I'm just BAFFLED and and want to know what CAUSE this because I wil try ONE MORE TIME and I need to know what NOT TO DO the NEXT TIME.

[Gellia]

First let me say I am not a dental professional.  I am in the medical field, however.  

I think it unlikely that you are rejecting the titanium itself.  It's not impossible, but exceedingly rare.  If that is a concern, you can be tested for titanium allergies.

If you clench or grind your teeth, that can be a great problem.  Did your dentist use a bone graft when the implant was placed?  Also, was it allowed to integrate before the temp. crown was placed?  From your letter, it sounds as though this was an immediate loading implant (one that has a temp crown placed right away and functioning while healing).

All of these can make a difference in the implants success.  Getting a temporary crown on a freshly placed implant may not be to your advantage.  Can you use a "flipper" instead?  One that does not touch the implant while it heals?  

There are also different widths of implants along with the deeper grooved ones.  They also have ones that expand with wings, I think.  It depends on where it is being placed.

I really hope you have success with your third try.  Perhaps a second consultation would be in order before to address some of the questions you have.

Best to you whatever you decide and, I hope the third time's the charm!

Gellia

[RPong]

Hi,

I have recently had a similar experience.  15 years ago I had a dental implant in my lower jaw.  It has been successful.  The device was by Calcitech(?) and uses a calcium coating on the titanium.  In that time Calcitech is no longer in business.  My dentist that installed the device has since retired.  I now need to replace 3 of my upper molars.  Number 1 was installed last year.  There was a 4 month period for the bone graft to properly provide supporting bone material before the implant.  A month later after the 1st bone graft, I had a second extraction that required bone grafting.  This was number 2.  We then implanted the 1st device.  After a week the preliminary examination was very positive.  Then a week later I was able to manually pull the device out, it was that loose.  We believed at the time that it was a failure in the device.  At that time, we put additional bone grafting material in that position.  3 months later, we installed an implant device for number 2.  Again, the 1 week post-implant exam was very positive.  However, within 4 days the implant was feeling loose and my dentist was able to manually extract it with no difficulty.  His evaluation of the device was that there was tissue in the grooves but that the bone material had pulled back.  In both cases, there was no crown installed, just the implant, so while I do grind my teeth, there was no pressure on the implant from that source.  I trust my dentist.  I want to try again.  Like you I want to maximize the chances of success.  Want to hear from anyone that can shed light on this.

[Gellia]

Perhaps the stress from grinding on the neighboring teeth is interrupting the implant integration.  Having the bone "pull back" away from the implant sounds like it would most likely come from implant micromovement.

How do you solve that?  You would need something to keep ALL pressure from the implant area and at least the neighboring two teeth while integration takes place.  Micromovement from them may be interrupting the healing process.  
Perhaps your dentist can fashion a mouth guard so the neighboring teeth cannot grind against one another and shift back and forth.

Please let us know how you do.  I hope it is successful for you.

My very best to you,
Gellia