The Value Of Experience
When complications arise, many dentists placing and/or restoring implants have little or no experience on how to handle any problems. Experience can be extremely important as demonstrated by a pilot for US Airways January 15, 2009, right after flight 1549 took off from La Guardia Airport in New York City.
After several minutes in flight, a flock of birds collided with the engines shutting them down. The pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, could not return to La Guardia Airport or fly to a nearby airport to land the plane. Instead, he safely landed the plane on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people aboard. When asked how he managed to do this, Mr. Sullenberger replied: "For 42 years, I had made small, regular deposits of education, training, and experience and the experience balance was sufficient that on January 15th, I could make a sudden, large withdrawl".1
Regrettably, many dentists placing implants today lack the education, training, and experience to make that "sudden withdrawal". They also may not know how to avoid complications to begin with. If a complication occurs, they don’t know what to do to immediately correct it.2
1 New York Post, February 10, 2009
2Dental Implant Complications - Etiology, Prevention, and Treatment; Dr. Stuart Froum © 2010 Blackwell Publishing
If it is too late and you already have dental complications, we can help.
Complications we manage at the TeethToday Center include:
- Infected implants
- Bone loss around implants
- Loose screws or bridges
- Chronic pain
- Poor esthetics
- Generally poor results
Dental implant complications can follow implant placement just like any other surgical procedure. Many of these problems can be treated quickly and easily. Left unchecked they can cause dental implant failure or injury to teeth bone, gum, nerves or sinuses near the implants.
The key to minimizing dental implant complications is to avoid them in the first place. You can increase your chances of this by selecting an experienced dental surgical specialist, a properly trained restorative dentist, thorough diagnostic evaluation, careful pre-operative treatment planning and proper after-care and oral hygiene.
Our specialists at the TeethToday Dental Implant Center have placed thousands of implants. Our doctors represent some of the best in the field and have written the book on how to avoid and treat implant complications.
These complications may be caused by surgical errors affecting adjacent teeth, nerves or sinus and are often associated with the ability of the dentist. An experienced and skilled implant specialist is able to anticipate potential problems by examining X-rays or 3D digital images, assessing your health, oral tissues and treatment objectives; designing the proper implant plan and executing it successfully.
Some factors which could lead to complications may include:
- Inferior case planning
- Inadequate diagnostic imaging
- Diseases and medications
- Lack of clinical experience and training related to procedures such as sinus augmentation and bone grafting
- Gum loss, discoloration or recession
- Damage to adjacent tissue
- Infection of the surrounding area
- Inflammation around the dental implant
- Poor implant position
Even patients with significant risk factors can be successfully treated without complications by experienced professionals. Conditions that increase risk, but can be managed include advanced bone loss; history of previous failures controlled diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immune deficiency or smoking; and medications such as anticoagulants and bisphosphonates (bone builders).
There are horror stories circulating about things that can go wrong and have gone wrong with less trained, less experienced and less focused clinicians. Avoid becoming a statistic. Only trust your oral health to experienced trained professionals.
If you are suffering with complications caused by previous implant dentistry treatment or questioning if you are a candidate for implant treatment, please call the TeethToday Dental Implant Center immediately 800-616-7010. We can answer your questions, work to resolve your problem and get that smile back on your face quickly, predictably and efficiently.
This is the value of experience.
