Different Factors That Could Affect Candidacy For Getting Dental Implants

According to WebMD, there's about a 98% success rate for dental implant procedures. This is a great statistic; however, there are still some people who may worry that they aren't good candidates for implants. Some of these reasons may be due to lifestyle habits or health conditions.

Read on to assuage your fears and learn how your dentist will reduce contraindications so that you can proceed with this dental restoration.

What If You Smoke?

Smoking causes blood vessels to constrict, meaning that it may take longer for your body to heal due to poor blood flow. This means that if a dental implant were placed, it may have a difficult time integrating into the jaw bone and healing correctly.

However, if you avoid smoking immediately before and after a dental implant surgery, you can greatly improve your healing time. While smoking may have been a contraindication in the past, some doctors are willing to place dental implants if their patients agree to temporarily stop this habit before surgery and during recovery.

What If You Have Metal Allergies?

People with metal allergies are often sensitive to chromium, cobalt, or nickel. However, dental implants are typically made of titanium, which is a more biocompatible metal. If you aren't sure about certain about which specific metal allergies you have, you may want to get tested beforehand, as a titanium allergy could lead to an infection or chronic inflammation around the implant post.

What If You Have Poor Bone Density?

You need to have good jaw bone density in order to have an implant placed. While the implant crown sits above with your natural teeth, the implant post is inserted into your jaw bone and needs adequate support. The good news is that bone grafts can correct poor bone density. You will have to recover from the grafting procedure first, but once that's healed, you may be a better candidate for an implant.

What If You Have Diabetes?

Diabetic patients can be good candidates for implants if their blood sugar levels are well managed. To improve your success rates and recovery, your dentist may have you use a longer course of post-surgical antibiotics and mouth rinse. Some dentists use implants with high width and length and implants that are coated with bioactive material to increase success rates in diabetic patients.

For more information about factors that could affect your implant candidacy, contact a dental office in your area today.