Garak-dong Dental Clinic – When an Implant Needs to Be Replaced

Hello. I am Seung-hwan Shin, the director of 연세유라인치과의원 가락점, located near Garak Market Station in Garak-dong, Songpa-gu.

Today, I would like to discuss implant retreatment.

It would be ideal for an implant to be placed successfully once and used for a long time,

but because treatment involves human hands and the human body,

success is not guaranteed in every case.

Failures or complications may occur,

and the appropriate response varies depending on the cause.

In some cases, side effects appear soon after surgery.

Typical symptoms include altered sensation, severe swelling, discharge of pus, and looseness.

In such cases, prompt removal is necessary.

Depending on the situation, the implant may be placed again immediately,

or retreatment may be performed after waiting for the inflammation to subside.

In other cases, the implant may function well for one to two years after the procedure,

only for a problem to develop later in the prosthetic part.

An implant consists of a root portion connected to the prosthetic restoration above it

with a screw. With use,

the screw may loosen and cause the implant to become unstable.

If the screw has simply loosened, the dentist can tighten it,

but if the prosthetic restoration is broken,

it may be reshaped and reused depending on the extent of the damage,

or a new one may need to be made.

The problem may not be with the prosthetic restoration

but with the implant root itself.

The bone into which an implant has been placed

normally undergoes gradual resorption over time.

However, if the surrounding bone recedes abnormally quickly,

peri-implantitis should be suspected.

If it is detected early, the inflammation can be controlled through cleaning and disinfection,

similar to periodontal treatment. However,

if the bone continues to recede even after treatment,

maintaining the implant may become difficult.

If the condition is neglected for too long and the bone is completely resorbed,

reimplantation may become impossible.

For this reason, it is advisable to consider removal and retreatment at an early stage.

When removing an implant and placing a new one,

time must be allowed for the inflammation to subside.

As with waiting after a tooth extraction before placing an implant,

it is generally safer to proceed with reimplantation

after the inflammation has settled for approximately two to three months.

Even when an implant develops a problem, recovery is usually possible

through retreatment or revision surgery.

The important thing is to visit a dental clinic promptly when symptoms appear,

receive an accurate diagnosis of the cause,

and undergo appropriate treatment at the right time.