What is the Success Rate of Dental Implants?
When we are required to go for any medical or dental procedure, first question usually comes in our mind is how successful this treatment is. We always try to know chances of success of treatment and same is for dental implants. In my dental implants practice of more than 20 years at 32 PEARLS® Multispeciality Dental Clinics and Implant Centre, Ahmedabad, one of the most common questions, my patients have asked is “what is the success rate of dental implants”. Every other day, we hear news of different medical or dental procedures going wrong and the consequences related with that. So we need to know whether the advised dental implants treatment in India will be successful or not. Hello, I am Dr Jaimin Patel, specialist of surgical and prosthetic stages of dental implants in Ahmedabad.
My observations as a Dental Implantologist in India
As a dental implantologist in India, I would say that most patients believe what their dentist advise them and they usually go for it. An invisible bond of trust is there between doctor and patient, in most cases. Dental implants are the most predictable and most successful option for missing teeth replacement with fix teeth. Dental implants are not the new technique for replacing the teeth and the technique has been there for more than 50 years across world. The techniques, materials and equipment have been evolved over the period, as more research and development happened in this field.
What literature and research say about success rate of dental implants
An experimental treatment option once upon a time in history has been developed as one of the most successful treatment modalities in current time; thanks to cutting edge technology and increasing knowledge of biomaterials and biomechanics. If we see the history, The Journal of American Dental Association had reported 49% success rate of dental implants in 1977; currently modern dental implants design and technique have more than 95% success rate. International Journal of Oral Maxillofacial Implants reported 92.9% success rate of dental implants in 2017. International Journal of Implant Dentistry, in 2022 studied dental implants success in diabetic patients and suggested dental implants as one of the safest ways of oral rehabilitation in patients with prediabetes or proven diabetes mellitus, as long as patient stick to all the maintenance measures suggested by an implantologist and physician. Of late, in 2023, Clinical Oral Investigation Journal reported more than 93% success rate of dental implants. We, at 32 PEARLS® Multispeciality Dental Clinics and Implant Centre Ahmedabad centres, are having dental implant success rate of more than 96% in last 20 years.
Factors affecting success rate of dental implants
The success of dental implant is usually dependent on 3 major groups of factors.
First is the host response of patient and bone physiology, after implant placement. Many medical conditions, post radiotherapy status and many drugs can affect this process and success rate of dental implants.
Second group of factors are the skills and technique of an implantologist. Here, the experience of the dental implant surgeon comes in picture. How well was the whole case planned, and the bone and soft tissues were managed during implant placement surgery appointment. Afte that, how meticulously the prosthetic treatment or crown treatment was done and how well was occlusal adjustments were done, matters in success of dental implants. According to many research articles, particular brand or type of implants may not affect significantly in success of dental implant treatment.
The third group of factors is the maintenance part, which is completely dependent on patient. It includes but not limited to thorough hygiene maintenance as advised by dentist, regular follow up visits to dental implantologist, immediate reporting of any smallest looking problem in the mouth and its correction in time, as well as the habit of smoking and tobacco – betel nut chewing.
Role of Smoking & Sleep bruxism in implant success rate
Smoking has been associated with more chances of dental implant failures, compared with nonsmoker patients. Many patients also have sleep bruxism, that is involuntary grinding or clenching of teeth during sleep. This sleep bruxism can cause increased bone loss around dental implants if regular night guard is not worn regularly to protect the implant crown and other teeth.
I have seen people searching for information across the internet and finding junk information sometimes. I hope that this information, which is backed by literature and research data, will help them finding best implantologist in India, best dental implant centre in India as well as teeth replacement cost in Ahmedabad.
Written by:
Dr Jaimin Patel (MDS, FICOI, FOFP-USA)
Chief Dental Implantologist,
32 PEARLS® Multispeciality Dental Clinics and Implant Centre
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
